Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera.

The Sentencing of Colombian Revolutionary Ricardo Palmera

On December 3rd Colombian revolutionary Ricardo Palmera faces sentencing in a Washington D.C. federal court. The National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera will pack the courtroom in support of this brave freedom fighter.

Sisters and Brothers,

President Bush and the U.S. government slapped the Colombian people in the face by imposing a 60-year prison term upon Colombian revolutionary Ricardo Palmera. Ricardo Palmera is a hero of the Colombian people. He has dedicated his entire life to the struggle of peasants and workers. He is responsible for negotiating peace processes and humanitarian prisoner exchanges on behalf of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC) and was seized in Ecuador on such a mission.

Raul Reyes, a leading member of the FARC – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – was killed by the U.S. backed Colombian government March 1. Fight Back! asked Jess Sundin, who traveled to Colombia and met with Raul Reyes, to give her impressions of him and to speak about the significance of his slaying. Sundin is a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization and an important leader in Minnesota’s peace and justice movement.

His spirit and work will live forever

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Freedom Road Socialist Organization on the murder of Raul Reyes.

Several leaders of the U.S. movement in solidarity with the Colombian people condemned the March 1 killing of Raul Reyes, the main spokesperson for the FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Reyes was murdered in Ecuador by Colombian troops with U.S. assistance.

Meredith Aby, a leader of the Colombia Action Network slammed the Bush administration’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia stating, “We should oppose the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia because it is an attempt by Bush to promote corporate interests at the expense of the working people of Colombia. Colombia is already the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist. The U.S. has spent billions of dollars supporting the repressive Colombian government which sponsors death squads. These death squads kill and attack trade union organizers and anyone else who questions Colombian President Uribe’s right-wing agenda. This free trade deal would be like adding fuel to a fire.”

We are saddened by the death of Manuel Marulanda, commander in chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP). At the same time, we are inspired by the powerful example of his life and work. Marulanda embodied the struggle of the Colombian people for national liberation and socialism. He was both a Colombian patriot and an internationalist – a persistent advocate for a united Latin America free from domination by U.S. imperialism. Marulanda was a Great Liberator, in the tradition of the Simon Bolivar.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Colombia Action Network.