Tom Burke, a founder of the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera, was interviewed by RT (previously known as Russia Today) on the case of Ricardo Palmera, a Colombian rebel who is being held here in the United States. The National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera currently has a petition campaign underway, demanding Palmera’s immediate release.
The National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera is launching a petition campaign targeting U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The National Committee is demanding the U.S. government immediately release the Colombian revolutionary and stop violating Palmera’s human rights. Angela Denio said, “The U.S. government is acting like a tyrant in Colombia and abusing Ricardo Palmera in a Colorado prison by chaining him from head to toe with the constant threat of electric shock. It is outrageous. Where is Obama on all of this? He promised to stop torture.”
Tom Burke, spokesperson for the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera, urgently requests, “Help and aid from Americans, Colombians, and the international community to stop a crime.” Professor Palmera is being put on trial in Colombia while held in solitary confinement in the U.S. He is being forced to wear prison clothes, shackled at the hands and feet and then chained together around the waist, with the ever-present threat of electrical shock if he moves too quickly. This ‘trial’ is a violation of Professor Palmera’s dignity and his rights as a prisoner of war. Tom Burke says, “There is nothing fair or just about the trials and imprisonment of this brave Colombian freedom fighter Ricardo Palmera. Ricardo Palmera should be set free.”
Fight Back! interviewed Ala Jaradat, a Palestinian who lives in the West Bank and is the program manager for Addameer – a Palestinian prisoners support group. Ala Jaradat was in the Twin Cities in November and spoke at Hamline Law School and the University of Minnesota, during a nine-city tour of the United States. Israel currently holds more than 8000 Palestinian political prisoners.
Speaking with Fight Back! Dec. 15, a leader of the U.S.-based National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera, Tom Burke, slammed a Nov. 12 lawsuit filed in Florida Middle District Court against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Burke stated, “This is nothing more than an attempt by a group of U.S. mercenaries to gain publicity and put some more money in their pockets. The lawsuit fits into a larger agenda – to criminalize the main Colombian rebel group, the FARC, an organization that is fighting for a free, just and independent Colombia.”
Bogotá, Colombia – Liliany Obando es poderosa. Ella es una de los miles de prisioneros políticos de Colombia. Ya por un año, le conozco por carta. Por fin, nos conocimos en persona en tres ocasiones, durante una delegación patrocinada por la Campaña de Derechos Laborales (basado en los EEUU) y el Red de Acción Colombiana. Yo representé el Red Internacional en Solidaridad con los Prisioneros Políticos Colombianos.
A spirited picket line protested outside the Colombian consulate in Chicago Oct. 1. 30 students, solidarity and labor activists chanted in support of political prisoners held by the Colombian government of President Uribe. Passersby stopped to read leaflets and listen to chants of, “Free Lily Obando,” “No to U.S. bases,” and “The people of Colombia are under attack! What do we do? Stand up! Fight back!” Chicagoans were joined on Michigan Avenue by activists from Arizona, Minnesota, Ohio, California, Florida and Washington D.C. for this international day of action.
Bogotá, Colombia – Liliany Obando is powerful. She is one thousands of Colombian political prisoners. For a year now, I have known Liliany through letters. We finally met face-to-face on three occasions, during a delegation sponsored by the U.S.-based Campaign for Labor Rights and the Colombia Action Network. I represented the International Network in Solidarity with Colombia’s Political Prisoners.
Washington, DC – Ricardo Palmera (Simon Trinidad) negociador de paz de las FARC tomará el estrado de la corte para testimoniar en su propia defensa en la segunda semana de este mes. Los miembros del Comité Nacional para la Libertad de Ricardo Palmera (CNLRP), estarán presente el día 8 de abril en el juicio. El CNPLRP urge a todos los partidarios y simpatizantes de la lucha por la libertad del revolucionario colombiano a unirse a ellos.
