_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!

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.

Chicago, IL – Chicago supporters of Rasmea Odeh, a nationally known leader of the Palestinian community, are organizing in a big way to get people to her Oct. 14 appeal hearing in Cincinnati, Ohio. Odeh’s attorneys are set to challenge her unjust conviction on bogus immigration charges in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Florida supporters of the prominent Palestinian American leader Rasmea Odeh are mobilizing people to attend her Oct. 14 appeal hearing in Cincinnati, Ohio. At the hearing in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Odeh’s lawyers will challenge her conviction on a trumped-up immigration charge. Odeh is facing jail and deportation.

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!”

Houston, TX – Activists organized a number of activities to show solidarity with Rasmea Odeh, the unjustly convicted Palestinian activist. On Sept. 8, an information session was held, in which her case was discussed, with a turnout of over 20 people.