Alliance for Global Justice volunteer, Raquel Mogollón, was in attendance at the trial of political prisoner Liliany Obando Aug. 4 in Bogotá, Colombia. Based on her eyewitness report, the hearing revealed manipulation of evidence behind the charges being brought against Obando.

Obando is a sociologist, independent film maker and unionist who was arrested the very week she released a report on the assassination of more than 1500 members of FENSUAGRO, the largest organization of farmers and farm workers in Colombia. She was arrested on the basis of evidence the government claims was found in computers belonging to Commander Raúl Reyes, of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP).

Prosecutors maintain that Obando was raising money for the FARC-EP via her position as Director of International Relations for FENSUAGRO. However, money she raised in tours abroad is easily traceable and shown to have gone directly to the union. The other charge Obando faces is ‘rebellion,’ a charge frequently used to intimidate and silence members of the political opposition.

Commander Reyes was killed when the Colombian Air Force bombed his camp, across the border in Ecuador. The camp was working out details for the release of four FARC-EP-held prisoners of war. According to Colombian Senator Píedad Córdoba, this was an attack on the peace process itself.

Córdoba has been the main negotiator securing a series of prisoner releases by the guerrillas. She told Mexico’s La Jornada newspaper: “Almost no knows this. But the reason that Uribe and Santos took the decision to bomb the camp of Raúl Reyes…was to ruin the negotiation that was advancing significantly in the U.S. to free Ingrid Betancourt and the three Americans….What followed is history – the attacks…cost the lives of 26 persons, among them four Mexican civilians. The international community rapidly pardoned Uribe. The hostages were liberated in a military operation a few months later. And the possibility of a political exit to the military conflict went up in smoke once again.”

The Colombian government claims that it recovered two computers belonging to Reyes that somehow survived the bombing. The international police agency INTERPOL has said that the evidence was not handled according to accepted norms and could not be authenticated. INTERPOL received the computers more than a week after they had been in the custody of Colombian authorities. Police Captain Ronald Hayden Coy Ortiz was the first authority to officially access the computers and headed up the initial investigation. In a previous court appearance, Coy admitted that during the time he had the computers, that he saw no emails, only Word files (which are known to be easily manipulated). Charges against Obando have been brought on the basis of alleged emails contained on the computer.

The hearing on August 4 was a chance to hear more from Captain Coy. According to Mogollón, Coy was asked repeatedly about the proper “chain of custody.” Evidence is supposed to be handled according to strict rules, with no gaps regarding its whereabouts or access. However, throughout the initial handling, there were irregularities. For instance, bodies from the scene of the bombing arrived in Bogotá well in advance of the computers, with no explanation of the delay.

Questioning not only by Obando’s attorney, Eduardo Matyas, but also by the judge, revealed that there was a three-day gap during which access was undertaken by Coy and other investigative police, as well as the unaccounted hours during which the computers were supposedly in transit to Bogotá. Coy admitted that he and investigators accessed the files without permission from the proper authorities and that details of the procedures were not documented. Coy defended his decision to independently open the computers on the basis that the evidence was of the “highest national security.” It was not explained how decisions concerning the ‘highest national security’ were to be best made by a police captain using irregular procedures without consulting superiors. When asked by Matyas if he had the expertise to open these computers without authorization, Coy admitted he didn’t.

Global Justice volunteer Mogollón says, “The judge took a very harsh tone with the officer. He asked Coy, why, if he had no expertise, he didn’t document the chain of custody. Coy responded that there was ‘…no room to write the info down – it's a very small space, just a little square.’ The judge responded, ‘I don't want to hear about the very small space! Couldn't you have gotten another piece of paper?' Coy responded, ‘I don't know....we just didn't....I'm sorry.’”

Obando is one of 14 persons originally implicated in what is called the ‘farc-política,’ an effort taken by the outgoing Uribe administration to intimidate political opposition members by tying them to the FARC-EP on the basis of discredited evidence allegedly ‘uncovered’ from the Reyes computers. As former Minister of Defense, it was incoming President Santos who ordered the attacks on the prisoner release negotiation camp. So far, all the initial investigations related to the farc-politica have been thrown out of court – except Obando’s. Based on the evidence of star witness Captain Coy, it is difficult to see on what basis Obando’s case will continue.

