Photos, emails and work orders are part of the evidence in the prosecution
The Public Prosecution Office in Colombia is investigating illegal surveillance on that would have made from the DAS to the United Nations. Sources close to the investigation said that in the process includes photographs of former UN Commissioner for Human Rights Michael Frauling taking by DAS officers. Also noted that part of the process make several emails from UN officials found in DAS documents.
As part of the monitoring operations of the DAS to human rights organizations there is evidence that United Nations would have included follow-up UN officials.
United Nations office had expressed concern about the illegal surveillance of opposition politicians, judges and journalists, among others. Even had urged the Colombian Government to make urgent reforms in its intelligence agency (DAS) to establish control mechanisms of this intelligence service.
The statement came in late February during the annual report on Colombia. In this report, the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Christian Salazar, said in Bogota that they continued “to receive information on interception of emails, stalking, harassment and threats, information theft, alteration of web pages and illegal trespasing to homes and offices of various organisations of civil society. “
The report concludes that the UN has received information that allows to “confirm the existence of a pattern of tapping, surveillance and harassment systematically carried out by officers of the DAS (Administrative Security Department), under orders from their superiors, who reported the results. “
The report warns that the investigation suggests that the central groups involved, including the National and International Observer (Goni), “were formally established structures within the institution. “ ”These facts, as reported in 2009, remain unpunished, ” the UN said.
Salazar said that the Colombian Government and other institutions such as the Attorney General and Congress should “move forward in a data center control and establishing a mechanism for clearance of files. “
He also urged the Government to “advance research to condemn those responsible of DAS for their crimes. “
Link to the latest UN report on Human Rights in Colombia (English and Spanish versions):
http://www.hchr.org.co/documentoseinformes/informes/altocomisionado/informes.php3?cod=14&cat=11
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From Justice for Colombia website
http://www.justiceforcolombia.org/news/article/909/ITUC-and-ETUC-Accuse-Colombian-Government-of-Misleading-International-Community
The ETUC and ITUC have written to all MEPs once again calling for them to reject the EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on the grounds of continued abuses against Colombian trade unionists.
In a letter signed by ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow and ETUC General Secretary John Monks, dated March 1st, they refer to the ‘intensive lobbying campaign at the European Parliament by the Colombian Government in an attempt to mislead the international community.” The letter states that the lobbying is aimed at deceiving the parliament about so-called advances in the human rights situation in order to secure the ratification of the FTA.
Reference is also made to the recent ILO Mission to Colombia, saying that whilst the Colombian Embassy in Brussels has only chosen to highlight some of the mission’s conclusions, the reality is that the report ‘highlights the on-going severity of the situation for the exercise of fundamental rights in Colombia today.”
The letter quotes several points made in the report’s conclusion, in particular emphasising the ongoing level of impunity in cases of assassinations of trade unionists, “the majority of the cases have not yet been investigated nor have the perpetrators, including the intellectual authors of these crimes, been brought to justice.”
The letters ends reiterating the ETUC and ITUC opposition to the EU-Colombia FTA and calling for the European Parliament to “support the interruption of negotiations at this time and until real and significant progress has been achieved.” And warns that ‘failing to act with caution and establish respect to the fundamental internationally-recognised rights of working people will mean that trade unionists in Colombia will continue to die and those responsible for the violence will continue to enjoy impunity”.
To read more about the campaign to stop the EU-Colombia FTA and how to get involved click here
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National Tertiary Education Union- NSW
17th December 2010
The Hon Stephen Smith
Minister for Defence
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Dear Minister,
As you will be aware, the Colombian regime is currently holding hundreds of political prisoners. Those deprived of their liberty include human rights defenders, trade unionists, student and community leaders and academics.
I trust that you will agree that this practice of jailing innocent people because of their opposition to Government policies is completely unacceptable. Therefore, we hope the Australian Government will speak out forcefully about this situation and demand that the Colombian Government free those that continue to be jailed for expressing their political opinions.
British academics and parliamentarians have recently called for the release of the following Colombian political prisoners: trade unionists, Rosalba Gaviria and Liliany Obando; human rights defenders, David Ravelo Crespo, Jose Samuel Rojas and Carmelo Agamez and university professor, Dr Miguel Angel Beltran. In Australia, we also believe that these political prisoners must be released as they have been in jail for well over a year without having been convicted of any crime whatsoever.
The Colombian regime cannot expect to have normal relations with democratic countries such as Australia as long as they continue to imprison their critics. We look forward to hearing from you with regard to any progress that you have made in encouraging the Colombian authorities to free their political prisoners.
Yours faithfully,
Genevieve Kelly
State Secretary
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Written by InSight
Last weekend police found the bodies of three land reform activists in the central department of Tolima, Colombia. The victims, who were killed at gunpoint, were advocates for the repatriation of land to families displaced by the Colombian conflict.
