Yesterday at four in the morning, Edwin Legarda Vázquez was killed by the Colombian Army. He was driving a vehicle that belongs to the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), in which his partner, Aida Quilcué often traveled in.

Aida Quilcué is the maximum leader of the CRIC, and gained national and international notoriety for her powerful words and actions during the Indigenous and popular movement, part of the Minga, which mobilized thousands of people throughout Colombia this fall.

The Minister of Defense has admitted that soldiers killed Legarda. They shot 17 bullets into the car. There is no doubt among Indigenous organizations here that the killing was politically motivated.

Senator Alexander Lopez denounced the killing as a state crime.

Mario Murillo has done an excellent job documenting yesterday's events, as well as putting them in historical context, since December 16th is also the anniversary of the massacre at El Nilo.

A sit-in at York University began Monday where CUPE 3903, the York University union local representing teaching assistants, contract faculty and graduate students has been on strike for 5 weeks.

With the union making a variety of strong demands and the University refusing to bargain further the strike has dragged on for 5 weeks and tensions have grown.

For-profit media has largely written anti-union pieces unilaterally in favour of the University. Many editors in the corporate sphere have suggested the government enact back to work legislation of a questionably legal nature.

In the meantime, 80 students in support of striking workers are occupying the University Presidents Office demanding to question the University President. Classes for the rest of 2008 are scheduled to be canceled today.

I'm currently in Palmira, Colombia, interviewing and spending time with sugar cane cutters and their families. Yesterday, I attended a meeting with cutters who are members of the co-operatives which cut the cane. Co-operative is definitely not a positive word here, as their formation facilitates sub-contracting and relieves employers of any responsibility for their workers.

During yesterday's meeting, the participants discussed the resistance movement that they have been mounting over the last three years, which culminated in a 58 day strike that ended in November.

While the meeting was going on, two cane cutters were killed by lightning bolts nearby.

I spent yesterday visiting the Nasa project, and have uploaded some photos online.

An urgent communique just went out from the ACIN because of fighting between FARC and the Colombian army, which is taking place in the town of Miranda, Cauca. The communique notes that "The criminal combat is taking place among and inside the houses of Indigenous people."

Also this morning in Miranda, the paramilitary group Aguilas Negras (Black Eagles) had leaflets passed around that read:

Las Águilas Negras Presente.
Limpieza Social para el bien de todos

The Black Eagles are Here.
Social cleansing for the benefit of all

More information will follow as it becomes available.

Today is the 80th anniversary of the Banana Massacre in Ciénaga, Colombia. The workers began a strike against the company on November 12, 1928.

According to Eduardo Mahecha, who survived the massacre: "The deadly pistol and machine gun fire lasted 15 minutes, resulting in the death of 207 workers and 32 injured."

The banana operations at the time were controlled by the infamous United Fruit Company. Those responsible for the massacre were never brought to justice. The workers reorganized themselves and struck again in 1934, this time winning the concessions they sought.

Fans of Garcia Márquez may remember his portrayal of the massacre in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude.

What has changed in the last 80 years?

Armies and paramilitaries the world over are still in the service of transnational corporations (disturbingly, one of the most high profile cases-in-point is that of United Fruit's progeny Chiquita Brands' payments of paramilitaries in Colombia).

Workers movements are still portrayed as being linked with "dark forces," as was the recent strike by sugar cane workers in Colombia.

Check my flickr page for photos from Colombia.