In a speaking tour organized by the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera, Professor Daza-Cotes will travel to the U.S. to talk about fellow professor and political prisoner Ricardo Palmera. She will speak about U.S. intervention in Colombia and her own journey, as Colombian military death squads tortured and murdered those around her, from liberal politics to more radical views. Ms. Daza-Cotes was forced into exile in Sweden around the same time Ricardo Palmera decided to join the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). As the peaceful path to social justice in Colombia was blocked, the choices were limited.
Washington D.C. – Colombian revolutionary Ricardo Palmera is facing a second trial, March 26. Ricardo Palmera, known in Colombia as Simon Trinidad, is a political prisoner of the George Bush and the U.S. government. Palmera’s first trial resulted in a hung jury and Judge Hogan was forced to declare a mistrial. U.S. prosecutor Kohl and Judge Hogan will need to bend the legal rules more if they are going to win this time.
Washington D.C. – Jury selection for Colombian revolutionary “Sonia” is scheduled to start here on Jan. 8, in front of Federal Court Judge Robertson. Sonia, whose full name is Anayibe Rojas Valderrama, is an important member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The FARC is a 30,000-member guerrilla army that governs nearly 40% of Colombia.
Washington D.C. – Ricardo Palmera, known in Colombia as Simon Trinidad, is going on trial for a second time on Mar. 26, 2007. The first trial resulted in a hung jury and Judge Hogan was forced to declare a mistrial. The U.S. prosecutors asked for a second trial after failing to win the first time.
Colombian revolutionary Ricardo Palmera will spend the upcoming holiday season in a jail outside Washington D.C. The FARC leader will have no visitors. He is forbidden to see or talk with friends and family. The National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera is urging everyone who is concerned about justice to send Palmera a holiday greeting card.
Washington D.C. – Colombian revolutionary Ricardo Palmera is smiling tonight. Today in U.S. Federal Court, Palmera and progressive people everywhere scored a big victory as the jury sent its third note saying it could not agree. Dour-faced Judge Hogan was forced to declare a mistrial. As many in the U.S. celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, none will be happier than Ricardo Palmera and his supporters in the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera. People throughout Colombia will be slapping each other on the back and toasting the jurors who took a stand against the sheer injustice of this trial.
Washington D.C. – As the trial of Ricardo Palmera continues, a parade of corrupt officials and paid informants are passing through the federal courtroom here. With Judge Hogan looking on, Colonel Mora from the Colombian military took the stand. The Colombian military has the worst human rights record in Latin America. Now in its 42nd year, Colombia’s civil war pits the Colombian military against of the organization Palmera represented in peace negotiations, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call from the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera. We urge our readers to join the protest and pack the courtroom on Dec. 4, in Washington D.C. If your organization supports the call, please send your information to the Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by Prof. Jose Maria Sison of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle calling for the release of Colombian revolutionary Ricardo Palmera.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) is the largest rebel group in Colombia. Freedom Road Socialist Organization members Kosta Harlan and Erika Zurawski recently traveled to the rebel held territory and met with commanders of the FARC-EP. Fight Back! interviewed these American revolutionaries to discuss the struggle in Colombia.
Fight Back! interviewed Oscar Silva, the Colombian lawyer for U.S. political prisoner and Colombian revolutionary Ricardo Palmera. The U.S. government is holding Palmera in a prison cell without access to his lawyer, reporters or his family and friends. Palmera, born to a wealthy family, has dedicated his whole life to the working class and peasant farmers of his country. Palmera’s only crime is to struggle for the Colombian people and their right to rule their own country. The trial is a sham and is an attempt to criminalize one of the leading groups fighting for Colombia’s liberation – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following account from the Bolivarian Contingent that participated in the Sept. 24 march against the war on Iraq.
Washington, D.C. – A U.S. judge placed ads in Colombia’s newspapers the last week of August “ordering” the FARC – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, to appear in his Washington D.C. courtroom. This adds to a list of bizarre procedures involving the extradition, imprisonment and trial of Ricardo Palmera, an important FARC leader. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan ridiculously asserts that the FARC members should leave their homeland and come to the U.S. to appear on charges of, “taking hostages in violation of U.S. laws.”
_Colombian Trade Unionists Deaths Will Not Be Ignored, Pollution in India Will Not Continue _
Chicago, IL – Students boycotting Coca-Cola have won another victory. At Chicago’s DePaul University on July 7, university administrators from across the U.S. agreed to an independent investigation of the murder of nine Colombian trade unionists who worked at Coca-Cola.
Chicago, IL – The Colombia Action Network held a successful conference here at DePaul University, Feb. 25-27. Eighty students, trade unionists and solidarity activists from eleven cities and eight universities attended. People came from as far as Montana, New Jersey, Minneapolis, Wisconsin Dells, New York, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Over a dozen Colombians from various movements and unions gave a strong feeling of unity and earnestness to the presentations and discussions. The Colombian activists are living in exile or came to the United States as part of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center program to protect the lives of trade unionists.
President Bush embarked on a Latin American tour March 8-14 that included stops in Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico. The tour was billed in the mainstream media as an opportunity to ‘bolster relations with our neighbors to the south’ and to ‘remind Latin Americans that Bush hasn’t forgotten about them,’ but people who know better recognized Bush’s true motives: to strengthen free trade agreements that maximize corporate profits through the exploitation of resources and workers and to minimize the influence of Hugo Chavez, the widely popular president of Venezuela.
Interview with Javier Correa, president of SINALTRAINAL
Javier Correa is the president of SINALTRAINAL, the courageous beverage workers’ union, which fights for labor rights in Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia. Coca-Cola-sponsored death squads are responsible for murdering nine Colombian trade unionists. SINALTRAINAL calls for an international boycott of Coca-Cola products because of Coke’s use of paramilitary violence against the union.
Erika Zurawski of Fight Back! interviews two Colombian trade unionists who are in the U.S. through the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center. Jhonny Meneses is a union leader from SINCONSTASCAR (a union of taxi drivers in Cartegena) and an outspoken opponent of U.S. free trade and economic policy in Latin America. Nelson Quijano is a union leader from USO (Oil Workers Union). USO is a leading social force in Colombia. In the spring of 2004, USO went on strike for several months to successfully fight the privatization of the national oil company.
Chicago, IL – The weekend before Thanksgiving, November 21 and 22, people from around the country will gather in Fort Benning, Georgia, to demand that the School of the Americas be closed. Student activists from Chicago area campuses have joined the mobilization.