According to government human rights agency CODHES, at least 41 land reform activists have been murdered since 2002, reports Semana.
The issue of land reform, which CODHES has previously called the “axis of the armed conflict,” is inextricably linked to organized crime. Nevertheless, under President Juan Manuel Santos, the government has created an ambitious agenda and is proposing to return two million hectares of land to victims of the conflict by 2014. But much of this land remains in the hands of drug traffickers or other powerful economic and political interests. Many of the original land owners, most of whom are indigenous or Afro-Colombian farmers, were forcibly displaced by paramilitary armies, who used the territory for coca farms or for military training camps.
In other cases, the property was turned over to shadowy groups of investors who set up massive palm oil plantations, especially in the departments of Antioquia and Choco. In one such case documented by Verdad Abierta, between 2002 and 2004 paramilitaries killed and displaced dozens of families in the coastal Cesar province, who say their land was then sold to several multinational coal mining companies.
Colombian social security agency Accion Social estimates that 6.8 million hectares of land was appropriated from peasant families by illegal armies over the past decade. But it is nearly impossible to guess how much of that land is now technically owned by individuals linked to drug trafficking. Often the property is registered in the names of family members or business contacts who have not been charged with crimes, making it difficult for the government to expropriate the rural estates. Under the demobilization process, paramilitaries returned 21,000 hectares of land to authorities, but this widely understood to be only a fraction of their former holdings.
Complicating matters is a corruption purge currently underway at the main anti-narcotics agency, the National Directorate for Drugs (DNE). The organization is responsible for managing thousands of assets seized by the government from drug traffickers, including luxury Bogota apartments and massive tracts of farmland in the countryside. The Santos administration has hinted that it will accelerate the process by which property seized by the DNE will be transferred to displaced farmers. But so far, as reported by John Otis in Time magazine, the government has managed to seize just three percent of the estates owned by drug traffickers. And DNE has now opened an internal investigation into the mismanagement of agency databases.
In one noted case, authorities have not yet been able to restitute the land owned in Colombia by Honduran trafficker Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros. In may have been an early case of what later became known as extraordinary rendition, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents arrested Matta Ballesteros in Tegucigalpa in 1988, and took him by force to the United States where he was later convicted of drug trafficking.
But in Colombia some 1,971 hectares of Matta Ballesteros’ land have remained in the hands of a third party, rather than being redistributed to 35 families as ordered by the government’s agricultural reform agency. Neither has the government yet been capable to gain control of the properties registered under the name of infamous drug trafficker Pablo Escobar, who died over fifteen years ago in a police shootout.
Land reform looks to be one of the most important issues yet tackled by the still-young Santos administration. But the government will have to a shine a light into some very dark corners of Colombia. Land reform advocates have previously reported receiving threats from the illegal armies still at large in the countryside, including the Aguilas Negras. With so many interests at stake, it could be another troubling year for land activists in search of justice.
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What does Colombian political prisoner Liliany Obando have in common with Mumia Abu-Jamal, Lynne Stewart and the Cuban Five? All of them are incarcerated in prisons built by the U.S. government. Since the mid-1990s, seven new military bases and a rash of state-of-the-art prisons have been built in Colombia. Under the pretext of the “war on drugs and/or terrorism,” the U.S. has funnelled billions of dollars into Colombia’s efforts to crush dissent.
The U.S. government has been intervening in the affairs of Colombia since the 1950s, providing military training and economic aid to combat primarily two armed reformist organizations — the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN).
Liliany Obando, a sociologist and independent filmmaker, was arrested in 2008 and charged with “rebellion” against the government and aiding the forces of FARC, which has been declared a “terrorist” organization.
As the Human Rights Director of the peasant union FENSUAGRO, the Federation of National Agricultural Workers Unions, Obando has travelled to Australia and Canada to expose Colombia as the world’s most lethal country for trade unionists. More than 1,500 FENSUAGRO members have been killed the last 30 years. She raised funds for her union and educated supporters about the widespread theft of land and resources by the Colombian government, which employs paramilitaries and drug thugs to do its dirty work.
Liliany Obando, the sole support of her mother and two sons, was brutally arrested in front of them during the same week that her exposé of the murders of Colombian unionists was published.
Witch-Hunt
This witch-hunt is part of a campaign to neutralize dissent and pave the way for a corporate grab of Colombian natural resources. To date, more than four million rural citizens have been displaced in Colombia’s civil war, at least 50,000 murdered or disappeared, and 25 million acres of land seized from peasants and farmers by U.S.-backed right wing paramilitaries and the Colombian Army.