On Aug. 8, Obando will have completed two years of incarceration, enduring a long and drawn out court case still in its preliminary stages. Not long after her arrest, Colombian military officers, including the commander of the Colombian army, were implicated in the extrajudicial executions of hundreds of young Colombians. These youths were dressed up in guerrilla clothing after they were murdered and claimed as enemy combatants killed in battle. The implicated officers were let out of jail on a technicality because their trial process was not begun within 90 days of their initial charges. That same technicality alone should qualify Obando for release from jail. But it’s been two years and counting.

If trials are based on the credibility of evidence and witnesses, then many observers are speculating that Coy’s testimony can only add weight to those national and international allies calling for Obando’s release.

On Aug. 6, Mogollón was able to obtain a short visit with Obando at the Buen Pastor National Women’s Penitentiary. Asked for a statement about the hearing, Obando said,

“We feel that the hearing was very positive and that, finally, the public is learning that these files were manipulated illegally and without any authorization. Even INTERPOL agreed that the Ministry of Defense later gave them unauthorized copies, some of which were also improperly released to the public without any verification of their veracity. This is just another example of the witch hunt called the farc-politica.”

#BogotáColombia #Bogotá #Colombia #PoliticalPrisoners #FENSUAGRO #AllianceForGlobalJustice #Americas

I’m a fairly tall man, and Liliany is relatively small. But upon first meeting her, I was engulfed by one of her bear hugs – hugs that show a heart and courage many times larger than her size. Liliany is in jail, accused of ‘rebellion.’ Yet even behind bars, she is organizing; collecting the testimonies of other political prisoners and advocating for a humanitarian exchange of prisoners between the Colombian government and guerrillas as a first step toward a just peace.

Liliany is the first person arrested through the ‘farc-politica’ process, which is aimed against unionists, academics and others aligned with the opposition. Recently, Miguel Angel Betran became the second person arrested and at least twelve persons have been investigated as a part of this process. Both Liliany and Beltran are sociologists. Liliany also worked as a consultant for Fensuagro, Colombia’s largest union of farmers and farm workers. Liliany was arrested the very week she released a report on the murders of more than 1500 Fensuagro members and leaders over 30 years.

The ‘farc-politica’ is supposedly based on emails and files culled from computers belonging to Raul Reyes, the second-in-command leader of the FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army). Reyes was killed by an illegal U.S./Colombian attack on a FARC-EP camp in Ecuador, on March 1, 2008. This camp was working out details of a planned release of FARC-EP held prisoners of war. The bombing was an attack on the entire peace process.

The reliability of this ‘evidence’ is thoroughly discredited. The computers were in the hands of Colombian authorities for ten days before being turned over to the international police agency, INTERPOL. INTERPOL said that the evidence could not be authenticated and that the handling “…did not conform to internationally recognized principles for handling electronic evidence by law enforcement...”

Colombian authorities cite emails from the computers as the basis for charges against Liliany and others. However, Captain Ronald Hayden Coy Ortiz of Colombia’s Investigative Police said in court that the computers contained no emails at all, only Word documents. Word documents are easily manipulated. Captain Coy was the first person to access these computers and oversaw their initial investigation.

Miguel suggests his arrest is a “judicial false positive.” This refers to the ‘false positive’ scandal that caused the downfall of dozens of high-ranking Colombian military officials – many who trained at the often-protested School of the Americas in Columbus, Georgia. The Colombian military officials are guilty of kidnapping and killing nearly 1200 young Colombians, dressing them up in guerrilla clothing, and claiming them as FARC-EP fighters slain in battle.

The ‘farc-politica’ is really a ‘farce-politica.’ It serves two purposes, one obviously being to imprison, intimidate and repress political opposition. The other purpose is to divert attention away from the ‘para-politica’ scandal. The paramilitary scandal ties over 100 members of Congress and officials of Colombian President Uribe’s administration to the death squads. 42 are now in jail for participating in events that led directly to assassinations, but many roam free.

