Meredith Aby-Keirstead, of Fight Back! interviews James Jordan, with the Alliance For Global Justice in Tucson, Arizona. Jordan recently returned from the Accompaniment Delegation to Support Colombia’s Peace Process. Fight Back!: Want do Colombian activists say about the prospects for peace?

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Feb. 6 statement from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Jan. 18 statement from the Peace Delegation Revolutionary Armed Forces on the imprisonment by the U.S. of Colombian revolutionary, Professor Ricardo Palmera. Known in Colombia as Simón Trinidad, Palmera was kidnapped, brought to the United States and is now serving what amounts to a life sentence. For more information from the FARC Peace Delegation: http://farc-epeace.org/ For information from the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera: http://www.freericardopalmera.org/ After 10 years behind bars, Simón Trinidad has to be repatriated

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) have chosen Ricardo Palmera as one of their negotiators for Colombian peace talks. Professor Palmer is a political prisoner held in solitary confinement by the U.S. government in the Florence, Colorado Supermax prison. Palmera’s supporters in Colombia and around the world are demanding that Palmera be set free and that the U.S. government stop interfering in Colombia’s internal affairs. The FARC put Palmera’s name forward as one of the three main negotiators after peace negotiations were announced last week.

Detroit, MI – Fight Back! interviewed Tom Burke, spokesperson for the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera, at the U.S. Social Forum.

The National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera is launching a petition campaign targeting U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The National Committee is demanding the U.S. government immediately release the Colombian revolutionary and stop violating Palmera’s human rights. Angela Denio said, “The U.S. government is acting like a tyrant in Colombia and abusing Ricardo Palmera in a Colorado prison by chaining him from head to toe with the constant threat of electric shock. It is outrageous. Where is Obama on all of this? He promised to stop torture.”

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.

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.

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.