Liliany Obando’s arrest was based on bogus evidence, allegedly found during an illegal army air assault on a FARC camp located in Ecuador. In clear violation of international law, the raiders killed FARC commander Raul Reyes and seized his computer. This computer then disappeared for three days, to re-emerge with “incriminating” emails supposedly showing that Obando funneled money she raised for her union to FARC. In fact, even Interpol has stated that the emails cannot be authenticated.
Obando’s trial has been repeatedly postponed since her arrest two years ago. She has been denied home detention, which would allow her to care for her family, though it is frequently offered to those convicted of violent crimes, even those accused of working as paramilitaries.
Organizing behind bars
From her cell at the Buen Pastor Women’s Prison in Bogotá, Obando has continued the struggle. She has exposed the brutal conditions of the prison, where eighty-five women are jailed in the isolated political prisoner cellblock. Of these, 90 percent have young children, most are the sole support of their families.
In Colombian prisons, children can stay with their mothers until the age of four, and then are taken away to relatives or the state. Obando has been an outspoken critic of separating the children from mothers, and of the brutal treatment of prisoners, where proper heat and air conditioning are non-existent and inmates are regularly exposed to raw sewage. Obando has stated, “for us, the women political prisoners … it is clear that this vengeful treatment makes us pay with the grief of our children for our option to think distinctly and to struggle for a country with social justice.”
International outrage most potent weapon.
‘For Obando and others like her, worldwide solidarity and protest is critical to their struggle for justice, even their lives. Mumia Abu-Jamal has acknowledged the key role of the international movement in keeping him alive. And Obando has said, “the level of political persecution and violations of human rights is so gross that only international pressure has served to curb … so much abuse.”
Freedom Socialist Party
November 25, 2010
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By Federico Fuentes
First published at Green Left Weekly http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/46076
Fensuagro is the largest peasant and farm workers’ union federation in Colombia.
A November 4 World Bank and International Finance Corporation report, Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs, ranked Colombia as the 39th most “business friendly environment” in the world.
Colombia’s “Doing Business” score, which measures how much the country has improved for business, showed Colombia as the best improving economy in the region.
Missing from the report were the more than 500 unionists killed in Colombia over the past eight years, making up 60% of all unionists killed globally.
Also missing were the 38,255 people that have “disappeared” in the last three years, many of them union and community leaders.
The report doesn’t mention the 7500 political prisoners in Colombian jails or the more than 4.5 million internally displaced people within its borders — the largest number for any country in the world.
These are just some of the results of the policies of state terrorism carried out by successive Colombian governments, backed by Washington, that unionists confront every day.
One such unionist is Parmenio Poveda from the National Unified Agricultural Trade Union Federation, Fensuagro, who visited several unions in Sydney recently.
With 80,000 members, Fensuagro is the largest peasant and farm workers’ union federation in Colombia.
Fensuagro has organised plantation workers, small landowners, landless peasants, internally displaced people and small coca growers since 1976.
Fensuagro has been hard-hit by Colombian state repression. More than 1500 of its members have been assassinated since it was set up.
Many unionists and solidarity activists in Australia know Poveda’s union because of past visits by Fensuagro leader Liliany Obando. Obando is in prison two years after being arrested, despite military authorities admitting evidence used to convict her was fraudulent.
Poveda spoke to Green Left Weekly about the political situation today in Colombia.
“We have to understand that the Colombian oligarchy, historically, is the most repressive and reactionary oligarchy in the region”, Poveda said. He said this was why Colombia was bucking the continental trend towards electing left-wing and progressive governments.
He recalled the massacre of more than 5000 leaders and members of the Patriotic Union (UP), a left-wing party created in the wake of peace negotiations between the Belisario Betancur government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas in 1985.
Seeing the growing sympathy for the UP, which won five senators and 14 deputies in the 1986 elections, the Colombian government adopted a scorched-earth policy, which was carried out by the armed forces and paramilitaries in areas with strong UP support.
“I believe that if this massacre had not occurred, Colombia would have been the first country, of course after Cuba, to join this wave of progressive governments that have come to power through elections.”
Instead, unionists continue to face the wrath of state terrorist policies and paramilitaries. Each day new atrocities are committed.
Every day of his Australian tour, Poveda read his email to tell people about the latest crimes carried out against unionists and their families.
One example was the assassination of a leader of the mining and energy union who was negotiating a new contract with US mining company Drummond. After leaving his home early on October 26, William Tafur’s body was found two days later in an open grave with bullet holes in his head.
On November 4, former Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe was subpoenaed to testify in a civil case against Drummond for the company’s ties to paramilitary death squads.
A former paramilitary testified on November 10 that Drummond had congratulated members of a paramilitary organisation for killing two labour rights activists, who worked for the Colombian branch of the company.
Poveda told Australian union leaders that several children in the department of Arauco (youngest aged six) were kidnapped, tortured, raped and then killed in early October by members of the Colombian armed forces.
