Describing General Giap as a “warrior of the twentieth century, architect of the future,” the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) stated, “Japan, France and the United States, three of the strongest powers in human history, fell successively, humiliated before his military and political genius.”

A statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said “Giap was the first military commander to defeat a Western colonial power in Asia, and his legacy is renowned not only by the Vietnamese people but by all peoples around the world and all movements for liberation from colonialism and imperialism.”

The Communist Party of the Philippines, summed up some of the lessons of Giap’s efforts, stating, “Comrade Giap led the Vietnamese People’s Army in the historic Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the center of French military power in Indochina. Here, the Vietnamese people demonstrated how they could defeat a more modern army through the use of guerrilla tactics. They marched in their thousands to build hidden trails, dug hundreds of kilometers of trenches, dismantled their cannons and artillery and manually pulled them up to high mountain ridges in order to quietly encircle the overly confident French troops. They launched a blitzkrieg attack against the French military base and after 55 days of fighting, forced the complete surrender of the French colonialists on May 7, 1954.”

The Communist Party of the Philippines also stated, “The lessons of the Vietnamese people’s war of resistance continue to illumine people’s wars around the world, including that being waged by the Filipino people through the New People’s Army. The military writings of Comrade Giap, especially in waging guerrilla warfare, have been translated into Pilipino and other local languages, enabling Filipino revolutionaries to study the lessons of the people’s war in Vietnam.”

#MinneapolisMN #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #Remembrances #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #RevolutionaryArmedForcesOfColombia #Vietnam #Japan #USImperialism #France #GeneralVoNguyenGiap

FARC-EP welcomes the National Forum on the problem of illicit drugs

Havana, Cuba, site of the peace talks, September 25, 2013

The peace delegation of the FARC-EP welcomes the participants of the National Forum “Solution to the problem of illicit drugs”, wishing you success, in the idea that its conclusions should provide important tools for discussion on this subject within the framework of the General Agreement of Havana, signed between the national government and our insurgent organization to advance in the dialogues towards a stable and lasting peace for Colombia

Our intention, in incorporating this point in the Agenda, parts of an overall vision on the crisis of the Colombian capitalist model and its political regime, which have created the conditions for the so-called drug-trafficking to be a socioeconomic reality, in which vast sectors of the population participate by necessity. Different segments of transnational and oligarchic power adopt attitudes and make policies that have stimulated deformations in our economy with its subsequent negative impact on the poorest part of society.

Our point of departure is to condemn drug trafficking and we participate in the active political battle aimed at unmasking the fallacies and contents of the so-called War on Drugs, as it's called by the current U.S. policy, country that invented this media matrix aimed at giving its interventionist and imperialist strategies a new look.

According to our point of view, it is the development of the same old script according to which, in the past, the problem was the so-called war against communism, or the defense of the interests of United States' citizens, as paltry excuses to unleash wars of subjugation against weaker nations. Today, the fight against drug trafficking and terrorism from that part of the country that most consumes narcotic and uses terror as a weapon of domination, are excuses for the development of an imperialist, expansionist strategy, to achieve economic and military domination over the world.

With these old concerns, the policy of the U.S. military and its local subsidiaries is unfolded, and its development is complemented by the guidelines outlined in the strategy map of the Southern Command. And it is within this strategy that the Yankee Military Bases on our national territory have been created and now strengthened; it's within this determination that the Southern Command laid its eyes on the military base of Palanquero, reinforcing it, arguing that they are developing an “old security and cooperation agreement with Colombia”. It is within this strategy that the bases of Larandia and Tres Esquinas have been deployed, which are now conceived as Yankee bases, together with military points like Barrancón (Guaviare), Bahía Málaga, the Cartagena naval station, the Malambo air base or bases like Tolemaida and Apiay, among others.

We recall these data, considering that under the signature of a peace agreement, we must incorporate the issue of resolving the problem of illicit drugs inevitably linking it to integral agrarian reform, but mostly and mainly, to the issue of respect for national sovereignty.

The whole history of our concern to solve a social problem that has its roots in the endemic misery imposed by the regime, forces us to emphatically reject the perverse intention of some media to reduce the issue that is being discussed today, to the idea that this is a matter in which the responsibility of its creation and continuation corresponds to the guerrillas, creating the misconception that it is in our hands to solve such a complex phenomenon whose causes, as we have stated before, are to be found in poverty, inequality and exclusion imposed by the ruling classes to the majorities.

