A group of MEPs is calling for action as further details of an alleged covert operation conducted by the Colombian intelligence agency (DAS) continue to emerge, with one of its reported aims being to undermine the authority of the European Parliament.

Recently released documents that were confiscated from the DAS by the Colombian Attorney General’s office highlight the nature of “Operation Europe.”

Its objective was to “neutralise the influence of the European judicial system, the European Parliament’s human rights sub-committee, and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,” reads one text seen by this website.

Following lines suggest the process of discrediting these institutions should be carried out by waging a “legal war.”

News of the Colombian agency’s activities targeting national and international human rights defenders, NGOs and democratic organisations, of which ‘Operation Europe’ was only one part, first broke in the Colombian media in early 2009.

As the scandal grew, former right-wing President Alvaro Uribe finally moved to stem the criticism by introducing legislation late last year to overhaul the controversial agency, although it has yet to be approved by the country’s legislature.

But a group of MEPs, primarily from the European Parliament’s Green group, are not satisfied, fearing that the reported campaign of close surveillance and threat-making against Bogota’s critics may simply continue under a different guise.

Their concerns are backed up by the Colombian Commission of Jurists, among others, a group of legal activists that says the law does not “establish adequate, effective and independent oversight of intelligence activities.”

Green MEP Ulrike Lunacek is one of those to have put questions to the European Commission and Council of Ministers, but said the answers she received were “not satisfactory.”

In responding to the queries last month, the commission said it was “well aware of the reports relating to alleged illegal spying by the DAS” and has raised the matter with the Colombian authorities on several occasions.

The EU executive body added that it has faith in the current investigation being carried out by the Colombian Prosecutor General’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office and has been informed of the draft law to liquidate the DAS and set up a new agency.

Others want more, however.

“There should be a full police and judicial investigation of the alleged crimes,” said centre-left MEP Richard Howitt. “All of us at member-state level and within the European institutions should take full responsibility for making sure such investigations are conducted.”

Hopes for the Belgian Presidency

Unhappy with the current level of action, Ms Lunacek says she has greater hopes for the next six months, with Spain set to hand over the reins of the EU’s rotating presidency on 1 July.

“The Spanish government is very in favour of the free trade agreement with Colombia [initialed in May], and they don’t want anything to jeopardise that,” the Austrian deputy told EUobserver. “But then the Belgians will take over the presidency and they have citizens that have been proven to have suffered phone tapping by the DAS.”

One of those Belgian citizens who claims to have been a victim of DAS activities is Paul-Emile Dupret, a political advisor to the European Parliament’s left-wing United European Left (GUE) group.

“My name is mentioned on the DAS file several times,” he says, believing it to be partially the result of his involvement in the organisation of an anti-Uribe protest in 2004 when the ex-President visited the European Parliament.

Several months after the protest, Mr Dupret was arrested upon landing in the United States. “I was interrogated when I arrived, put in prison for 24 hours, asked dozens of questions about by views on Colombia,” he says. “Since then I have been prevented from returning to the US. They now consider me a terrorist.”

The close ties between Washington and Bogota are well known.

The Belgian citizen is currently working with a group of other victims and a team of lawyers, and plans to present their collective case against the Colombian agency in the Belgian courts this July, the first European citizens to do so.

Certain European NGOs also claim to have been the target of a concerted campaign to discredit their activities and tarnish their reputations. Amongst them is the Belgian faith-based NGO Broederlijk Delen, whose representative Patricia Verbauwhede attended a press conference in parliament this week.

“The EU needs to make a statement on the DAS,” she said. “We request an investigation of the DAS on European soil and we feel the EU should not conclude its free trade agreement with Colombia.”

So far the sought-after strong statements and investigations have not been forthcoming.

http//www.apoyoapiedadcordoba.net

Enviar adhesiones a: firma@apoyoapiedadcordoba.com o europa@f-hijosdelmaiz.org.

La Procuradoría General de la Nación de Colombia, arremetió el pasado día 13 de abril contra la senadora Piedad Córdoba, con unas acusaciones absurdas y sin fundamentos, mientras ésta se encontraba fuera de su país, en Europa realizando la Gira Europea por la Paz en Colombia y al Acuerdo Humanitario (EUROPAZ2010), en busca de apoyos para promover la paz en su país y una salida no militar al conflicto armado; todo ello muy pocas semanas después de haber liderado como mediadora la liberación de nuevos uniformados en poder de las FARC.

El gobierno de Uribe, por medio de su fiscalía, echa mano nuevamente de la inagotable computadora de Raúl Reyes, para extraer supuestas pruebas de vínculos de la senadora Córdoba con las FARC, que nada tienen que ver con la gestión humanitaria que ha estado realizando para la liberación de los retenidos. Mismo sistema que empleó en una caza de brujas contra todo movimiento, organización o particular que simplemente se opusiera a su camino guerrerista.

La defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Colombia, la búsqueda de una Paz justa, y la oposición al gobierno de Uribe, se convierten así, con la complicidad del órgano de inteligencia administrativo, el DAS, en un ejercicio de alto riesgo para quienes con tanto valor, las ponen en práctica, y hace de ello su quehacer y sentir diario.

Animamos a organizaciones y amigos/as de Colombia, a firmar o adherirse al presente comunicado, que tiene como pretensión obtener un número mínimo de 500 firmas, para ser entregado a las instituciones colombianas, así como a la prensa internacional.

* * * * * * *

COMUNICADO EN DEFENSA DE PIEDAD CÓRDOBA.