Such stories were common, Poveda said. The difference this time was that this story was covered by a corporate media that generally ignored the countless more such cases.
“Despite all the media hype, this is continuing to happen under the Santos government”, Proveda said. “The only thing that has changed is the tactic: [President Juan Manuel] Santos is attempting to present himself as someone open to dialogue and negotiation.
“Meanwhile, the assassinations continue.”
Santos has tried to present himself as something new by selecting a former Communist Party member and leader of the United Workers Central (CUT) as his vice president.
Moreover, the General Confederation of Workers (CGT) has said it was willing to work hand-in-hand with the new government.
“Clearly, this is a case of Santos finding people who have sold out or are willing to be bought out in order to present his government as something new.
“The problem is that this creates confusion among the less political sections who look and see former union leaders in the government and say ‘maybe change is possible with workers in the government.’
“However, beyond the words, the actions speak for themselves. A recent report showed that 22 unionists had been assassinated in the first 75 days of the Santos government.
“We are seeing not only the continuation but also the internationalisation of the previous Uribe government policy of criminalisation of social dissent by attempting to smear anyone who opposes the government as linked to the FARC.
“Since the 2008 bombing of the FARC camp in Ecuador, [which killed] FARC leader Raul Reyes, the Colombian government has used the laptops it supposedly found to spit out documents linking any union leaders it dislikes to the FARC.
“These magical laptops, which I have said several times are incredible given they can survive the bombardment of the camp, have been so useful to the Colombian government that, more recently, when they killed another FARC leader, Mono Jojoy, they said they found over 20 laptops and a similar number of hard drives!”
Poveda said the government is using this to target any social activist it wants. But the Santos government has taken this one step further by calling for Chilean Communist Party member Manuel Olate to be extradited to Colombia on the basis of supposed documents from Reyes’ laptops.
“What we have here is an attempt to internationalise the criminalisation of those willing to speak out against the Colombian state and campaign for peace.”
For this reason, he called for solidarity with the campaign to free Olate.
Poveda was sceptical about possibilities in the short to medium term for real political change in Colombia, saying there was no real alternative political force.
“Many of us had high hopes for the Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA), which brought together different left and progressive parties and individuals and came second in the 2006 elections with 2.6 million votes”, Proveda said.
“It seems as though the right wing and imperialism have been working from within to undermine the Pole.” He pointed to the preselection campaign for PDA presidential candidate earlier this year, where Gustavo Petro defeated Carlos Gaviria, the 2006 candidate.
“In a country where the left has never had money to run campaigns, Petro received funding from somewhere to produce a newspaper for his preselection campaign and pay people to go door-knocking.”
After winning preselection, Petro immediately stated his willingness to continue to implement Uribe’s policy of “Democratic Security” — code for crushing guerrillas and repressing dissenting voices by linking them to the FARC.
This time around, the PDA dropped to less than half its 2006 vote because many felt it was not a real alternative.
Instead, the Greens got the votes of those disenchanted with the status quo.
“The Greens are made up of old politicians from the right, from the centre and from the left, who have been recycled and represented in the new guise of the Greens.
“Therefore they also represent no alternative.”
Fensuagro has continued to organise in the countryside, putting on workshops about human rights and community, and union organising for members and non-members.
They have also placed emphasis on agroecology and food sovereignty to small farmers.
“This is to break our dependency on multinationals such as Monsanto who are always trying to force peasants to use genetically modified seeds and agro toxins.”
Fensuagro promotes an agroecological alternative “because it is better for the soil, it is cheaper for farmers to produce and it produces healthier food for everyone.”
Fensuagro has produced an agroecology handbook, which is available at www.fensuagro.org.
“But these projects, and our ability to organise, depend on international solidarity.”
Fensuagro receives financial support from some NGOs and solidarity organisations. But more important is the work of condemning the Colombian government at an international level.
“Each time the Colombian government is condemned on the international stage, a bit more breathing space is opened up for us as union and social movements.
“The government is very conscious of trying to defend its image on the international scale.
“Due to the condemnation of human rights abuses, the US government felt pressured to not sign a free trade agreement with Colombia.” The union and peasant movement rejected the agreement because of the devastating impact it would have on the poor majority in Colombia.
Poveda also extended an invitation to the Australian union movement to send a delegation to Colombia to see the human rights abuses for themselves.
Poveda is back in Colombia now and, like many other union leaders, will be high on the interest list of the Colombian government.
We must ensure Poveda, and others like him, don’t join the more than 27,000 unionists assassinated in Colombia since 1986 by doing all we can to fight for peace and justice in Colombia.
Interview with FENSUAGRO union leader from Colombia, Parmenio Poveda.
http://latinamericasocialforum.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post_11.html
http://latinamericasocialforum.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post_2061.html
http://latinamericasocialforum.blogspot.com/2010/11/colombia-hoy-3.html
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Peace and Justice for Colombia wishes to thank all those organisations and individuals that received union leader Parmenio Poveda Salazar from Colombia’s agricultural union, Fensuagro.