Because of Liliany’s association with the peasants’ union Fensuagro, she is especially vulnerable. The U.S.-backed war in Colombia is an aggression against rural populations – especially small and cooperative farmers and indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations.

The U.S. has given over $7 billion in military aid to Colombia, trained hundreds of its soldiers in the notorious School of the Americas and directs the Colombian military in carrying out this war. However, Plan Colombia is a big failure, so there are serious moves on for a new U.S. war plan. The U.S. is going to take over and rebuild seven new military bases in Colombia. This is bad news for peasants and workers in Colombia, who suffer poverty, misery and death at the hands of the U.S. and Colombian military. It is also bad news for working people in the U.S. who foot the bill, while suffering through the worst economic crisis in decades. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to push for a Free Trade deal!

Both the U.S.-backed war and the Free Trade of the Americas (FTA) deal are for the direct benefit of huge transnational corporations like Chiquita Banana, Coca-Cola, Occidental Petroleum and Drummond Coal. Over 4.5 million people have been displaced by the U.S.-backed war in Colombia. Family farmers and farm workers make up over 60% of the displaced. Wealthy landowners and investors move in to take this land – up to 6.8 million hectares of land have been swindled. Wherever such displacement occurs, the land is soon ceded to petroleum, mining, biofuel (African palm oil) or big agricultural (sugarcane) interests. Passage of an FTA with Colombia would be the crowning achievement of this corporate land grab and is the economic underpinning to the war.

Liliany is being targeted because of her work on behalf of Fensuagro. She is accused of raising money for the FARC-EP under the auspices of the union. Fensuagro is falsely portrayed as a front for the guerrillas and has already had bank accounts closed due to the case. However, the money that Liliany raised is traceable and never went into the hands of the guerrillas. Her real ‘crime’ is advocating for agrarian reform – land for the peasants – as a cornerstone for a just peace in Colombia.

On our delegation, we not only visited Liliany and other prisoners, but we visited two different farms and attended community meetings. I can say without exaggeration that of the many farmers and farm workers we met, every single person lost close family members or friends to military and paramilitary violence. Aidee Moreno, the human rights officer for Fensuagro, lost her husband, mother, brother and niece within ten years -three of the four within two years.

It is shocking to realize how many of those killed so randomly were youths…even children. One night, the leader of a cooperative asked us to watch a video with him. It was a grisly video I had no desire to see. We watched it, nonetheless, because we felt doing so contradicted some of the isolation he and community members must feel under such conditions. The video showed a young man and woman – neither beyond high school age – murdered by shots to their heads. The scene of the bodies showed community members, who assembled immediately with video camera in hand, calling on DAS (Administrative Department of Security) officers to come investigate.

The murder scene was shown in detail, before it could be changed, before two more young people could be dressed up and claimed as ‘false positives.’ The bowls of food they were eating were lying beside them, their bodies crumpled up where they had been sitting casually, finishing modest dinners. The only weapons anywhere near were the weapons the soldiers carried. The victory from all this was that these murders were made public for what they were and the victims not lost among the ‘false positives.’ However, no one was ever prosecuted for the crimes. The immunity rate for such political murders is over 95%.

We heard story after story of similar atrocities. Every day innocent lives are destroyed and families are ripped apart as farmers and farm workers and indigenous persons and Afro-Colombians are assassinated, driven from their homes, and/or placed under sudden and arbitrary arrest.

On my final visit to see Liliany, I went on the ‘men’s visiting day’ with two fellow delegates. At first, we just visited with Liliany, but around lunchtime, we went down to a common room, put our tables together and pretty much had a party for the rest of the visit. We ate and talked and joked together, played some games and finished the afternoon dancing. (I’m a pretty rotten dancer, which provided some genuine amusement for the general population!)

Throughout our visit, I saw prisoners, farmers and activists enjoying themselves, despite all this repression. These people were the most generous and fun loving people I’d ever met anywhere, hands down. Every smile, every good time they have is an act of resistance, a victory against repression – a refusal to surrender. I asked Liliany about this, and she told me about a saying they have: “Today we struggle, tonight we dance!”

