Chicago, IL – Trade unionists and solidarity activists gathered to hear Nidia Quintero, Secretary General of FENSUAGRO, speak at Chicago’s United Electrical hall on April 6. Quintero leads Colombia’s largest agricultural workers union and was in Chicago to attend the Labor Notes conference. She spoke about Colombian workers peasants and why international support for the peace process in Colombia is important.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from FENSUAGRO, the largest agricultural workers union in Colombia. Nidia Quintero the Secretary General of FENSUAGRO is attending the Labor Notes Conference in Chicago starting on April 1, the same day as the large teachers union protests in Chicago. DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF CHICAGO

Denver, CO – On March 24, Cindy Paola Pérez, a member of the central committee of the Young Communists of Colombia (popularly know as la Juco) was summarily deported from the Mexico City airport. Perez was invited to Mexico to attend the IV Congress of the Young Communists of Mexico as a delegate. The Mexican immigration authorities deported Perez, giving the Colombian activist no explanation other than the fact that she knew Colombian political prisoner Miguel Angel Beltran.

_Statement by National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera (Simon Trinidad) _

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following February 12 statement from the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera (Simon Trinidad). We encourage readers to call President Obama today. Love not War! Peace for Colombia! Free Simon Trinidad!

Minneapolis, MN: Around 30 people gathered here, Jan. 28, at May Day Bookstore to hear from Anti-War Committee activists about the Colombian peace negotiations in Havana, Cuba. Afterwards they discussed whether the Colombian civil war is coming to a close and what the significance of an end to the more than 50 year war would mean for the social movements in Colombia.

As the Colombian peace process enters its final months of negotiations, the Colombian government set Liliany (Lily) Obando free the week of Jan. 22. Obando is a leading and renowned human rights defender. While in prison, Lily Obando never ceased to raise her voice in protest against the ongoing and systemic violations of human rights by the INPEC (Colombian prisons administration), and turned the prison into a place of struggle.

El siguiente mensaje es una respuesta a una serie de preguntas enviadas a Huber Ballesteros por James Jordan de la Alianza por la Justicia Global. Ballesteros fue detenido cuando estaba trabajando como negociador para el paro agrario nacional de 2013 en Colombia y es acusado de “rebelión”. Él también sirvió en el comité ejecutivo de Fensuagro (Federación Nacional Sindical Unitaria Agropecuaria), la federación de trabajadores agropecuarios más grande de Colombia y la Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), la federación laboral más grande del país. Firme la petición para la libertad de Huber Ballesteros, sindicalista colombiano y preso político Haz clic aquí para ver el video de esta entrevista con Huber Ballesteros

The following message is a response to a series of questions posed to Hubert Ballesteros by James Jordan of the Alliance for Global Justice. Ballesteros was arrested while negotiating for the National Agrarian Strike of 2013 and charged with Rebellion. He was also serving on the executive committees of Fensuagro, the country's largest federation of farm workers unions and the Unitary Workers Center (CUT), Colombia's largest general labor federation.

Havana, Cuba – Nov. 24 was the second day of the fourth International Seminar for Peace and Abolition of Foreign Military Bases, held in Guantanamo Province. There were several presentations made by select delegates as well as group discussion.

_Demands freedom for Colombian revolutionary Simon Trinidad _

Columbus, GA – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and anti-war activists from college campuses in Tampa, Gainesville and Tallahassee, Florida traveled to Columbus to protest the School of the Americas (SOA) on Nov. 20.

Columbus, GA – A large group of anti-war and international solidarity activists passed out hundreds of flyers at the annual School of the Americas (SOA) protest at Fort Benning, Georgia on Nov. 21. The flyer calls to support the peace process in Colombia, freedom for Simon Trinidad and to close the SOA, where Latin American death squads and dictators are trained. The Colombian military trains regularly at the SOA and has the worst human rights record in the hemisphere.

Houston, TX – Over 50 people gathered at Solidarity Houston, a left-wing book store, Nov. 19, to discuss Simon Trinidad and the Colombian peace process. The event was organized by the Houston Anti-War Coalition and included three panelists who spoke about the history of the Colombian left, the Colombian rebel group FARC-EP and the U.S. imperialist war on Colombia.

Tampa, FL – Anti-war activists and students from Florida are mobilizing to protest the School of the Americas (SOA), Nov. 20-22. The SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) a few years ago, but it is still widely known as the SOA meaning “School of Assassins.” It is based at Fort Benning, near Columbus, Georgia.

Florence, CO – El lunes 21 de septiembre, en las afueras de la Penitenciaria Federal de máxima seguridad, localizada en el pequeño pueblo de Florence, Colorado, se realizó una manifestación de suma importancia para la paz y la justicia en América Latina. El Comité Nacional para la liberación de Simón Trinidad, en solidaridad con el proceso de paz que se está llevando a cabo entre las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) y el gobierno Colombiano, organizó una movilización para exigir la liberación inmediata de Simón Trinidad, prisionero político encarcelado en dicha prisión.

Florence, CO – In the mountains of Colorado, 35 spirited protesters marched down Highway 67 to the guardhouse of the U.S. federal supermax prison in Florence on Sept. 21. In the lead were two Colombian American women, with banners reading, “Free Simon Trinidad! Peace for Colombia!” and “Libertad para Simon Trinidad! Paz por Colombia!”

Denver, CO – Friends and supporters of U.S. political prisoner Simon Trinidad will demand “Free Simon Trinidad, Peace for Colombia” at a demonstration outside the Florence, Colorado supermax prison on Sept. 21, at 11:00 a.m. Trinidad is also known in Colombia by his given name, Ricardo Palmera.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

Denver, Colorado – Hundreds of anti-war and international solidarity activists called the White House, June 25, with a message for President Obama, “Peace for Colombia! Free Simon Trinidad!”

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP).

Fight Back! interviewed James Jordan, with the Alliance For Global Justice in Tucson, Arizona. Jordan recently returned from a solidarity delegation to the Colombian peace negotiations taking place between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) and the Colombian government in Havana, Cuba. The FARC-EP want their peace negotiator Simon Trinidad at the talks.