The visit of Parmenio has been very valuable in raising the serious situation faced by unionists, indigenous, human rights defenders and the people in general in Colombia today. He informed all those he met that the assassination and oppression of trade unionists and human rights activists continues today, in contrast to the views of the mass media and the apologists for the regime that kills more trade unionists than any other country.
Parmenio was able to meet with many unions, politicians and other organisations in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in what was a very successful visit.
Once again we wish to thank everyone for make this possible and we call to show your solidarity with the Colombian people in their struggle for peace with social justice.
Peace and Justice from Colombia
Related articles:
Union solidarity with besieged Colombian workers
Union solidarity with besieged Colombian workers
http://www.mua.org.au/news/union-solidarity-with-colombian-workers-under-seig/
Colombian unionist calls for solidarity
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/45987
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Manuel Olate Cespedes a Chilean activist was recently arrested in Santiago for his suspected links to the Colombian Revolutionary Forces (FARC). Chile’s Supreme Court is expected to make an extradition decision with in three months, a decision which is aided by a bilateral extradition agreement between the two countries. Santos’ request to extradite Olate comes weeks before Chilean president Piñera is set to make a state visit to Bogota on Nov. 24.
Olate has been an active member of Chile’s oppostion scene since the latter years of the miliatry dictatorship in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, he reportedly co-founded the Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana (CCB).
Olate’s defense lawyer Rodrigo Roman termed the case a “political stunt” and he says Olate is “dismayed” by the situation.
The following are statements made by the Bolivarian Continental Movement.
Manuel Olate Cespedes a Chilean activist was recently arrested in Santiago for his suspected links to the Colombian Revolutionary Forces (FARC). Chile’s Supreme Court is expected to make an extradition decision with in three months, a decision which is aided by a bilateral extradition agreement between the two countries. Santos’ request to extradite Olate comes weeks before Chilean president Piñera is set to make a state visit to Bogota on 24 Nov.
Olate has been an active member of Chile’s oppostion scene since the latter years of the miliatry dictatorship in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, he reportedly co-founded the Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana (CCB).
Olate’s defense lawyer Rodrigo Roman termed the case a “political stunt” and he says Olate is “dismayed” by the situation.
The following is an statements made by the Bolivarian Continental Movement.
Comunicado del Movimiento Continental Bolivariano, enviar adhesiones a libertadmanuelolate@hotmail.com
¡LIBERTAD PARA MANUEL OLATE AHORA! NO a la criminalización de la solidaridad, NO a la extradición
Exigimos la inmediata liberación del chileno Manuel Olate Céspedes, miembro del Movimiento Continental Bolivariano y representante del Movimiento de solidaridad por la paz en Colombia, el cual a fue arrestado en su domicilio en Santiago el día 29 de Octubre, por su supuesta vinculación con la guerrilla colombiana FARC-EP, tras la orden de la Ministra de la Corte Suprema Margarita Herreros, quien acogió una solitud de detención enviada por la justicia Colombiana.
Rechazamos la creciente intensificación de la represión del Estado colombiano, quien pretende aumentar internacionalmente la persecución de todos aquellos que se levanten contra posición guerrista del gobierno, en una férrea determinación de exterminio físico y político de todos aquellos que defiendan la idea de una salida política al conflicto valiéndose para ello de la criminalización, la condena mediática y el montaje judicial.
Manuel Olate es una prueba más de esta determinación, siendo condenado a priori por su inquebrantable compromiso solidario hacia Colombia, compromiso que representado para él la obligación con un pueblo hermano que ha sido una mil veces pisoteado y cuyo nivel de represión y de manipulación mediática hace urgente el concurso de voces internacionales que hagan eco de la voz de los oprimidos. Defensor incansable de una salida política al Conflicto Colombiano asumió la tarea de aunar voces para la paz en Colombia en su país, en donde fue injustamente detenido.
Hacemos un llamado a las organizaciones políticas, sociales y culturales, a los dirigentes, intelectuales, a los hombres y mujeres comprometidos con la causa de la Paz y la justicia , nacionales e internacionales, a movilizarse por la liberación de Manuel Olate, rechazando desde ya la idea de su posible extradición , ya que como se ha señalado en reiteradas ocasiones en Colombia no existen las condiciones mínimas para un proceso justo que garantice el respeto a sus derechos fundamentales , como dan cuenta los más de 7.500 presos políticos de ese país. Hacemos un llamado así mismo a adherir a esta campaña sumándose a las organizaciones y personas firmantes en este llamado.