The women I met at the Buen Pastor prison were there for no other ‘crime’ than thinking differently and wanting a better country. And some of them were, indeed, captured soldiers of the FARC-EP. I looked in the eyes of these women and talked to them and laughed with them and danced with them. These were women who had had enough of seeing their loved ones killed and their own lives threatened and who had come to a point where they were ready to fight back. A few took up arms. Others simply began to organize unions or demonstrations and other mobilizations for social change.

The women prisoners, or presas, joked with us, asked us how we liked “being surrounded by all these dangerous women?” I liked it a lot. And next time I come, I’m going to learn to dance. That’s what my trip to Colombia is teaching me: to struggle and to dance. I want to be ready when the time comes to dance on the rubble of U.S. imperialism as we prepare to build that better world we all dream of and fight for.

#BogotáColombia #Bogotá #Labor #Colombia #PoliticalPrisoners #LilianyObando #Americas

La diferencia entre la ciudad y el campo en Colombia es dramática. Las comunidades rurales muchas veces carecen de electricidad, sistema de cuidado de salud, escuelas, agua potable y saneamiento. Los campesinos no tienen caminos para trasladar las cosechas al mercado y no pueden competir con los productos agropecuarios de los Estados Unidos, baratos y libres de impuestos. En consecuencia muchos campesinos cultivan coca para mantener a sus familias.

Desgraciadamente, estas no son las únicas dificultades a las que se enfrentan los campesinos. El gobierno colombiano, juntos con escuadrones de la muerte paramilitares y el ejército estadounidense, ha impuesto el terrorismo de estado a las comunidades campesina, indígena y afro-colombiana por 40 años. La meta del gobierno colombiano es dar acceso a los recursos naturales colombianos a los Estados Unidos y a las corporaciones multinacionales desalojando a los habitantes rurales de sus tierras de forma violenta.

Uno de los métodos usados para el desalojo es la fumigación. Bajo el “plan Colombia” estadounidense, contratistas militares de dicho país rocían los campos colombianos desde aviones con sustancias tóxicas. La administración del gobierno de Bush afirma que la fumigación detendrá el crecimiento de la coca, materia prima de la cocaína. Hubert Gómez, presidente nacional de FENSUAGRO, tiene otro punto de vista. “en Colombia hemos sufrido por la fumigación por más de 30 años. La fumigación destruye el ecosistema y el sustento de los campesinos.”. Cultivos, ganado, y gente son cotidianamente rociados con sustancias químicas. Hay víctimas que reportan enfermedades en la piel y defectos de nacimiento. Al mismo tiempo que es muy efectivo deteniendo el crecimiento de la coca, es exitoso en desplazar a miles de paisanos de sus tierras.

El estado también usa tácticas violentas. Bajo el pretexto de eliminar a los “simpatizantes con la guerrilla”, el ejército colombiano ataca a activistas sociales. Los Estados Unidos ayudan proporcionando consejeros militares, armas, y vehículos. En estas operaciones los militares y paramilitares trabajan los unos con los otros. “Los soldados del ejército colombiano se convierten en paramilitares al atarse en el brazo una cinta de paramilitar.”, dijo un activista campesino. “Los paramilitares van a los pueblos, matan gente, se van, se sacan las cintas de los bazos, y retornan como soldados, supuestamente para ayudar. Los comandantes de estas unidades militares son entrenados en la Escuela de las Américas (SOA).”. La SOA en Fort Benning, Georgia, entrena a soldados latinoamericanos para torturar, intimidar, y formar guerrillas contra-revolucionarias.

A pesar de la brutal represión, los campesinos resisten. Liderando la lucha está FENSUAGRO, que coordina a las asociaciones campesinas a nivel nacional. Usan diversas tácticas para defender las tierras, vidas y formas de sustento de los campesinos. Para protestar por la falta de caminos e infraestructuras en las zonas rurales, FENSUAGRO moviliza comunidades para bloquear carreteras. En dos provincias del sur-oeste, en el mes de Mayo pasado, 150.000 personas se movilizaron y cerraron la carretera panamericana por 8 días. Inmediatamente fueron atacados por los militares y la policía. Su acción forzó al gobierno a entrar en una ronda de negociaciones para discutir la inversión de dinero de los impuestos en el desarrollo rural, “la única forma de salir adelante es por la movilización de la masas, aunque esto signifique que alguna de nuestra gente morirá.”.

