Jessica Sundin, of the Colombia Action Network, led a small delegation of three North American activists to Bogatá in July 2000, to attend a conference responding to U.S. military aid. The delegation also traveled to the area in Southern Colombia controlled by the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (FARC-EP). Fight Back! interviewed Jessica about what she saw there.

FARC-EP Spokesperson

I want to say to the people of the U.S. that the Colombian people admire and respect your efforts.

New York, NY – Over the month of February, the newly formed Colombian Action Network organized its first national speaking tour, featuring Amparo Torres, a human rights activist and labor leader from Colombia. Events took place in Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York City.

Minneapolis, MN – In February, Colombian human rights activist, Maria Hernandez will visit several cities across the U.S., to give a first-hand account of the true story behind the U.S. drug war in Colombia. Her speaking tour comes on the heels of several national, grassroots initiatives to block President Clinton's proposal for $1.3 billion in new military aid to Colombia.

This is the second part of an interview Fight Back! conducted with Marco Leon Calarca, a spokesperson for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Click here to see the first part of the interview, which appeared in our Fall 1999 issue.

Fight Back! conducted the following interview with Marco Leon Calarca, a spokesperson for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), to give our readers a better understanding of the war that is unfolding in Colombia.  This is part 1 of a 2-part interview.  Click here to see part 2, which appeared in the Winter 2000 edition of Fight Back!

The Colombia Action Network is organizing events in six cities to honor and remember those killed by the U.S.-backed war in Colombia. March 1 is significant because one year ago the U.S. government directed an attack inside Ecuador that killed Raul Reyes and 25 others. Raul Reyes was a commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP). Angela Denio who will be speaking in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said, “We will remember the brave Colombian rebels, Ecuadorian supporters and Mexican students who died at the hands of the U.S.-sponsored attack in Ecuador, especially FARC leader Raul Reyes who gave his life for the freedom of the Colombian people.”