A Letter from Liliany Obando

Below is a letter we have received from Liliany (Lily) Obando who is in prison in Colombia for her political work. Lily is an organizer for FENSUAGRO, the peasant workers' union. She toured the U.S. for the Colombia Action Network in 2001. Chapin Gray will be reading this letter from the stage at the School of the Americas protest for the Colombia Action Network on Sunday.

National Women's Penitentiary
Bogotá, Colombia, November 8, 2008

Fraternal Greetings,

For all those who have made the commitment to struggle for a just Colombia, without impunity, where workers' rights are respected , where the political opposition is not assassinated, where human rights are not violated, where the State Terrorism is ended, the passage through the jail is almost inevitable.

But comrades, by whatever chains and gags they intend to put on us, the justice of our struggle requires that we continue resisting wherever we may be. Courage grows with captivity and we maintain our high morale. The bars of the jail do not matter if you, wherever you may be, help us that our voices may move beyond the walls and not be stopped.

Today more than ever we need the world to be informed that in the Colombian jails there are more than 7,200 political prisoners. We are here because we dare to think differently, to denounce the ignominy of this Terrorist State and its corrupt governments, mafiosos and paramilitaries. We are here because we have conscientiously decided to embrace the banner of a Colombia in Peace and with Social Justice and that in order to achieve it we continue struggling and acting in keeping with our revolutionary principles.

From the jails of Colombia, the political prisoners continue working for the Humanitarian Exchange of prisoners and for the search for a political solution to the internal conflict. We hope we can count on your support and solidarity to arrive at a happy ending: the construction of that New Colombia of which we all dream.

For all of you, a strong hug in the name of all those who share with me this reality of the jail.

Bolivarianly,

Liliany Obando
Political Prisoner
Prisoner of Conscience
Survivor of the Genocide Against the Patriotic Union