Fight Back News Service is circulating the following essay from the Colombian trade unionist and political prisoner, Liliany Obando. The introduction was prepared by the Colombia Action Network.

President George Bush has made his long-awaited speech on the situation in Palestine. He said no more than a few sentences about the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and the continued theft of more land to build more Jewish-only settlements. Nothing was said about Israel's war plans or the escalation of Israeli violence that has included a wave of assassinations, 24-hour curfews, checkpoints, massive arrests and the destruction of all equipment and buildings needed in the major cities of the West Bank, such as Nablus, Jenin and Ramallah.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following letter from Liliany (Lily) Obando who is a Colombian trade union organizer with FENSUAGRO, the largest peasant and agricultural workers federation in Colombia. She writes academic papers and makes documentary films about the struggles of Colombian campesinos. On Aug. 8, Lily was arrested and imprisoned by the ‘anti-terrorism unit’ of the Colombian National Police. She has been charged with “rebellion” and “managing resources related to terrorist activities.” Her story is tragically familiar in a country where thousands of trade unionists have been threatened, arrested or killed by the U.S.-backed Colombian government. The following letter will be read from the stage and at the Fight Back! forum on Colombia at the School of the Americas demonstration in Fort Benning, Georgia Nov 21-23 by speakers for the Colombia Action Network.

Palestinian Prisoners' Day, commemorated throughout Palestine and by solidarity activists the world over, April 17, is a day to bring attention to the plight of all Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails and to demand their immediate release.

Statement of Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Fight Back! News Service is circulating the following statement demanding the release of Palestinian political prisoner Ahmad Saadat. Saadat is the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement that demands the release of Ahmad Sa'adat, one of the key leaders of the struggle to liberate Palestine. Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was interviewed by Fight Back! in May 2003, a year after his incarceration.

Butner, North Carolina - More than 80 students and civil rights activists rallied here, March 24, to protest the U.S. government’s indefinite imprisonment of Dr. Sami al-Arian. Dr. al-Arian, a Palestinian, was a tenured professor of computer science at the University of South Florida. In 2003, he and three others were arrested and charged with ‘supporting terrorism.’ The U.S. government claimed he was working on behalf of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an organization that is fighting to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement about the case of Ahmad Sa'adat.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call for action from the Friends of Ahmad Sa'adat. Ahmad Sa’adat is a Palestinian political prisoner and the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He is being held by the Israeli authorities. Fight Back!’s 2003 interview with Ahmad Saadat can be read at: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2003-3-summer/pflp.htm.

From the Federal Penitentiary in Victorville, where he is currently serving two life sentences, Gerardo Hernandez is sending a joyous message of gratitude to the supporters of the campaign to free the Five: “It is the solidarity of the people which has made this victory possible.” Commenting on the Aug. 9 decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to revoke the sentences and to order a new trial, Hernandez, one of the Cuban Five, expresses his belief that the victory is certain.

On Mar. 9, the five Cubans – Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, René González, and Fernando González – unjustly imprisoned in various federal prisons across the United States on charges of terrorism and espionage, challenged the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva to break the wall of silence that surrounds their case.

International Support Grows

On March 10, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami will hold a hearing on the case of the five Cuban nationals imprisoned in the U.S. on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage. In truth, the five were working to thwart efforts of anti-Cuba terrorists. The attorneys for Ramon Labanino, Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez will have only three minutes for each of the defendants to present the 24 aspects of the appeal, which will be heard by a panel of three judges.

San Francisco, CA – The Miami Five are five Cuban nationals – Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino and René González. On June 8, 2001, they were convicted by the Federal District Court in Miami on charges ranging from espionage, to failure to register as agents of a foreign government, to conspiracy to commit murder.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat. Ahmad Sa’adat is a Palestinian political prisoner and the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He is being held by the Israeli authorities. Fight Back!’s 2003 interview with Ahmad Sa’adat can be read at: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2003-3-summer/pflp.htm

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Addaneer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association on occasion of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.

A campaign for the release of political prisoner Donato ‘Donat’ Continente has been announced by BAYAN, an alliance of progressive Pilipino organizations. Background information on this critical case appeared in the summer 2002 issue of Fight Back!

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

America's rulers are serial killers. They have killed before and left to their own devices, they will kill again. Would-be President George Bush has turned the Texas Department of Corrections into a murder machine. Al Gore has never been in a position to sign a death warrant, but he has made it clear that he would have no problem doing so.