Adhesión: libertadmanuelolate@hotmail.com
MANUEL OLATE DEBE SER LIBERADO
La guerra sucia contra la paz en Colombia
Hace tres días fue detenido en Chile el diseñador gráfico, Manuel Olate Céspedes, miembro del Movimiento Continental Bolivariano y representante del Movimiento de solidaridad por la paz en Colombia, por su supuesta vinculación con la guerrilla colombiana FARC-EP, tras la orden de la Ministra de la Corte Suprema Margarita Herreros, quien acogió una solitud de arresto enviada por la justicia Colombiana.
Ante ello, creemos necesario reflexionar acerca de algunos puntos que rodean la detención de Manuel.
La idea de una salida política y negociada al conflicto armado en Colombia no es un tema nuevo, pero es evidente que este se ha visto re oxigenado en estos últimos años por iniciativa de algunos gobiernos progresistas de Latinoamérica y la determinación de diversas organizaciones sociales y de derechos humanos. En estos últimos meses, esta necesidad urgente ha sido fuertemente instalada gracias a la iniciativa de Latinoamericanos y Europeos y europeas por la paz en Colombia, idea que encuentra sus caras más publicas en la senadora Piedad Córdova y en el premio nobel de la paz argentino Eduardo Pérez Ezquivel, entre otros, quienes durante el presente año realizaron una gira por varios países de Latinoamérica y Europa, aunando voluntades para encontrar una salida política a la Guerra más antigua del continente.
Pese a que la idea de la Paz como valor universal es evidente, esta no es conveniente para algunos y esto es particularmente cierto si volcamos nuestros ojos hacia los intereses norteamericanos, para quienes desde hace mucho tiempo, la guerra en Colombia se ha vuelto una fuente de millonarias ganancias para su desarrollada industria armamentista y para el negocio de la droga, que constituyen el primer y segundo ingreso más alto en los Estados Unidos. Esto explica porque el Plan Colombia lejos de terminar con el narcotráfico en este país, como planteara su objetivo principal, ha hecho crecer este negocio ilícito en más de un 27%, esto según un reciente informe de Naciones Unidas.
Es por ello que no es casualidad, esta nueva arremetida hacia los gestores para la paz en Colombia , la cual excediendo los límites de la patria neogradina, ha iniciado una verdadera cacería de brujas contra los que se resisten a la tesis de que “Más plomo resolverá lo que el plomo no ha logrado resolver en más de 50 años”.
La nueva ofensiva se inicia con la destitución e inhabilitación por 18 años de la Senadora Piedad Córdova, una de las principales impulsoras de los acuerdos para la Paz, el pasado 27 de Septiembre, por haberse extralimitado, según la procuraduría, en sus funciones como mediadora con las FARC-EP ¿O acaso por extralimitarse en la defensa de la paz?
A esto se suma el asesinato de de más de 20 activistas de derechos humanos en Colombia, en los apenas 75 primeros días de gobierno de Santos y la salida del país en el mes de Agosto del ex prisionero de guerra de las FARC, Pablo Mocayo, quien debió abandonar Colombia tras las constantes amenazas de muerte que lo sindicaba como colaborador de la FARC y reiterados seguimientos. Al parecer su posición antiguerrerista y en pro de un dialogo para paz no cayó bien en ciertos círculos.
Manuel Olate es una nueva prueba de tal intención de exterminio político. Su compromiso solidario hacia Colombia ha sido para él la inquebrantable obligación con un pueblo hermano que ha sido una mil veces pisoteado y cuyo nivel de represión y de manipulación mediática hace urgente el concurso de voces internacionales que hagan eco de la voz de los oprimidos. Defensor incansable de una salida política al Conflicto Colombiano asumió la tarea de aunar voces para la paz en Colombia en su país, en donde fue injustamente detenido.
En cuanto al requerimiento contra Manuel Olate es necesario dejar claro que este responde a ciertos métodos y prácticas reiterativas del Gobierno colombiano que, obedeciendo al mandato de Washington, actúa como el niño aplicado del hemisferio tratando de “encontrar donde no hay” para ganarse un punto en su lucha contra el “terrorismo” y justificar así los millones invertidos en Colombia por el amo del norte. En este sentido creemos visualizar desde ya una sucesión de pasos, que como en una obra teatral muchas veces repetida, se siguen unos a otros para configurar un delito que no existe.
