Colombia Action Network

protestrnc2008.org Everyone who wants to end the U.S. war on Iraq should join the massive march planned for September 1, 2008 - the first day of the Republican National Convention. Inside the convention hall, the Xcel Center, the Republicans will nominate a candidate who wants to continue the war.

Outside, tens of thousands will say "No!" The *Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War *invites you - activists and organizers form all progressive movements - to join us for a national conference to help organize the September 1 march. We will also discuss other plans for protest at the Republican National Convention.

The people of Colombia, like the people of Iraq, need us in the streets protesting at the Republican Convention. We need to stop the U.S. sponsored war in their country, to stop spending working peoples tax dollars to prop up a corrupt narco-trafficking regime. The American public is increasingly aware of the U.S. atrocities in Iraq and becoming more adamantly anti-war. This public outrage will manifest itself at the RNC. We have an opportunity to educate the 100,000 plus people who will come to St. Paul, MN to demonstrate at the RNC about how the U.S.' effort in Iraq is not the only example of this country's quest for empire causing death and destruction.

Activists from the Coalition to March on the RNC to Stop the War, the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee and the Colombia Action Network are organizing a workshop to discuss the importance of a massive anti-war march on the first day of the Republican National Convention (September 1, 2008). This workshop will include Q&A and discussion about the demonstration and other events at the RNC. All those interested in taking action against the Republican agenda of war and repression are encouraged to attend. (For more information check out protestrnc2008.org)

Statement and analysis from the Colombia Action Network, presented at the Latin American Solidarity Conference in Chicago, April 13-15 2007.

In March, banana giant Chiquita plead guilty in Washington to doing business with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia or AUC, a right-wing paramilitary organization that is responsible for some of the worst massacres in Colombia’s civil war. The State Department listed the AUC as a terrorist organization in 1997. Despite this, the top 8 Chiquita executives paid the AUC 1.7 million from 1997-2004. In addition, in 2001 Chiquita used one of their ships to deliver 3,000 AK-47 rifles & more than 2.5 million bullets for the AUC.

The U.S. government’s attempt to railroad Colombian political prisoner Ricardo Palmera, alias Simón Trinidad, suffered another significant setback March 26 when chief judge of the District Court for Washington, D.C., Thomas F. Hogan, was forced to recuse himself from the case after a motion filed by defense attorney Robert Tucker exposed a conspiracy between Hogan and the prosecutors.