Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the National Committee to Free Simón Trinidad. His birthday is July 30.

Colombian revolutionary Simón Trinidad has lived 75 years on this earth and his last 21 have been spent as a prisoner of the U.S. Empire. Once a valuable thinker and peace negotiator for the FARC-EP, four sham trials based on bogus charges saw a U.S. federal court eventually sentence Trinidad to 60 years in the Federal Supermax prison in Florence, CO. The terms of his imprisonment included the psychologically challenging isolation of Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) and the restrictive access to legal support. His U.S. lawyer battled and helped win him access to his Colombian lawyer working on his cases in the U.S.-support Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) handling peace, justice, and reconciliation.

The international campaign to support has yielded messages of solidarity from freed Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar Rivera Lopez, a Nobel Peace laureate and numerous human rights activists from over 18 countries. The magistrate from the JEP, who also ruled Trinidad free of the charge of rebellion, have asked that the U.S. return him to share his knowledge and experience of the country’s past. He is seen as a key asset to the peace process.

A landmark event occurred in the fall of 2024 when current Colombian president Gustavo Petro made a formal request that the U.S. release Trinidad into Colombian custody. Outgoing U.S. president Biden did not commute nor pardon before he left office.

As Simón Trinidad remains strong and endures the conditions in the empire’s prison, we salute his courage to have served his people and continue to present the best of Colombia’s revolutionary heritage. We urge all progressive forces and supporters of human rights to demand that President Trump free Simón Trinidad.

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Fight Back! is circulating this timely statement from the Committee to Free Simon Trinidad.

Call President Biden at 202-456-1111 and ask him to “Free Simon Trinidad!” Call between 11am-3pm Eastern, from Tuesday, December 10 to Thursday, December12.

Leave your message to “Free Simon Trinidad!” on the White House comment line. Now is the time to call before President Biden leaves the White House in January 2024.

Say: “I call on President Biden to ‘Free Simon Trinidad’ so he can return home to Colombia and strengthen the ongoing peace process. 20 years in lock down is too long. Please honor the request of Colombian President Petro for Simon Trinidad’s return. Trinidad was ordered to testify at the special court of justice (JEP) in Bogota, Colombia. Give the gift of peace these holidays! Free Simon Trinidad!”

Who is Simon Trinidad?

Known popularly as Simon Trinidad, he is a Colombian revolutionary and political prisoner of the U.S. held in the Supermax Prison in Florence, Colorado. The U.S. government extradited, held four trials, and now imprisons Trinidad under his birth name of Juvenal Ovidio Ricardo Palmera Pineda (BPO No. 27896-016).

Simon Trinidad was a leader and peace negotiator for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army (FARC-EP). Prior to that, he spent his life organizing people for progressive causes and social change, including with the Patriotic Union (UP) political party.

What will he testify about at the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP)?

Just as he did over the course of four trials in a Washington D.C. Federal Court, Trinidad will speak about his role in the FARC-EP revolutionary movement and then be cross-examined.

He can also detail the political violence against the Patriotic Union (UP) in the 1980’s and 1990’s when more than 4000 party activists, candidates, and elected officials were kidnapped, murdered, and assassinated. The Colombian government and right-wing repression closed the electoral avenue to change in this period. As a political candidate, Trinidad himself was a victim of this terror campaign and it caused him to join the rebel fighters of the FARC-EP at the age of 37.

Why ask President Biden now?

President Biden has the power to release Simon Trinidad in the last days of his term in the White House. It appears as a “now or never moment” for Trinidad and Colombia. We want Trinidad to return home to serve an important role: support and strengthen the ongoing Colombian peace process.

Biden is very familiar with U.S. policy in Colombia. Biden introduced Plan Colombia to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. war plan that spent 10 billion dollars to cause misery, poverty and death in Colombia. Joe Biden was then Vice President under President Obama when the U.S. supported the 2016 Peace Accords between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army (FARC-EP).

What does Colombia’s President Petro want?

Today, the ongoing Colombian peace process with the FARC-EP and the Colombian government faces great challenges. Once back in Colombia, Trinidad will participate in the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, a court backed by the Obama and Biden administrations to create justice and reconciliation.