To discharge the main force of the combat on the weakest link, located in the poorest regions of underdeveloped countries, and against peasants who have had to resort to such crops by physical absence of economic alternatives, is not only a mistake and injustice of the size of the Mariannes Abyss in the Pacific, but a true act of cynicism and hypocrisy of countries, states, institutions and individuals who profit directly or indirectly from trafficking, but who, in an embarrassing way, try to show results attacking those who have the least responsibility in this business, generating true false positives.

The equitable distribution of land, equipped with road infrastructure, storage facilities, hospitals, schools, colleges and universities as well as an economic policy aimed at ensuring supportive prices, subsidies and grants, comprehensive and universal social security, technical and mechanical assistance are all measures, feasible and probable, that with the participation of the affected communities allow creating the necessary conditions for a solution that addresses the real causes.

Determining the origin and essence of the phenomenon that brings us together here is very important, if there really exists willpower to resolve it thoroughly. Let's look at two central aspects of the problem:

First, drug-trafficking is a capitalist business as a whole, which produces more than 600 billion dollars a year in profit. Virtually all of this money is laundered through the global financial system and organically linked to economic circuits, knowing its origin. More than 95% of these earnings are for the imperialist financial centers, mainly in the United States, and the remaining 5% is basically appropriated by business, banking and investment companies, created by drug-traffickers in partnership with entrepreneurs and traditional politicians that serve as proxies.

Second, the drug-trafficking, based on transformation of natural plants into psychoactive drugs is a business that works in stages or levels, ranging from the cultivation of raw materials, through processing and transport to marketing and distribution in the consumption centers of the developed countries, which is also where, in economic terms, the goods are made, and it is with this capital that the process starts again.This is the drug-trafficking that is being fought against, and not the mega-industry of synthetic drugs.

Why don't we observe the peculiar and relevant fact that the elite, coming from the highest levels of financial capital, when they are making their policies of national security organizations, they also connect them with international drug cartels, which extract annually 8,000 tons of opium in U.S. war zones, and wash 500 billion dollars using transnational banks, half of which are located in the U.S.? Only with common sense we could find the best solution to this problem. Let's hope that such quality can still be found even in those stratospheric circles of society, to which the Colombian elites serve.

On behalf of the FARC-EP, we ratify our clear willingness to move forward in the peace talks, on the route of changes, reforms to the economic and political structures that are the roots of the Colombian conflict. This is a principle that is signed by the parties in the preamble of the General Agreement, which guides the discussions and clearly calls for the participation of all Colombians without distinction in building what may become a true Peace Treaty for our country.

PEACE DELEGATION FARC-EP

#Colombia #PeaceDelegation #Capitalism #RevolutionaryArmedForcesOfColombia #NationalForum #drugs #Americas

Peace Delegation announces pause in peace talks.

From the beginning of the peace process with the government of Colombia in Havana, our primary concern has been to open the doors to people's participation for the construction of a democratic peace agreement with social justice.

Apropos of this, and because of the importance for the country and for the future of our country of the issue of the resolution of the social and armed conflict, starting from the establishment of social justice, democracy and sovereignty, in a responsible and wellconsidered way, the FARC-EP proposed convening a National Constituent Assembly so that the sovereign people can decide on the crucial issues of political, economic and social development of all Colombians.

We also said that the Constituent Assembly, convened under the auspices of a large national political agreement would be the way to achieve a real peace treaty, just and binding, which could melt our reconciliation, govern the fate of the nation and lead it towards the summits of real democracy.

In contrast, the government yesterday announced to the country its decision to appeal to the referendum as a mechanism for countersignature, without mentioning at all the procedures of democratic construction which would endorse it.

Under these new circumstances, at a moment in which from all the corners of Colombia you can hear the outcry of unsatisfied people, protesting against the consequences of a disastrous economic policy, behind the back of the interests of the great majority of citizens and which requires their participation in the decision-making of major national issues, the Peace Delegation of the FARC-EP has decided to pause the discussion of the Table, to focus exclusively on the analysis of the government's proposal, without detriment to the internal consultation we have to carry out as organization.

We will use this time also to listen to points-of-views, which will surely arise among the people in the fervor of political and social struggle that makes Colombia shudder today.

Colombia's peace is everybody's business.

PEACE DELEGATION FARC-EP

#Colombia #Americas #FARC #RevolutionaryArmedForcesOfColombia #PeaceNegotiations

In August 2012, the prisoners of war in the jail La Dorada (Caldas), explained to the national opinion that within three months, three of their prisoners had died. The medical inattention killed them mercilessly. They names are James Chiquito Alberto Giraldo, who died on May 8th, Luis Flores Carlos Villareal, died on the 17th of August, and Wenlly Zuleta Muriel Alexander who was killed on August 8th. Wenlly died after he was attacked by another inmate, who caused him 59 stab wounds, at only two meters from the prison’s guard post.