A cualquier lugar al que viajaba la delegación, los campesinos se mostraban muy agradecidos: sin la ayuda militar de los Estados Unidos, el gobierno colombiano sería incapaz de perseguir violentamente a los colombianos. Katrina Plotz, miembro de la delegación, explicó: “es tiempo de un cuestionamiento drástico de nuestras prioridades nacionales. Billones de dólares están siendo gastados en el Plan Colombia para la llamada “guerra” a las drogas y al terror. ¿Que significa esto para los colombianos? Dislocación, hambre, amenazas de muerte, tortura, asesinatos. El gobierno estadounidense está emprendiendo una guerra al terror sobre los colombianos. Debemos educar a la gente sobre cómo los dólares de los impuestos de los EEUU están siendo gastados. Si los estadounidenses supieran la verdad sobre la intervención de USA en Colombia, la opondrían de forma aplastante.”

#BogotáColombia #Bogotá #AntiwarMovement #News #Colombia #FENSUAGRO #RedDeAcciónDeColombia #Americas

The difference between the city and countryside in Colombia is dramatic. Rural communities often lack electricity, health care, schools, drinkable water and sanitation. Peasant farmers don’t have roads to transport their crops to market and cannot compete with cheap, free-trade goods from American agribusinesses. As a result, many peasants must grow coca to feed their families.

Unfortunately, these are not the only hardships that peasants face. The Colombian government, working with paramilitary death squads and the U.S. military, has employed state terrorism against peasant, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities for 40 years. The Colombian government’s goal is to open Colombia’s natural resources to U.S. and multinational corporations by violently forcing rural inhabitants from their land.

One method of displacement is fumigation. Under the U.S. government’s Plan Colombia, U.S. military contractors spray toxic chemicals from planes across the Colombian countryside. The Bush administration claims that fumigation will stop the growth of coca, the raw material for cocaine. Hubert Gomez, national vice-president of FENSUAGRO, has another view. “In Colombia we have suffered from fumigation for over 30 years. Fumigation destroys the ecosystem and the livelihood of campesinos.” Food crops, livestock and people are routinely sprayed with chemicals. Victims report skin diseases and birth defects. While its record for reducing coca production is abysmal, aerial fumigation succeeds in displacing thousands of peasants.

The state also uses violence. Under the pretext of eliminating ‘guerrilla sympathizers,’ the Colombian military attacks social activists. The U.S. helps by supplying military advisers, weapons and vehicles. In these operations the military and paramilitaries work side by side. “The soldiers in the Colombian military become paramilitaries by putting on a paramilitary armband,” said one peasant activist. “The paramilitary go into town, kill people, leave, remove their armbands and return as soldiers to the scene, supposedly to help. Commanders of these military units are trained at the School of the Americas.” The School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia trains Latin American soldiers in torture, intimidation and counter-insurgency warfare.

In spite of the brutal repression, peasants resist. Leading the struggle is FENSUAGRO, which coordinates peasant associations nationwide. They use a number of tactics to defend the land, lives and livelihood of peasants. To protest the lack of roads and infrastructure in rural regions, FENSUAGRO mobilizes communities to blockade highways. In two southwest provinces in May, 150,000 people mobilized and shut down the Pan-American Highway for eight days. They were immediately attacked by the military and police. Their action forced the government into a round of negotiations over tax spending on rural development. “Under the current regime,” said Eberto Diaz, FENSUAGRO’s national president, “we can only move forward through mass mobilizations, even though this means some of our people will die.”

Everywhere the delegation traveled, peasants agreed: Without U.S. military aid, the Colombian government would be unable to violently persecute the Colombian people. Katrina Plotz, delegation member, explained, “It’s time for a drastic reassessment of our national priorities. Billions of dollars are being spent on Plan Colombia for the so-called wars on drugs and terror. What does this mean for Colombians? Displacement, starvation, death threats, torture, murder. The U.S. government is waging a war of terror on Colombians. We must educate people about how U.S. tax dollars are being spent. If Americans knew the truth about U.S. intervention in Colombia, they would overwhelmingly oppose it.”

