Frontline Defense for National Democratic Revolution
Dr. Rodrigo Chavez, coordinator of the Bolivarian Circles in Venezuela, was interviewed by Tom Burke of the Colombia Solidarity Committee in Chicago. The Bolivarian Circles, with 2.2 million members, are the backbone of the national democratic revolution in Venezuela. After an attempted U.S. coup against Chavez on April 11, 2002, the Bolivarian Circles helped reinstall popularly-elected President Hugo Chavez. The Bolivarian Circles also successfully organized mass resistance against criminal corporate managers’ and corrupt union officials’ attempted destruction of the oil industry.
Venezuela – A great confrontation is under way in Venezuela. On one side stands Venezuela’s elite – backed by the Bush administration and the big oil companies. On the other side of the barricades stand Venezuela’s oppressed and patriotic, people who are rallying around their progressive president, Hugo Chávez.
Washington DC – Sonia, a Colombian revolutionary and political prisoner of the U.S. government, was found guilty in a U.S. Federal Court here, Feb. 20. Sonia’s trial is part of a Bush administration plan to criminalize Colombian freedom fighters.
Washington DC – With no evidence and only the testimony of U.S. government paid informants, Colombian revolutionary “Sonia” awaits a jury’s verdict here in Federal Court. Sonia, whose full name is Anayibe Rojas Valderrama, is a peasant rebel who joined the fight for a free, just and independent Colombia. A nurse with the 30,000 member Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Sonia was extradited to the U.S. in violation of Colombia’s sovereignty.
Washington D.C. – Colombian revolutionary Ricardo Palmera is facing a second trial, March 26. Ricardo Palmera, known in Colombia as Simon Trinidad, is a political prisoner of the George Bush and the U.S. government. Palmera’s first trial resulted in a hung jury and Judge Hogan was forced to declare a mistrial. U.S. prosecutor Kohl and Judge Hogan will need to bend the legal rules more if they are going to win this time.
Washington D.C. – Jury selection for Colombian revolutionary “Sonia” is scheduled to start here on Jan. 8, in front of Federal Court Judge Robertson. Sonia, whose full name is Anayibe Rojas Valderrama, is an important member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The FARC is a 30,000-member guerrilla army that governs nearly 40% of Colombia.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) is the largest rebel group in Colombia. Freedom Road Socialist Organization members Kosta Harlan and Erika Zurawski recently traveled to the rebel held territory and met with commanders of the FARC-EP. Fight Back! interviewed these American revolutionaries to discuss the struggle in Colombia.
Chicago, IL – The Colombia Action Network held a successful conference here at DePaul University, Feb. 25-27. Eighty students, trade unionists and solidarity activists from eleven cities and eight universities attended. People came from as far as Montana, New Jersey, Minneapolis, Wisconsin Dells, New York, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Over a dozen Colombians from various movements and unions gave a strong feeling of unity and earnestness to the presentations and discussions. The Colombian activists are living in exile or came to the United States as part of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center program to protect the lives of trade unionists.
Milwaukee, WI - 50 people turned out for an Iraq Moratorium and anti-School of the Americans march here on the evening of Nov. 21. The event, which coincided with the massive protest at the SOA at Fort Benning, Georgia, was organized by the Milwaukee chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and Peace Action.
Columbus, GA - Over 20,000 people from across the country flooded Fort Benning on the Nov. 22-23 weekend, calling for the School of the Americas (SOA), a U.S. military training institute that trains Latin American soldiers in ‘counter-insurgency’ techniques, to be shut down. During the vigil to honor the memory of the thousands of men, women and children that have been tortured, kidnapped and murdered by SOA graduates, six people, in an act of civil disobedience, crossed onto the military base and were arrested. They face up to six months in federal prison for taking action to close down the SOA – the ‘School of Assassins.’
Join the Colombia Action Network at the School of the Americas Demonstration! Ft. Benning, GA, November 21-23, 2008
Help us shut down the School of the Americas (SOA) this November! The SOA is a U.S. tax payer funded combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia. Frequently called the “School of Assassins,” its graduates have left a trail of terror and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned. Over its 61 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, psychological warfare, and interrogation tactics. SOA graduates have consistently used their skills to wage war against social movements and progressive communities in their own countries. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are trade unionists, human rights workers, teachers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. SOA training manuals made public in 1996 revealed that torture, extortion, and kidnapping are part of the curriculum. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and displaced by those trained at the SOA.
Columbus, GA - 25,000 protesters arrived at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia to participate in the 2007 SOA Watch vigil to close the School of the Americas, Nov. 16 -18. The SOA, which trains military personal from Latin America in subjects like counter-insurgency recently changed names. It is now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, but name changes can not take away the bloody history of this tool of U.S. imperialism and oppression. SOA graduates have been implicated in killings, torture and massacres.
President Bush embarked on a Latin American tour March 8-14 that included stops in Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico. The tour was billed in the mainstream media as an opportunity to ‘bolster relations with our neighbors to the south’ and to ‘remind Latin Americans that Bush hasn’t forgotten about them,’ but people who know better recognized Bush’s true motives: to strengthen free trade agreements that maximize corporate profits through the exploitation of resources and workers and to minimize the influence of Hugo Chavez, the widely popular president of Venezuela.
Columbus, GA - Nearly 22,000 activists from around the country, gathered Nov. 17 through 20 to protest the School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, Georgia. The School of the America’s special U.S. military program has trained military personnel to use methods of torture and killing throughout Latin America for over 59 years. SOA Watch, an organization dedicated to shutting down this program of terrorism, hosted the demonstration.
Interview with Javier Correa, president of SINALTRAINAL
Javier Correa is the president of SINALTRAINAL, the courageous beverage workers’ union, which fights for labor rights in Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia. Coca-Cola-sponsored death squads are responsible for murdering nine Colombian trade unionists. SINALTRAINAL calls for an international boycott of Coca-Cola products because of Coke’s use of paramilitary violence against the union.
Erika Zurawski of Fight Back! interviews two Colombian trade unionists who are in the U.S. through the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center. Jhonny Meneses is a union leader from SINCONSTASCAR (a union of taxi drivers in Cartegena) and an outspoken opponent of U.S. free trade and economic policy in Latin America. Nelson Quijano is a union leader from USO (Oil Workers Union). USO is a leading social force in Colombia. In the spring of 2004, USO went on strike for several months to successfully fight the privatization of the national oil company.
I recently traveled to the land where Ché Guevara's ghost still breathes with the people. I was a guest of the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism, a gathering of more than 60 journalists from around the globe. The journalists – representing radio, film, Internet and print media – had come to the school in Bolivia in early August to explore strategies for advancing credible media coverage of the war on drugs and democracy movements in the Americas.
Columbus, GA - Ten thousand people descended on Fort Benning, Georgia, Nov. 18-19 to shut down the School of the Americas (S.O.A.). Also known as the School of Assassins, the S.O.A. has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counter-insurgency so they can repress the people in their homelands.
Members of the Colombia Action Network, Thistle Parker-Hartog and Meredith Aby, interviewed Colombian peasant leader Miguel Cifuente, the executive secretary of the Cimitarra River Valley Peasant Association. For reasons of space we broke the interview into two parts. The first part can be found in here.
![A "Viva APPO" puppetista represents those who have recently been killed in Oaxac](https://i.snap.as/gO309c33.jpg "A \\"Viva APPO\\" puppetista represents those who have recently been killed in Oaxac A \\"Viva APPO\\" puppetista represents those who have recently been killed in Oaxaca, Mexico \(Fight Back! News/ Doug Michel\)")