Primer Acto: Condena mediática, antesala obligada de la investigación criminalística
En el año 2008 Manuel Olate visitaría el campamento del extinto comandante de las FARC-EP Raúl Reyes, con motivo de la realización de una entrevista, la cual fue publicada posteriormente en el Semanario “El Siglo”. Dicha entrevista fue realizada solo días antes del bombardeo en territorio ecuatoriano del campamento de Reyes, en donde el ejército colombiano encontrarías pruebas fotográficas que darían cuenta de la presencia reciente de Olate en el lugar, presencia que de hecho sería posteriormente divulgada, dada la inminente publicación de la entrevista al comandante de las FARC, en un medio de comunicación chileno de cobertura nacional
A partir de esto y desde los sucesos de Sucumbíos, Olate fue sistemática y reiteradamente condenado por la prensa nacional sin que existiera, hasta ese momento, ningún proceso en Chile en su contra. De la misma forma , sin que aun las autoridades colombianas presenten las pruebas que den sustancia a la acusación que han formulado, las conocidas transnacionales de la “desinformación” replican al unisonó a través de sus medios locales e internacionales su condena anticipada “Piden investigación de chilenos que viajaron a entrenarse”( Diario La nación,1 Nov. 2010) “Enlace de las Farc entrenaba milicianos en Chile” (Caracol Radio, Minuto30, 1 Nov. 2010), “Colombia pedirá extradición de chileno ligado a las Farc ”(Heraldo de Miami, 31 Oct. 2010), “Roque, el promotor de las FARC en Chile” refiriéndose al chileno detenido (Diario el Tiempo de Colombia, 1 de Nov. 2010) esto entre muchos otros encabezados similares.
Segundo Acto: Aparecen las pruebas “irrefutables” que calzan con exactitud con los requerimientos de las acusaciones interpuestas ¿De dónde salen?
Obvio…de alguna de las ya míticas e inagotables computadoras de los líderes abatidos de las FARC-EP
Ronald Coy investigador perteneciente al grupo antiterrorista de la DIJIN aceptó ante un juez especializado de la audiencia pública que se rompió la cadena de custodia y que entre el día 1 y 3 de marzo las computadoras de Raúl Reyes habían estado expuestas a posibles manipulaciones y que esto hace que cualquier información que se quiera tomar como prueba judicial no pueda tomarse como evidencias, ya que no reciben las certificaciones necesarias. Haciendo caso omiso de tales declaraciones los ya famosos “correos de Raúl Reyes” que no son tales (ha sido reconocido por la Interpol que no se trata de correos si no de documentos Word) siguen develando con sospechosa oportunidad más y más antecedentes. Los supuestos y recientemente incautados computadores de Jorge Briceño, abren una nueva fuente de acusaciones cuyo límite sobrepasa las posibilidades de la imaginación de los simples mortales. Resulta curioso sin embargo constatar que si bien han afirmado que ya tienen en su poder las pruebas que inculparían a Olate, deban esperar dos meses para preparar su petición de extradición…¿O acaso aun falta el tercer paso?
Tercer Acto: Nace un testigo
La existencia no aislada de montajes judiciales en Colombia ha sido denunciada reiteradamente por distintas Organizaciones de derechos humanos tanto dentro como fuera de Colombia.
En los llamados “falsos positivos judiciales” se destaca el papel clave de supuestos desmovilizados de las organizaciones guerrilleras que hacen de testigos falsos y la fabricación de informes de inteligencia dentro de las instalaciones militares que luego son usados en las fiscalías para la apertura de los procesos , esto según el Movimiento nacional de Victimas de crímenes de estado(MOVICE).
Esto queda claro en el informe divulgado en febrero del 2009 por la Human Rights (organización, por cierto, bastante lejana a posturas progresistas) quien denuncia la generalización de investigaciones judiciales sin fundamento y prácticas violatorias del debido proceso, destacando la utilización de testigos a sueldo preparados por los fiscales y el uso de informantes y desertores como única fuente probatoria en función de meter en un solo saco represivo a todos los opositores políticos, disidentes o defensores de derechos humanos y sindicarlos como terroristas.
“El montaje judicial, desafortunadamente, no constituye una conducta excepcional, inusitada o extraordinaria en Colombia, es mucho más “normal “de los que uno pudiese imaginarse” señala el Sacerdote Jesuita Javier Giraldo, defensor de derechos humanos y miembro de Centro de investigación y educación popular.
Frente a estos antecedentes cabe preguntar ¿Qué garantías puede ofrecer el estado colombiano de otorgar un juicio justo a Manuel Olate? En la práctica ya ha sido condenado por los medios oficiales, así como también por el propio Juan Manuel Santos quien aseguró, tras la detención, que Olate había visitado 5 o 6 veces los campamentos de la guerrilla y que se trataba del enlace chileno con las FARC. De otra parte ya han dejado trascender que los supuestos vínculos del chileno estarían contenidos en los computadores de Raúl Reyes y que habría más pruebas en las supuestas Laptops del Mono Jojoy, solo falta el testimonio de los infaltables “testigos” para ratificar la crónica de una condena anunciada.