Around 9500 political prisoners are experiencing the cavalry of the Colombian prison system, which actually has become a maze of torture, humiliation and death for inmates of any kind. 90% of the political prisoners are civilians, who are put in prison with the clear intention of dismantling popular organizations and crush the popular dissent about social injustice in Colombia. The remaining 10% are political and war prisoners subjected to the use of the judicial and penal system, which has become a weapon to discourage and punish potential insurgents.

The prison is a scene of overcrowding, stench, suicides, infectious diseases, murders committed by guards, like the one reported by the inmates of the 7th yard of the Dorada prison in October 2011 (by a corporal named “Gallo”); blind, crippled, paralyzed prisoners, or killed by medical inattention, which is not even resolved by tutelage because judges don’t sanction for contempt.

Injustice rules in Colombian prisons, expressed in medical inattention, calabooses up to seventy-two hours, hunger, beating, indiscriminate use of tear gasses, harassment and humiliation, violation of judicial processes, in the middle of a dangerous armed criminal complicity between the INPEC – led by the sleazy general Ricaurte Tapias – and lawyers, judges and prosecutors, without any possibility of complaint; almost 100% of the complaints of prisoners are shelved on the grounds that there are no merits for further investigation.

On January 8, 2011, Jose Manjarrez Albeiro died in his cell, devoured by a stomach cancer. No action, not even the strike of his fellow prisoners was enough for the INPEC [the agency of Colombian government that runs the prison system] to give him medical care. After his death, he was entered in the morgue as NN, although they did have up-to-date information about his family and friends. They never informed them about his death.

Names like Arcecio Lemus, Ricardo Contreras, Jhon Jairo Garcia, Jonathan Snith Aria, Yovani Montes, Luis Fernando Pavoni, Oscar de Jesus Perez, among many other cases, are part of the list of deaths due to torture , mistreatment and medical inattention, together with the persecution of families of the revolutionary leaders who fall into prison.

In Colombian prisons, more than 400 prisoners are mutilated and more than 400 are in hospice situation, without being given the right to reduced penalties.

In these prisons, converted into real human dumps, because of the regime’s indolence and perfidy, inmates of different kinds are all put together on purpose, which produces brawls that sometimes lead to the death of political- and war prisoners, or to their constant intimidation.

Contrary to Law 65/93, which says that in the treatment of prisoners, family relationships are an important element to advance in their re-socialization process, in this case the penalties are designed to loosen family ties, since the prisoners are deliberately located by the INPEC at 4, 6, 10 and up to 24 hours away from their home regions. The possibility that they may see their loved ones and family members is very small.

They are sitting all day, they are swindled in the use of telephones, they don’t get any information, they are transported like animals and live in an incredible inhuman situation of overcrowding. For example, in Bellavista the overcrowding is of 500%. The Riohacha prison has capacity for 100 inmates, while there are 512 inmates, in La Modelo there is space for 2950, but there are 7965 prisoners concentrated. In the prison of Tramacúa in Valledupar, with 40 degrees, 1350 prisoners are throttled by the high temperature. In the best case, they have access to water only for 15 minutes a day. These are flagrant human rights violations, committed by the government, who doesn’t seem to have any intention to resolve these situations.

We ask the government to stop the perfidy of letting the injuries of war end up in physical immobility and/or loss of hands or feet. We ask freedom for those who are terminally ill, or have cancer.

We ask the government to declare a state of health and humanitarian emergency in the country's prisons, allow public oversight, without concealing things and take emergency measures to at least avoid the death of the prisoners who are seriously ill.

We ask the government to show a shred of humanity and seriousness, and to respond to the national opinion about these complaints we’ve made.

PEACE DELEGATION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMED FORCES OF COLOMBIA, People's Army (FARC-EP)

#Colombia #PoliticalPrisoners #RevolutionaryArmedForcesOfColombia #InjusticeSystem #Americas

Professor James J. Brittain's new book, Revolutionary Social Change in Colombia: The Origin and Direction of the FARC-EP (Pluto Press, London: 2010), is a thoroughly researched and documented academic study of the Colombian revolution and of its largest and longest lasting guerrilla organization, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP). This alone makes it almost unique. Add to this the fact that it is based on five years of extensive research in Colombia’s countryside, both with the FARC and with the rural population, and it becomes clear that we have a one-of-a-kind book. What this study amounts to is a systematic and thorough defense of the FARC, facing the myths and allegations against the FARC squarely and putting them to rest. On this point, the book is invaluable.