Trinidad was left out of the peace negotiations between the Colombian Government and FARC-EP which resulted in an uneasy and sometimes faltering peace after 2016. A peace where the far-right paramilitaries continue to murder hundreds of former FARC-EP fighters who trusted the peace process by laying down their arms. The violence of the far-fight continues to claim labor and community leaders every single week to this day. Because of the lack of unity and trust, guerrilla groups like the ELN continue to fight in the countryside, and new ones, remnants of the FARC-EP are appearing.

What can we do?

The ongoing imprisonment of revolutionary Simon Trinidad is a violation of the sovereignty of Colombia. We can help end his imprisonment and now is the time.

Colombia’s President Petro and solidarity activists in the U.S. see Trinidad’s freedom and testimony as a way to reinforce the current peace efforts. Bringing Simon’s historical and institutional knowledge to the special court of the JEP would allow the country to hear and think about a better future. The weight of Simon Trinidad’s absence is heavy, and his leadership is sorely missed by those who he can rally, as well as others who he might persuade.

Freeing Simon Trinidad to face court proceedings under the Special Jurisdiction for Peace in Colombia will show consideration and goodwill from Biden as President of the United States. It will also strengthen the will of those who advocate for democracy in Colombia and in the U.S.

The Committee to Free Simon Trinidad!

info@freesimontrinidad.org and https://freesimontrinidad.org

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“Frecuentemente se escuchan de horribles abusos de los derechos humanos en todo el mundo, pero a sólo dos horas de distancia se encuentra una de las violaciones más graves de los derechos humanos, que se encuentra en la prisión federal de máxima seguridad de Florence”, afirmó Mark Burton al inicio de su presentación sobre su cliente, el revolucionario colombiano Simón Trinidad.

Burton continuó describiendo a la atenta multitud de estudiantes las condiciones inhumanas del aislamiento prolongado que sufren aquellos a quienes “se intenta desechar y olvidar”. Aunque la mayor parte del mundo considera el aislamiento prolongado como una tortura psicológica, Estados Unidos no lo considera así.

Trinidad llevó una vida relativamente cómoda como profesor y banquero en Colombia cuando su interés en trabajar para cambiar a Colombia lo llevó al movimiento electoral de la Unión Patriótica. Lamentablemente, la Unión Patriótica sufrió violencia masiva por parte de los escuadrones de la muerte de extrema derecha en los años 80. A la edad de 37 años, Simón escapó a las montañas para unirse al ejército popular de las FARC-EP. Continuó su papel como educador en la organización revolucionaria y sirvió como negociador de paz.

Las FARC-P lucharon por la nueva Colombia y en su momento controlaron casi un tercio del país, lo que representó un serio desafío para la oligarquía colombiana. Durante muchas administraciones, Estados Unidos buscó inclinar la balanza a favor de la élite rica. Esto tuvo su expresión más grave en el Plan Colombia, que financió, armó, entrenó y comandó a las fuerzas militares colombianas, bajo el disfraz de la “guerra contra las drogas”, en tácticas antiinsurgentes.

A fines de 2003, una operación de inteligencia coordinada por Estados Unidos secuestró a Trinidad en Ecuador y, finalmente, el presidente de extrema derecha Álvaro Uribe trabajó con Estados Unidos para extraditarlo y enfrentar una serie de cargos falsos.

Se necesitaron cuatro juicios y varios cambios en los cargos para condenar a Simón por secuestrar a contratistas militares estadounidenses que realizaban vuelos de reconocimiento sobre el territorio de las FARC-EP. Todavía no hay evidencia real para probar el caso de Estados Unidos. El gobierno de Estados Unidos le dio efectivamente una sentencia de cadena perpetua de 60 años.

A pesar de las graves injusticias, el clima político actual tanto en Colombia como en Estados Unidos presenta las mejores condiciones para liberar a Simón Trinidad desde su captura.

“Necesitamos un diálogo entre el presidente Petro y el presidente Biden sobre el importante papel que puede desempeñar Simón en el tribunal único conocido como la Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz creada por los históricos Acuerdos de Paz de 2016. La experiencia de Simón como víctima de la violencia política en los años 80 y su conocimiento institucional de la guerra civil pueden movilizar y unir a muchos colombianos para apoyar el tambaleante proceso de paz”, agregó Burton.