En manos de la Justicia Chilena está hoy la posibilidad de no dejarse engañar por quienes han hecho de la justicia un oscuro circo que busca exterminar las posiciones divergentes a cualquier precio. Chile conoce muy bien de estos montajes, los negros años de dictadura militar lo hicieron triste testigo del asesinato y encarcelamiento de miles de chilenos y chilenas acusados de manera infundada y falaz de crímenes que nunca cometieron. Se vienen a la memoria la “Operación Albania”, las decenas de falsos enfrentamientos para encubrir la ejecución de los opositores a la dictadura, el “Plan Z “, el caso de Tucapel Jiménez y el asesinato posterior de su supuesto asesino y así tantos otros…confiamos que esa dura experiencia histórica haga luz sobre este caso y que Manuel Olate sea liberado con prontitud.
Dirección Ejecutiva
MOVIMIENTO CONTINENTAL BOLIVARIANO
Caracas, 1 de Noviembre 2010
Mas info:
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Special guest speaker:
PARMENIO POVEDA SALAZAR, representative of FENSUAGRO (the National Unitarian Federation of Agrarian Unions), affiliated to the United Workers’ Central (CUT) of Colombia and the World Trade Union Congress.
Plus reportback from Peace & Justice for Colombia (Sydney) coordinator, Elizabeth Rivera, on her recent trip to Colombia where she met with political prisoner Liliany Obando.
Thursday 4 November, 6.30 pm
Resistance Centre
23 Abercrombie St, Chippendale
Organised by Peace and Justice for Colombia (Sydney)
& Latin America Social Forum
For more info email: lasfsydney@gmail.com
Telephones: 0402 608 265 or 0425 324 621
FENSUAGRO is the largest peasant and farm workers’ union federation in Colombia. It organises plantation workers, small landowners, landless peasants, internally displaced people and small coca growers.
For organising Colombia’s workers and peasants and for voicing their demands, FENSUAGRO has been targeted by the Colombian state. Members have been imprisoned, murdered, threatened by paramilitaries, and its leaders displaced in the national territory. More than 1,500 FENSUAGRO members have been assassinated in its 32 years of existence.
FENSUAGRO campaigns around several demands on the Colombian government, including an inclusive agricultural policy, base on a new economic and development model for the rural centres; for a democratic, comprehensive and radical land reform capable of destroying the landowner project; for an organic and sustainable agriculture; an end to political persecution of political and social movements; a negotiated political settlement to the social, economic and armed conflict and to the end to US intervention in the Colombian conflict.
Come and hear from visiting Colombian trade unionist, Parmenio Poveda from the Colombian National Unitarian Federation of Agriculture Unions- FENSUAGRO who is currently touring Australia speak about the situation of unionists in Colombia and their fight for peace and justice.
On Liliany Obando
On August 8th 2010 Liliany Obando will have been imprisoned by the Colombian Government for two years. Liliany has been brought to court several times, but in most cases the authorities have applied successfully to postpone the hearing, while they seek further “evidence”.
On Wednesday 4th August Ronald Coy Ortiz, the police captain, who oversaw the initial investigation against Liliany, admitted in court that he tampered the information contained in computers allegedly belonging to Commandant Raúl Reyes, before he turned it over to the international police agency, INTERPOL. With this confession the evidence against Liliany has been discredited and she cannot be charged based on the illegally obtained and tempered evidence.
Liliany Obando is well known to Australians. She has visited Australia twice as part of her work for the Federation of United National Agricultural workers unions (FENSUAGRO), and while here she met many politicians, unions and social organisations. Liliany spoke of the continuing oppression of workers and their organisations in her country, and the need for international solidarity.
Peace and Justice for Colombia is asking all supporters to write letters of protest to the Colombian authorities, demanding her release and the end to this gross miscarriage of justice. Two years without a proper trial is unacceptable in any country that claims to be democratic. The obvious conclusion is that there is no real evidence, and that the Colombian authorities continue their repressive actions to silence any critics of the regime. Over 80% of the unionists killed worldwide in 2009 were killed in Colombia.
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Colombian trade unionist, Parmenio Poveda from the Colombian National Unitarian Federation of Agriculture Unions- FENSUAGRO is touring Australia.
Public Forum
Thursday 28 October at 6.30 pm
New International Bookshop
Victorian Trades Hall
Lygon cnr Victoria Streets, Melbourne
FENSUAGRO is the largest peasant and farm workers’ union federation in Colombia. It organises plantation workers, small landowners, landless peasants, internally displaced people and small coca growers.
For organising Colombia’s workers and peasants and for voicing their demands, FENSUAGRO has been targeted by the Colombian state. Members have been imprisoned, murdered, threatened by paramilitaries, and its leaders displaced in the national territory. More than 1,500 FENSUAGRO members have been assassinated in its 32 years of existence.
Organised by Peace and Justice for Colombia
For more info, email: pjfcolombia@gmail.com
Telephones:
0407 500 839 or 04302 422 586
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