#BogotáColombia #Bogotá #AntiwarMovement #News #Colombia #ColombiaActionNetwork #FENSUAGRO #Americas

Bogotá, Colombia – Tom Burke, a reporter for Fight Back! conducted the following interview with Agustin Jimenez Cuello, the president of the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners, on Dec. 7. Agustin Jimenez is the lawyer who represents the Colombia Three – three Irish political activists imprisoned in Colombia on politically motivated, false charges. The three are awaiting the continuation of their trial.

Fight Back!: The Colombia Three, James Monaghan, Niall Connolly, and Martin McCauley were arrested and charged after visiting the Despeje, or Zone for Peace Dialogue, that the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) legally controlled for a few years while negotiating with then Colombian president Pastrana. What were the Colombia Three doing in the Peace Zone and what are the government’s charges against them?

Agustin Jimenez: What the Colombian authorities say is the three Irishmen are accused by an ‘intelligence informant’ who claims to have seen several foreigners in the Peace Zone training the FARC in combat. The Colombia Three are charged with training guerrilla fighters in the use of cylinder mortars.

The Irishmen say they were witnessing the Colombian peace process, in particular the prisoner exchange between the FARC and the Colombian military – investigating what happens during conflict resolution and the reintegration of prisoners into society. The Three have a particular interest in this: James Monoghan works in a similar support group – the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Ireland – and was involved in negotiations that led to the release of Irish prisoners and precisely the need to reintegrate prisoners into society. James has written several articles on this, including writing about FARC negotiations and other processes, so as to make comparisons and analysis. Martin McCauley is an ex-prisoner who came to the Peace Zone to share his experiences and Niall Connolly served as their interpreter and translator.

Another charge against the Colombia Three is that of using false passports. This is a pretense to their arrest. Everyone understands that many former political prisoners in Ireland use false passports, especially to enter the United States, where many of them travel and have friends and family. Because U.S. immigration law has an article essentially saying if you are detained as a political prisoner in Ireland, then you cannot enter the U.S. Other countries have followed the U.S. on this. Many famous people – authors, professors, musicians, etc. – travel with false passports.

Fight Back!: What is happening in the trial now?

Agustin Jimenez: In the Colombian trial, there are three phases. First, there is the interrogation of the accused, which has been completed. Second, the prosecution presents its case. This phase has stalled because the prosecution cannot bring their witnesses to testify. The Colombian government detains the witnesses, but claims one cannot be found and the other refuses to travel to the court. The third phase involves the defense presenting their case. The prosecutor attempted to get the defense to present first. This unusual step reveals that the government has no case. Still, the judge would not rule to dismiss the case. So the trial is a stalemate for now.

Fight Back!: Does the Colombian government have evidence against the Three?

Agustin Jimenez: So far, the Colombian government has produced four testimonies from witnesses. Two say that the Colombia Three had bad motives and one says they were there to teach mortar use. On cross-examination in the interrogation phase, this witness changed his testimony and said it was a German who he saw in Colombia.

Besides the two ‘eyewitnesses,’ the Colombian prosecutor has two forensics experts, one from the Colombian Security Administration, who tested the Irishmen’s clothing for explosives evidence and found nothing. The other forensics testimony is from a U.S. Embassy official, who supposedly found explosives residue on a later test. The U.S. Embassy’s evidence led to the trial. The U.S. Embassy evidence contradicts the Colombian Security Administration evidence.

Fight Back!: What are prison conditions like in Colombia? Where are the Colombia Three held now?

Agustin Jimenez: There is a grave situation in the prisons. Since 1995, the prison population has grown tremendously. The prisons are at 300% of capacity. The conditions are inhuman. There is great violence within the prisons. Many guards are corrupt and there are many weapons and murders. Health care is poor and the food is bad. Usually the prisoners have worked, but there is not enough work with all the overcrowding. The last three years have been much more complicated, with the paramilitaries in the jails. The paramilitaries align with the drug traffickers and since 1999 have declared a war in the prisons. The political prisoners demand separation from the paramilitaries, but this only happened following a June 2001 paramilitary massacre. The news showed the paramilitaries in the prisons with grenades, guns, and M-16 rifles.