Desde la firma de los Acuerdos de Paz a fines de 2016, las paramilitares de extrema derecha han continuado la violencia al matar a más de 1.300 líderes sociales y varios cientos de excombatientes de las FARC-EP que aceptaron deponer las armas. Mientras los escuadrones de la muerte aterrorizan a quienes trabajan por la paz, Simón Trinidad, un reconocido negociador de paz, languidece en una prisión en las montañas de Colorado.

El pueblo de Colombia está harto de la vieja forma de hacer las cosas. Años consecutivos de huelgas nacionales desafiaron el orden gobernante y trajeron una ola de cambios a la presidencia y vicepresidencia con la elección de Gustavo Petro y Francia Márquez. Claramente, la necesidad de paz con justicia y reconciliación es central en las mentes de los colombianos, ya que miles de personas se manifestaron en una vigilia en memoria de todas las víctimas de la extrema derecha desde la aprobación de los Acuerdos de Paz.

Con el apoyo social y político en Colombia y menos de 100 días en el mandato del presidente Biden, el momento de liberar a Simón Trinidad es ahora.

La multitud, compuesta por muchos capítulos de Estudiantes por una Sociedad Democrática (SDS) Nacional en colegios y universidades, rugió de aplausos cuando Burton concluyó con su compromiso de hacer “todo lo que sea posible y necesario para liberar a Simón Trinidad”.

El segundo día de la convención, SDS una vez más votó para apoyar el llamado del Comité Nacional para la Libertad de Trinidad con una resolución que describe la historia y la importancia de apoyar la paz con justicia en Colombia, y el papel central que Simón Trinidad debe desempeñar en eso.

La última sección de la resolución comienza así: “Simón Trinidad está ganando impulso popular ya que ahora tiene acceso a su abogado colombiano después de una demanda exitosa contra el gobierno de Estados Unidos. Necesitamos que el presidente colombiano Petro exija el regreso de Simón Trinidad en coordinación con la JEP. Necesitamos que el presidente de los Estados Unidos libere a Simón Trinidad. Pedimos a todas las fuerzas progresistas que difundan el llamado y exijan: ¡Libertad para Simón Trinidad!”.

Para obtener información sobre Simón Trinidad y la campaña para liberarlo, visite: www.freesimontrinidad.org

#International #Colombia #SimonTrinidad #PoliticalPrisoners #SDS #StudentMovement

Denver, CO – “You often hear of horrific human rights abuses around the world but just two hours down the road is one of the grossest violations of human rights, located at the federal supermax prison in Florence,” stated Mark Burton to open his presentation about his client, Colombian revolutionary Simon Trinidad.

Burton went on to describe to the attentive student crowd the inhumane conditions of the prolonged solitary confinement suffered by those who “are attempted to be thrown away and forgotten.” Although most of the world views prolonged solitary confinement as psychological torture, the U.S. does not.

Trinidad led a relatively comfortable life as a professor and banker in Colombia when his interest in working to change Colombia brought him to the electoral movement of the Patriotic Union. Sadly, the Patriotic Union suffered massive violence from far-right death squads in the 1980s. At the age of 37, Simon escaped to the mountains to join the people’s army of the FARC-EP. He continued his role as an educator with the revolutionary organization and served as a peace negotiator.

The FARC-P fought for new Colombia and once controlled nearly one-third of the country, presenting a serious challenge to the Colombian oligarchy. The U.S. across many administrations sought to tip the scales in favor of the rich elite. This saw its most serious expression in Plan Colombia, which funded, armed, trained and commanded Colombian military forces, under the guise of the “War on Drugs,” in anti-insurgency tactics.

In late 2003, a U.S.-coordinated intelligence operation kidnapped Trinidad in Ecuador and eventually far-right President Alvaro Uribe worked with the U.S. to extradite him to face a number of bogus charges.

It took four trials, and various changes in charges, to convict Simon of kidnapping U.S. military contractors who were doing reconnaissance flights over FARC-EP territory. There still remains no actual evidence to prove the U.S.’s case. The U.S. government effectively gave him a life sentence of 60 years.

Despite the grave injustices, the current political climate in both Colombia and the U.S. present the best conditions to Free Simon Trinidad since his capture.

“We need dialogue between President Petro and President Biden about the important role Simon can play in the unique court known as the Special Jurisdiction for Peace created by the historic 2016 Peace Accords. Simon’s experience as a victim of political violence in the 80s and his institutional knowledge of the civil war can rally and unite many Colombians to support the faltering peace process,” added Burton.

