Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call from the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera.

March 24, 2009

The National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera is calling on people everywhere to stand for human rights and social justice in opposition to the cruel and unusual treatment of Ricardo Palmera, a negotiator for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), now a Colombian political prisoner of the U.S. empire. He is being held in the Florence Colorado Supermax Prison. Professor Palmera is being held in 23-hour solitary lock-down with no access to the outside world.

Members and supporters of the National Committee have attempted to write to Ricardo Palmera on more than one occasion, in English and in Spanish, inquiring as to his health and asking him about his psychological well-being. These letters have been returned by the Federal Bureau of Prisons with the following notice: “Your correspondence to the above named inmate is being returned. This correspondence was not delivered to the inmate because he is not authorized to correspond with you.”

The National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera sees this as a gross violation of Professor Palmera’s most basic human rights. It is a harsh and uncalled for punishment to deny someone such a simple thing as the exchange of letters with well-wishers and supporters.

Ricardo Palmera deserves to receive letters and anyone who writes him makes a declaration condemning the practice of denying him this right. As well, according to the ‘Returned Correspondence’ letters we have received, Palmera is being notified that the letters are being returned. This means that he is told he is receiving mail whether he can see it or not. In the solitude of his incarceration we believe that this simple statement will give him hope and in itself expresses solidarity.

The National Committee is therefore calling on people of conscience here and around the world to write to Ricardo Palmera, at:

Inmate: Juvenal Ovidio Palmera Pineda #27896-016

USP Florence ADMAX

US Penitentiary

PO Box 8500

Florence, CO 81226

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