Fight Back!

By Fight Back! Staff
March 5, 2010
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Tom Burke, spokesperson for the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera, urgently requests, “Help and aid from Americans, Colombians, and the international community to stop a crime.” Professor Palmera is being put on trial in Colombia while held in solitary confinement in the U.S. He is being forced to wear prison clothes, shackled at the hands and feet and then chained together around the waist, with the ever-present threat of electrical shock if he moves too quickly. This ‘trial’ is a violation of Professor Palmera’s dignity and his rights as a prisoner of war. Tom Burke says, “There is nothing fair or just about the trials and imprisonment of this brave Colombian freedom fighter Ricardo Palmera. Ricardo Palmera should be set free.”

The U.S. government is stepping up its surveillance and harassment of U.S. activists in an attempt to intimidate them and dampen their spirits for the change we believe in. International solidarity activist James Jordan was returning from a two week trip to Haiti, on Jan. 7, five days prior to the terrible earthquake disaster. When his flight touched down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, flight attendants called out for “James Patrick Jordan” and asked him to come to the front of the airplane. Homeland Security came on board the airplane to escort him off.

James Jordan speaking in Haiti. (Fight Back! News)

By staff, Fight Back News, March 2008

http://fightbacknews.org/2008/03/colombiasolidarity.htm

Several leaders of the U.S. movement in solidarity with the Colombian people condemned the March 1 killing of Raúl Reyes, the main spokesperson for the FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Reyes was murdered in Ecuador by Colombian troops with U.S. assistance.

Raul Reyes, a leading member of the FARC - the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - was killed by the U.S. backed Colombian government March 1. Fight Back! asked Jess Sundin, who traveled to Colombia and met with Raul Reyes, to give her impressions of him and to speak about the significance of his slaying. Sundin is a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization and an important leader in Minnesota's peace and justice movement.

The Colombia Action Network was represented at the conference to plan for September 1st and participated in a discussion about how to have Latin America represented in the march on the Republican National Convention. We'll keep you in the loop on the Latin America solidarity contingent and the CAN's plans as we get closer to the convention. In the mean time you can listen to parts of the main plenary speeches. It was truly an amazing conference and shows that the organizing for the RNC will create a significant demonstration. Sí Se Puede, Meredith for the Colombia Action Network Video also available