Since the signing of the Peace Accords in late 2016, far-right paramilities have continued the violence by killing well over 1300 social leaders and several hundreds of former FARC-EP fighters who agreed to lay down their arms. As the death squads terrorize those working toward peace, Simon Trinidad, a recognized peace negotiator, languishes in a prison in the mountains of Colorado.

The people of Colombia are fed up with the old way of things. Consecutive years of national strikes challenged the ruling order and brought a wave of change into the presidency and vice presidency with the election of Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez. Clearly, the need for peace with justice and reconciliation is central on the minds of Colombians, as thousands demonstrated a remembrance vigil of all the victims of the far right since the passing of the Peace Accords.

With social and political support in Colombia and less than 100 days in President Biden’s term, the time to free Simon Trinidad is now.

The crowd, made up of many chapters of the National SDS on colleges and universities, roared their applause when Burton concluded with his commitment to do “all that is possible and necessary to free Simon Trinidad!”

On day two of the convention, SDS once again voted to support the call from the National Committee to Free Trinidad with a resolution that outlines the history and importance of supporting peace with justice in Colombia, and the central role Simon Trinidad must play in that.

The last section of the resolution begins: “Momentum is building for Simón Trinidad as he now has access to his Colombian lawyer after a successful lawsuit against the U.S. government. We need Colombian President Petro to demand the return of Simon Trinidad in coordination with the JEP. We need the United States President to free Simon Trinidad. We ask all progressive forces to spread the call and demand: Free Simón Trinidad!”

For information about Simon Trinidad and the campaign to free him please visit: www.freesimontrinidad.org

#International #Colombia #PoliticalPrisoners #SimonTrinidad #SDS #StudentMovement #Feature

With the death of Senator Piedad Cordoba, Colombia lost a great leader and friend of the people. For Simon Trinidad, Colombian revolutionary and prisoner of the U.S. empire, it was the sad loss of a valuable advocate.

Piedad Cordoba was found dead at her home by bodyguards on January 20, likely due to a heart attack. This was after a long life of struggle for the freedom of the Colombian people.

Piedad Cordoba was a labor lawyer, activist and politician who stood for the independence and sovereignty of Colombia. She opposed U.S. intervention and Wall Street rule. She wanted a Colombia that was free and served the needs of the Colombian people instead of foreign corporations and billionaires. Like Presidents Chavez and Maduro in Venezuela, she was a Bolivarian revolutionary who wanted freedom from U.S. domination.

Last Saturday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro praised Senator Cordoba as one who “fought all her mature life for a more democratic society.”

As far back as 1997, Cordoba was a staunch opponent of laws allowing the extradition of Colombians to the U.S. She argued that Colombians uphold and rely on their own laws and courts to dispense justice, and that extradition violates Colombia’s legal sovereignty.

She was involved in humanitarian exchanges of prisoners between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army. Officially recognized as a go-between by the Colombian government of Alvaro Uribe, she was brave and effective. She worked with President Chavez of Venezuela and former Argentine President Kirchner on these projects.

Cordoba was a Colombian senator from 1994 to 2010, elected repeatedly with the left wing of the Liberal Party. Bold and outspoken, she publicly exposed Colombian President Uribe and many leading conservative politicians for having financial and political ties with the drug cartels and far-right paramilitary groups like the AUC. All this was known to the U.S. government.

The senator loudly opposed the U.S. war plan, Plan Colombia, which brought poverty, misery and death to Colombia’s countryside. Introduced to the U.S. Senate by Joe Biden in 1999, Plan Colombia spent more than $10 billion during the presidencies of Bush and Obama. Like other U.S. interventions, it was designed to roll back the gains of the expanding and advancing People’s Army. It also greatly expanded the war in Colombia, especially increasing the killing of trade unionists, peasant, indigenous, Afro-Colombian leaders, and many innocent civilians.

One of the more hideous results of Plan Colombia was the more than 1400 “false positives”. These were young people abducted and murdered by Colombian military officers, who were paid for every FARC rebel body they could produce. As both an intimidation tactic and financial gain, this wicked policy incentivized Colombian military leaders to coordinate the kidnapping and massacre of noncombatants, claiming them to be FARC members. Colombian military officers were trained in the United States at the notorious School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia.