The current president, Uribe, appointed a new head of prisons who is trying to end separation. The Colombia Three are held on the first floor with forty-three other political prisoners in Bogotá. Three floors of paramilitaries surround the political prisoners. It is very cramped; they get no sunlight, no outdoor activity, and have to be alert that no paramilitaries can get to the first floor. The Irishmen refused to attend the first stage of their trial, the interrogation. The guards tried to force them, but the Three resisted.

Fight Back!: People in Ireland and the U.S. say the Colombia Three cannot obtain a fair trial. Is this true?

Agustin Jimenez: The Irishmen protested by refusing to attend the first trial phase. This is their right. There is no chance of a fair trial in Colombia. The British, U.S., and Colombian governments have intervened politically in the procedure. Two North American lawyers, a British lawyer, an Australian lawyer, also Paul Hill – who spent 15 years in a British jail, wrongfully convicted in the Guilford Four case – and three Irish representatives, are in Bogotá this week to follow the trial process of the Irishmen.

#Bogotá #Interview #Colombia #Ireland #Interviews #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #FARC #IrishRepublicanMovement #NiallConnolly #JamesMonaghan #MartinMcCauley #Europe

The Colombia Three, Jim Monaghan, Niall Connelly and Martin McCauley, all from Ireland, were recently acquitted after having spent almost three years in prison in Colombia. The three men were found innocent of charges that they were in Colombia to train the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) in guerrilla warfare tactics aimed at overthrowing the Colombian government. They were arrested in August 2001 after visiting the demilitarized zone (established as part of a failed peace process) and have been held in some of Colombia’s most notorious and dangerous prisons since then.

Despite massive pressure from the Colombian, U.S. and British governments, Judge Jairo Acosta found that there was no evidence against the men other than that they were traveling on false passports. In a significant legal judgment, he ordered that the witnesses against the men be investigated for perjury. There is strong evidence that these witnesses had been coached by military intelligence into fabricating accounts of watching the three Irishmen training guerillas, when in fact they were proven to be in Ireland on the dates given.

The three had traveled to Colombia on false passports because of their role as prominent activists in the Irish Republican movement. Had they used their own passports, they most likely would have been denied access to the country. As participants in the peace process currently underway in Ireland, the three men had traveled to Colombia to study and share ideas about the Colombian peace negotiations that were going on at the time.

The declaration of the men’s innocence is a major victory for the grassroots campaign to free the men. It is also a source of deep embarrassment for the Colombian government and its backers in the U.S. government.

The U.S. State Department, along with members of the British government, wanted the men convicted in order to lend legitimacy to their international ‘war on terror.’ The U.S. in particular was seeking justification for its financial support of the Colombian regime under the auspices of ‘combating terrorism.’ In reality, this ‘war’ is driven by U.S. economic and geopolitical interests in the region. It has used military and economic aid to help the Colombian government wage war on its own population through Plan Colombia, renamed the Andean Initiative, which pumps billions of dollars of military aid into Colombia to prevent the FARC and other guerilla organizations from taking power and threatening U.S. interests.

The proven innocence of the Colombia Three is an important win for activists and campaigners concerned with justice, dignity and equality in Colombia and in Ireland. The pressure and commitment of the ‘Bring them Home’ campaign in Ireland focused international attention on the case of the Three, and forced elected representatives to take a stance. It played a vital role in the legal defense of the men and in producing evidence and observers at the trial. If it were not for this level of grassroots support and activism from the working class in Ireland and dedicated activists in the U.S. and elsewhere, a very different verdict may have been reached. While we should celebrate and acknowledge this victory, we also need to keep up the pressure on the Colombian government. Colombian prosecutors are appealing the case, and the three Irishmen cannot return home until the appeal issue is resolved.

#Bogotá #News #Colombia #Ireland #FARC #peaceProcess #IrishRepublicanMovement #Europe