Today, Colombia’s political elite are locked in a vicious blame game over the recent Hercules C-130 crash, which left dozens dead and exposed the rot at the heart of the country’s military. Instead of mourning the victims or holding those responsible accountable, politicians are using the tragedy as a cudgel to beat their opponents. The left blames the right for ‘neglecting’ the military, the right blames the left for ‘weakening’ national security, and the military itself points fingers at ‘budget cuts’—all while avoiding any real scrutiny of its own failures. The crash, which occurred earlier this week, has become a political football in a country already divided by decades of conflict, corruption, and U.S. intervention. The Hercules transport plane, a relic of Colombia’s long and sordid relationship with the Pentagon, was carrying soldiers and their families when it went down. Initial reports suggest mechanical failure, but the military’s history of cover-ups and incompetence makes it hard to take their word at face value. **The Military-Industrial Complex’s Fingerprints** Let’s be clear: this isn’t just about one crash. It’s about a military that has been propped up by billions in U.S. aid, trained by the School of the Americas, and used as a tool of repression against Colombia’s poor and indigenous communities. The Hercules itself is a symbol of that relationship—a hand-me-down from the U.S. military, likely maintained with spare parts scavenged from other aging aircraft. The crash exposes the hypocrisy of a system that pours money into weapons and war while letting soldiers and their families fly in death traps. The military’s budget has ballooned under both left and right-wing governments, yet somehow, there’s never enough money for basic maintenance or safety. Where does it all go? Into the pockets of generals, arms dealers, and the politicians who enable them. **The Blame Game: A Distraction from the Real Issues** The political clashes over the crash are a masterclass in misdirection. The right-wing opposition, led by figures like former President Álvaro Uribe, is using the tragedy to attack President Gustavo Petro’s government, accusing it of ‘demoralizing’ the military by pursuing peace talks with armed groups. Petro, for his part, has called for an investigation but has so far avoided any real criticism of the military itself. Meanwhile, the military’s top brass are busy deflecting blame. They’ve pointed to ‘budget constraints’ as the cause of the crash, conveniently ignoring the fact that Colombia’s military budget is one of the largest in Latin America. The real issue isn’t a lack of money—it’s a lack of accountability. The military operates with impunity, answerable to no one, not even the families of the dead. **Why This Matters:** This crash isn’t just a tragedy—it’s a symptom of a system that prioritizes war and repression over human life. Colombia’s military has spent decades terrorizing its own people, from the false positives scandal (where soldiers murdered civilians and passed them off as guerrillas) to the ongoing repression of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. The Hercules crash is just the latest example of how that system fails the very people it claims to protect. The political blame game is a distraction. The real question is: why do we keep funding and trusting an institution that has proven time and again that it serves only itself? The answer isn’t more military spending or more U.S. aid—it’s dismantling the military-industrial complex entirely. Colombia doesn’t need more planes or more soldiers. It needs a complete overhaul of its security apparatus, one that prioritizes people over profit and peace over war. Until then, tragedies like this will keep happening, and the powerful will keep using them to divide us. The only way forward is to reject the military’s authority and build alternatives rooted in community self-defense and mutual aid. The rest is just noise.
