CAN Editorial

In 1996, a 41-year-old Colombian trade unionist applied at the Canadian embassy in Mexico City to immigrate to Canada. Amparo Torres was well-known in the region. She was a founding member of the Union Patriotica, a coalition of leftist political parties created a few years earlier at the behest of Colombia's then president in order to bring an end to decades of guerrilla warfare. She had also been kidnapped by one of the country's right-wing death squads.

The Colombia Action Network has signed onto this letter circulating in
support for the Cimitarra River Valley Peasant Association. The CAN was
hosted by the CRVPA in 2004 & 2005 on delegations to Colombia. The letter
and the report from the International Peace Observatory explain the
repression faced by the CRVPA.
- Meredith Aby for the CAN
colombiasolidarity.org

Dear President Uribe:

We are writing to you today to express our deep concern for the present
situation of the civilian population and farmers' organizations in the
Antioquian Northeast, the Cimitarra River Valley and the Sur de Bolívar

This is significant because Colombia had agreed a month or more ago to stop spraying and then violated the agreement with Ecuador. A conscious decision by Colombian President Uribe and his U.S. handlers who direct the chemical spraying as part of Plan Colombia. The spraying is meant to harass and test the new Leftist President Correa in Ecuador. Ecuador's President is taking the case to the World Court. Someone has to put manners on President Uribe and his U.S. handlers.

in solidarity, Tom Burke, CAN

A top U.S. official said Wednesday that America supports the military rescue of three
kidnapped U.S. defense contractors in Colombia, even as families of other hostages say such an operation could endanger the lives of their loved ones.