President Uribe retaliated against Cordoba by stripping her senate seat first in 2005, and again in 2010. The Colombian Supreme Court restored her rights in 2016 due to a lack of evidence against her. This lifted an 18-year ban from holding office and she ran for the presidency in 2018. The recent election victory of President Petro allowed her to reclaim her senate seat.

Senator Cordoba campaigned in Colombia to free Simon Trinidad, currently held prisoner by the U.S. in a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. She visited Simon Trinidad in the Washington D.C. jail during the time when he faced four trials and was sentenced to 60 years in prison by a U.S. federal judge.

Trinidad was a FARC insurgent fighting a civil war in his own country, where the U.S. government was intervening to fund, arm and direct a war. The U.S. government was angry because three of its military contractors had been captured and held by the FARC. Trinidad’s imprisonment is seen as retaliation, even though the FARC has since signed a peace agreement and disbanded in 2016.

Piedad Cordoba lived a long life of struggle, dedicated to the people of Colombia. She was unstoppable: having been kidnapped by the AUC right-wing paramilitaries, exiled to Canada for over a year, surviving at least two assassination attempts, and still forcing the Colombian and U.S. governments to answer for their corruption and crimes. Piedad Cordoba’s legacy in Colombia will live on in the people’s movements for democracy and freedom from U.S. domination.

With the sad passing of Senator Piedad Cordoba, there will need to be a renewed effort to find leaders in Colombia who defend the sovereignty and independence of Colombia. The Colombian court formed by the Peace Accords, the Special Jurisdiction of Peace (JEP), has formally asked the U.S. government multiple times to allow Trinidad to participate. In September 2023, the Amnesty and Pardon Chamber of the JEP announced Trinidad as a member to appear before their transitional justice court. Weeks later Cordoba sent a letter to President Petro urging him to create the conditions for Trinidad to appear stating. “It would be very important for the country to know the truth about this former FARC member, who is willing to provide the whole truth.”

Perhaps President Gustavo Petro can honor Piedad Cordoba by finishing her work to “Free Simon Trinidad”? A fitting tribute would be for President Petro to request that President Biden send Simon Trinidad home to participate in the Colombian peace and reconciliation processes.

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On January 2, 2004, under the orders of the U.S. government and the CIA, Ecuadorian and Colombian forces kidnapped and arrested Colombian revolutionary Simon Trinidad. 20 years detained and imprisoned is 20 too many. That needs to change immediately, and conditions are better than ever for activists in the U.S. and Colombia to push for his freedom.

A member of the revolutionary organization and army of the people, the FARC, since 1987, Trinidad was a leading thinker and peace negotiator. Acting in that role, Trinidad’s and the FARC’s peace-seeking efforts have been routinely sabotaged by the U.S. government and the far-right Colombian oligarchy.

How does a Colombian revolutionary fighting for his own people, in his own country, end up on trial in the U.S.? After four sham trials in Washington D.C., Trinidad was sentenced to 60 years solitary confinement in the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

As Trinidad languished under repressive “Special Administrative Measures” in Colorado, the Colombian peace process bypassed him and was ratified in 2016. This was despite international solidarity activists and the FARC demanding Trinidad be freed to help Colombia navigate the difficult peace. The Colombian Peace Accords did lead to the creation of a special court, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). Now the JEP courts are calling for the U.S. government to allow Simon Trinidad to participate. The JEP wants to question Simon Trinidad in an effort to bring clarity, truth and justice.

There is a transformed political landscape in Colombia with a progressive, former guerrilla, former prisoner holding office. President Gustavo Petro is showing initiative and independence. Petro’s foreign minister, a conservative, is just the person to ask the U.S. government under President Joe Biden to repatriate Simon Trinidad back to Colombia. It is a good move to advance the continuing struggle for peace.

It is in these conditions that the movement to “Free Simon Trinidad!” finds itself. The situation is far more favorable than before. However, “where the broom does not reach, the dust will not sweep itself.”

We need to continue to organize and support Colombian requests to repatriate Simon Trinidad and pressure President Biden to oblige. To date, the JEP has yet to receive a response from the U.S. government since its first communication in March 2023 that it wants access to question Trinidad. Forces are in motion in Colombia, and activists in the U.S. need to do our part to demand freedom for an unjustly imprisoned revolutionary.

Let 2024 be the final year of U.S. imprisonment for Simon Trinidad!

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