Behind closed doors, Uribe spoke about how he brought prosperity and peace to the Colombian people by combating violent militias. The opposite is in fact true. Uribe supported right-wing militia groups connected to the Colombian military and which were also partially funded by U.S. corporations like Drummond Coal, Chiquita Banana and Coca-Cola. The so-called AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia) terrorize the countryside, carrying out gruesome attacks against poor farmers and driving them off their land. Colombia now has the largest displaced population in the world, more than even Iraq, where the U.S. occupation is wreaking havoc. Over 4 million rural Colombians are crowding into towns and cities with no work and few prospects. Many Colombian farmers are fleeing over the borders into neighboring countries like Venezuela.

In addition, Uribe left office on the heels of the ‘false positives, scandal, where dozens of Colombian military officers were caught kidnapping low-income young men from the cities, executing them in the countryside and claiming they were members of the powerful Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group killed in combat. The current President Santos was Uribe’s Minister of Defense overseeing the military officers who carried out the systematic murders of close to 3000 civilians.

Outside Zion Bank’s conference, student protester Emily Lacock explained, “Uribe deserves to know that people recognize his crimes and will not silence their outrage.” While passing out flyers detailing Uribe's criminal record, the protesters chanted, “Plan Colombia is a scam! Death squads sent by Uncle Sam!”

“I think it’s atrocious that the U.S. can masquerade Uribe as a 'hero',” said protester Kristen Lambert. Kristen continued, “During Uribe’s presidency, Colombia’s human rights record was the worst in our hemisphere and people suffered more overwhelming poverty while he supposedly improved the economy.”

The sharp divisions in the U.S. were felt on the street that day. As bankers rushed into the Marriott Hotel to hear Uribe's lies, many of the hotel's staff took an interest in the activities on the outside. There were local construction workers and carpenters’ union members who stopped to chat about the situation in Colombia. The union workers were upset to hear how their Colombian counterparts were being murdered at a rate of one a week.

The Revolutionary Students Union (RSU), affiliated with the Students for a Democratic Society, organized the protest as part of the movement against U.S. intervention and war in Colombia. A RSU leader said, “Even in Utah, Uribe will be held accountable for waging a dirty war against the poor farmers and working people of Colombia. We oppose the U.S.-led counter-insurgency war and say no to the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. By speaking out against America's lackeys like Uribe, we cut through the deafening silence that holds so many captive while expressing the solidarity with those who are facing the brunt force of the U.S. empire.”

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President-elect Velez is well known as a former mayor of Medellin. He ran the city when it was an infamous center for cocaine distribution. As mayor, he was a friend of drug lord Pablo Escobar and the paramilitaries protecting him. While serving as director of Colombia's Civil Aeronautics Agency in the early 1980's, he handed over pilot licenses to the Medellin cocaine cartel, enabling them to ferry large quantities of the drug out of the country.

With over half of the Colombian people living below the official poverty line and unemployment over 20%, the Velez government will try to keep a lid on the growing instability. The U.S. looks to Velez to crush the guerrilla insurgency of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). In addition, the Bush administration expects he will support economic policies favorable to U.S. corporations under the banner of “free trade.”

The Velez election brought a swift increase in joint army and death squad activity. Large scale battles have been taking place in the municipalities of Caqueta, Arauca, Narifio, Antiquia, and near the capital city of Bogota.

In the weeks preceding the presidential elections, right-wing death squads began going town to town accusing community leaders of being FARC supporters and executing them.

Since the government walked away from the peace process and attacked the demilitarized zone, the war has expanded. The FARC is stepping up its activities in the cities. Widely considered an unbeatable movement, the FARC has an ever-expanding military capacity and wide popular support amongst Colombia's working class poor and the peasantry. Across western and southern Colombia, FARC military fronts have reported stinging defeats for the Colombian Army and death squads.

In these battles, the U.S. media lies, claiming the FARC is targeting civilians. For example, in the town of Bojaya, 117 civilians were killed in a Catholic church by a stray FARC mortar shell. United Nations investigators confirmed the FARC account of the tragedy. Death squads used civilians in the church as human shields, while the Colombian Army let over 250 death squad members pass through three separate checkpoints.

Resisting a recent attack in Medellin, hundreds of civilians stood face to face with U.S. made tanks chanting, “The people united, will never be defeated,” and threw rocks and bottles at the invading force. The FARC, ELN and other liberation organizations helped to defend the poor neighborhoods.

The powerful response of popular organizations and the FARC to the widening war point out the bankruptcy of U.S. policy in the region. It's time for solidarity activists here to step up our organizing against these policies and back the peaceful end to the conflict demanded by the Colombian people.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #News #Colombia #FARCEP #Uribe #Americas