In the book’s forward, James Petras puts it well in discussing “the political practice of demonology,” whereby the FARC have been vilified and slandered to such an extent that such characterizations have found their way into most academic accounts of the FARC. As Petras says, “this is vice’s tribute to virtue.” Brittain’s book addresses the claims that the FARC are a degenerated ‘narco-terrorist’ organization, devoid of politics, just another criminal gang in a country that has been corrupted from top to bottom by the cocaine trade. A lengthy chapter of the book is dedicated to “the political economy of coca,” and concludes that, through “a nationally applied partial crop substitution model, accompanied by regions under total crop substitution,” the FARC is “not only preparing to act as a legitimate government in a socialist Colombia, but readying the population for a post-capitalist society not monetarily dependent on the coca industry” (114). Meanwhile, Revolutionary Social Change in Colombia systematically traces the connections between the paramilitary death-squads, the U.S.-funded Colombian government and the cocaine industry.

In the process of dispelling all of the myths and distortions that have been spread about the FARC, the book advances a number of points. First, it clearly examines the history of the FARC and shows that it is a thoroughly indigenous social movement with broad mass support. It examines the FARC’s ideological commitment to Marxism-Leninism and approaches the FARC’s policy choices and strategic decisions in relation to that commitment. Similarly, the book examines the FARC’s military and political structures and its relations to the broader urban and rural popular movements. It also thoroughly explores what Brittain terms “dominant class reactionism,” presenting a history of paramilitarism and far-right politics in Colombia, showing that these phenomena are a result of the success of the revolution, not the cause of the revolution itself. And finally the book shows that the FARC is winning.

For Colombia solidarity activists, Revolutionary Social Change in Colombia is a tool. In the battle of ideas against all of the U.S. ruling class justifications for continuing to give billions of dollars to the Uribe regime through Plan Colombia, or in opposition to the U.S. escalation in Colombia through its seven newly acquired military bases, this book is a weapon. For anyone doing anti-intervention organizing, whether around Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, the Philippines or any place where the U.S. is oppressing the people of the world and where the people are resisting by any means necessary, this book provides a valuable case-study.

Brittain concludes his Revolutionary Social Change in Colombia with a quote from a campesino who he asked if the FARC would succeed in its revolutionary endeavors. The campesino answers, saying, “The FARC are and have been winning for a long time…I would never say that the FARC will lose, but I will certainly tell you that the state and the elite that repress the people of this country will never win.”

#Colombia #FARCEP #FuerzasArmadasRevolucionariasDeColombia #RevolutionaryArmedForcesOfColombia #JamesBrittain #JamesPetras #Americas

Ricardo Palmera, who served as a peace negotiator for Colombia’s largest rebel group, the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and is now a political prisoner held the U.S., had faced Prosecutor Kohl at past trials. In two previous trials, prosecutor Kohl failed to prove terrorism charges against Professor Palmera.

In the last case, Kohl was caught colluding with the judge and the judge had to step down. Kohl’s cheating set the stage for Judge Lamberth to take over. In the retrial, Judge Lamberth approved dozens of prosecution witnesses, while not allowing Palmera even one. U.S. prosecutor Kohl’s sentencing arguments were outrageous distortions.

In response, public defender Bob Tucker argued for a lesser sentence. Tucker’s arguments emphasized the political background of the trial and the U.S. government’s intervention in Colombia’s civil war. Tucker spoke of how Judge Royce Lamberth influenced the jury by instructing them to use wide definitions in finding Ricardo Palmera guilty of belonging to a conspiracy – the FARC. Tucker also pleaded to the judge to show some leniency due to Palmera’s honesty in his testimony, contrasted with the coached testimony and lies of many prosecution witnesses.

For the next hour, Ricardo Palmera spoke with honor and pride. These are excerpts:

“I speak as a member of the FARC, an insurgent organization that takes up arms against the Colombian government. I have been a member since 1987. The Colombian oligarchy has used arms to oppress the people; this gave rise to the FARC, which uses arms to free them. The FARC are part of the Colombian people. They use arms and protests and various other ways to express opposition to the violent and elitist regime.”

Professor Palmera spoke about various FARC leaders, like Marulanda, and their backgrounds including farmers, workers, indigenous, women and student leaders and their struggle for a “pluralistic, democratic and peaceful Colombia with social justice.” Later he added “The ruling regime uses a policy of violence – employing murder, assassination, threats and death squads to keep themselves in power.”

Palmera went on to speak about economic inequality. “Latin America represents the greatest economic disparity. Colombia is third in Latin America in economic and social disparity. 24 million Colombians live below the poverty line and subsist on one or two dollars per day.”

