The groundbreaking three editions of Profiting from Repression: Canadian
Investment in and Trade with Colombia (2000, 2006, 2012) constitute the most comprehensive and in-depth account of this subject presently in existence.
Colombia Report – Asad Ismi 2012
REVIEWS
1. Asad Ismi’s research is an extraordinary tool for us in the struggle to defend the
natural resources of humanity and to construct a nation with social justice.
—-Francisco Ramirez Cuellar, Former President of the Colombian Mineworkers Union.
2. In a seminal piece of research titled Profiting from Repression: Canadian Investment in and Trade with Colombia, award-winning writer and international affairs expert Asad Ismi provides a 180-page breakdown of corporatist neocolonialism in South America. The report “links ten Canadian companies in Colombia to the genocide of indigenous Colombians, to complicity in eight murders and one attempted murder, to other significant military/paramilitary repression [and] to labour union-busting, strike-breaking and worker exploitation.” To date, it is the only document of its kind. Ismi’s research outlines the interconnectedness of the Colombian state and its various paramilitary outfits but importantly emphasizes the impact of foreign capital on the Colombian economy. The “paramilitarization of Colombian society,” as Ismi calls it, stems from arms supplying by the U.S. government to fight FARC – $6 billion during Uribe’s eight-year presidency – and a deregulated national economy favoring heavy foreign investment.
—–Harrison Samphir is a Winnipeg-based writer and editorial assistant at Canadian Dimension Magazine. [http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/18175-colombian-connection-canadian-neocolonialism-in-the-global-south]
3. The definitive account of corporate-driven Canadian neocolonialism in
Colombia and the most comprehensive book on the subject. A superb analysis of how Canada’s corporations and government benefit from and exacerbate Colombia’s decades-old social and armed conflict. Unencumbered by academic jargon, this book presents a clear and damning portrait of the corporate pillage of Colombia and the resulting violence, impoverishment and mass displacement impacting its people as well as their courageous resistance. Must reading for activists, unionists and all those concerned about social and economic justice in LatinAmerica.
—–Ilian Burbano, Colombia Action Solidarity Alliance (CASA), Toronto.
4. This report is a gold mine of information! Thank you, really thank you for doing
this research. I think it will be very useful for our new campaign “Targeting
Canadian Profiteers of the War in Colombia”, because we are focusing on some
of the companies you’re talking about in this report. This is really the kind of work
we need and never have the time to do. I also think it is very relevant to highlight
the role of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in Colombia
and how the Canadian government supports the companies. I think it’s also very
good to put relations between Canada and Colombia in a global context of
colonialism and imperialism.
–Mélissa Leblanc, Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie (PASC), Montreal.
5. Most Canadians are unaware that some of this country’s largest corporations are
profiting from the Colombian government’s brutal repression of dissent and
democracy. Asad Ismi’s shocking exposé of this corporate collaboration with
Colombia’s ruthless dictatorship is recommended reading for everyone concerned about social and economic justice.
—–Ed Finn, Editor Emeritus, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Ottawa.