Referring to the trial, Palmera said, “What takes place here is a political trial from beginning to end, no matter what the U.S. government may try to claim. The political nature of this trial is pleasing to me because it allows me to present the ideas of the FARC and the Secretariat to the judge and the jury, and to explain the ideas and goals of the FARC to the American people. I am also quite satisfied because despite the great lengths the U.S. government went to, the jury did not find me, Ricardo Palmera, guilty of being a terrorist, which I believe the U.S. government has mistakenly classified the FARC as. I take the opportunity here, on behalf of the FARC and myself, to make a condemnation of all terrorism no matter its origin. I will never forget that it is the terrorist actions of the Colombian state that brought me to become a member of the FARC and I will never allow it to become our practice.”

“The FARC – and I as a member of the FARC in particular – reject extradition. It is a neo-colonial policy that violates the sovereignty of the Colombian people. It is used as a weapon by the U.S. to blackmail men and women who fight for a just cause, including Sonia and myself. On the charge of conspiracy itself, I bear no guilt. The charge pertains to problems in my country and not beyond. It reflects real problems of the conflict and ways to exchange prisoners on both sides. I sent a letter to FARC leader Marulanda asking that my freedom not become a barrier for the freedom of others in Colombia. I think that the Prisoner Accords will become an important factor to achieve peace and justice in Colombia. A political solution has always been a part of any conflict and it has always been part of the FARC platform to find a political solution. As I have already had a meeting with the U.S. Department of State, I am willing for further meetings to take place to increase dialogue. When I joined the FARC, I was aware I might lose my life or liberty to obtain peace and justice for the Colombian people.”

Palmera’s arguments were coherent and clear. He was unrepentant and defended all of his actions on behalf of the Colombian people. He described and spoke with pride about the FARC and its leadership. Palmera thanked the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera for their support. He thanked Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba for meeting with him prior to the sentencing. Then Palmera ended his speech with slogans and a quote from Bolivar: “Viva La FARC! Viva Marulanda! Viva Bolivar!”

Following Ricardo Palmera’s speech, Judge Royce Lambert praised Ricardo Palmera’s intelligence, his belief in principles, and while emphasizing his own ‘judicial independence’ sentenced Palmera to 60 years in prison, calling him a terrorist and saying his activity in Colombia broke U.S. law. A few months earlier, Judge Lamberth would not allow criminal proceedings against the executives of Chiquita Banana who armed and paid right-wing paramilitaries to kill union workers and leaders.

Tom Burke of the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera said, “This verdict is the equivalent of a life sentence for Ricardo Palmera. It is a slap in the face to the Colombian people and anybody who believes in the sovereignty of their own country. Professor Palmera can be proud that despite solitary confinement, cheating prosecutors and biased judges, he has beaten nine other charges during three trials. Like their wars in Iraq and Colombia, the Bush administration “made an underestimation” in deciding to put Ricardo Palmera on trial. Palmera’s speech was brilliant.”

It remains to be seen whether Ricardo Palmera or Colombian revolutionary Sonia, held in a Fort Worth, Texas prison, will be included in any prisoner exchanges. The National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera plans to protest an upcoming re-trial of Ricardo Palmera in late March.

#WashingtonDC #News #Colombia #RicardoPalmera #PoliticalPrisoners #RevolutionaryArmedForcesOfColombia #JudgeHogan #JudgeRoyceLamberth #KenKohl #juryTampering

The following is a video interview of Raul Reyes, given in July, 2000. It was filmed by Jess Sundin, a Colombia solidarity activist and a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The following is a English translation of a few excerpts from Raul Reyes statement, which is in Spanish.

“I want to say to the people of the U.S. that the Colombian people admire and respect your efforts.

“I want to say that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are part of the people, part of the armed people, fighting for housing, health care and education. The FARC is fighting for the human rights of all Colombians because the Colombian government doesn’t protect human rights. On the contrary, it violates human rights and is a terrorist state that massacres our people via the paramilitary aggressions.

“There is a sector of the army dedicated to carrying out criminal actions in the paramilitaries, against unarmed civilians. The FARC fights against all of this because the Colombian government violates human rights, violates the obligation of any government to protect the governed.

“The FARC wants to build friendships with the people in the U.S. We want to speak with your people, with the teachers, the students, and the North American workers. With the different religious organizations, and also with the revolutionaries that live in the U.S. With the progressive sections of the people, those that are in the left of the political parties, we know that even in the Democrats there is active opposition to what your government is doing in Colombia.”

#News #RaulReyes #Colombia #Remembrances #JessSundin #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #RevolutionaryArmedForcesOfColombia #Americas