Ante las injustas y falsas acusaciones de la Procuraduría General de la Nación de Colombia, contra la defensora de la paz, los Derechos Humanos, el Acuerdo Humanitario, y una salida no militar al conflicto colombiano.

Los/as abajo firmantes, rechazamos las acusaciones formuladas por la Procuraduría General de Colombia contra la senadora PIEDAD CÓRDOBA RUIZ el día 13 de abril de 2010, según las cuales la senadora habría incurrido en apología y tendría vínculos con la organización de las FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), más allá de lo razonable y lo necesario en las gestiones realizadas en la mediación con este grupo armado para la liberación de varios militares retenidos.

Estas acusaciones, que tienen la finalidad de inmovilizar o entorpecer la acción de las organizaciones de activistas por la paz en Colombia, como la que representa la senadora Piedad Córdoba, se enmarcan en un plan previamente diseñado por el DAS (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad) de Colombia, que incluye todo tipo de presión, extorsión y amenazas a todo lo que representa la oposición al Gobierno y su política guerrerista. En este sentido, no existe duda alguna de la relación entre esta acusación contra Piedad Córdoba y el escándalo de las llamadas “chuzadas” del DAS a magistrados, periodistas y políticos de la oposición colombiana.

Por otra parte, se trata de unas acusaciones infundadas y absurdas, toda vez que la Procuraduría obtiene las pruebas en informaciones contenidas en las supuestas computadoras que el Gobierno colombiano dice que recuperó, tras el bombardeo ilegal que ejecutó contra Ecuador el pasado 1 de marzo de 2008, bajo la excusa de desmantelar un campamento temporal de las FARC. El acceso a los datos de dichas computadoras, no se ajustó a los principios reconocidos internacionalmente para el tratamiento de pruebas electrónicas por parte de los organismos encargados de la aplicación de la ley, según informes oficiales de la propia INTERPOL. Es decir, en el tratamiento de las computadoras y los discos duros, se rompió la cadena de custodia de la información contenida.

Este mismo recurso fue empleado por el Gobierno de Uribe para perseguir y reprimir a muchos opositores de su gobierno, como Jorge Robledo, Gloria Inés Ramírez y el concejal Jaime Caycedo (los tres del partido Polo Democrático).

La senadora Piedad Córdoba acaba de finalizar la primera parte de la Gira Europea por la Paz en Colombia y el Acuerdo Humanitario, EUROPAZ2010, que tiene un enorme respaldo social internacional, viendo ampliamente cumplidas sus expectativas en la búsqueda y obtención de apoyos para la causa de la Paz para Colombia. En este sentido, cualquier acusación contra Piedad Córdoba, por dura y absurda que parezca, no conseguirá que la senadora desista en la causa justa de la lucha por paz, ni reducirá un ápice el apoyo que ella tiene entre los centenares de organizaciones sociales de todos los pueblos de Europa, sino más bien al contrario, contribuirá a ir en aumento.

Apoyamos decididamente la lucha de esta senadora y su organización, Colombianas y Colombianos por la Paz, en la defensa de la Paz, el Acuerdo Humanitario y la salida no militar del conflicto armado que vive Colombia.

En aras de la paz y de la justicia para el pueblo colombiano, rechazamos y solicitamos enérgicamente que se retiren, de manera inmediata, las acusaciones injustamente formuladas por la Procuraduría de Colombia en contra de la Senadora Piedad Córdoba.

Con Piedad Córdoba, con la organización Colombianas y Colombianos por la Paz, y con las organizaciones y personas de Colombia y del mundo que luchan por la paz, el acuerdo humanitario y una salida no militar y con justicia al conflicto armado de Colombia, mantenemos el apoyo y nos adherimos al presente comunicado.

Dado en Madrid, Ginebra, París, Bruselas y Bogotá,  el día 16 de abril de 2010.

* * * *

COMMUNIQUÉ DE SOUTIEN Á PIEDAD CORDOBA

Suite aux injustes et fausses accusations du Procureur Général de la Nation de Colombie envers la médiatrice pour la paix, les Droits de l’Homme, l’Accord Humanitaire et une issue non militaire au conflit colombien.

Nous soussignés rejetons les accusations formulées par le Procureur Général de Colombie contre la sénatrice PIEDAD CÓRDOBA RUIZ le 13 avril 2010, selon lesquelles la sénatrice aurait fait l’apologie des FARC (Forces Armées Révolutionnaires de Colombie) et aurait des liens avec celles-ci au-delà de ce qui est raisonnable et nécessaire dans le cadre des gestions effectuées dans la médiation avec ce groupe armé pour la libération de plusieurs militaires détenus.

Ces accusations, qui ont pour but d’immobiliser ou d’obstruer l’action des organisations activistes pour la paix en Colombie -comme celle que représente la sénatrice Piedad Córdoba-, s’inscrivent dans un plan préalablement conçu par le DAS (Département Administratif de Sécurité) de Colombie, qui inclut tout type de pression, extorsion et menace à tout ce qui représente l’opposition au Gouvernement et à sa politique guerrière. En ce sens, il n’existe aucun doute sur la relation entre cette accusation contre Piedad Córdoba et le scandale des dénommées « chuzadas » (écoutes téléphoniques illégales), par le DAS, de magistrats, journalistes et politiciens de l’opposition colombienne.

Il s’agit d’autre part d’accusations infondées et absurdes, à chaque fois que le Procureur obtient les preuves par des informations contenues dans les prétendus ordinateurs que le gouvernement colombien dit avoir récupérés après le bombardement illégal exécuté contre l’Équateur le 1er mars 2008, sous prétexte de démanteler un campement temporaire des FARC. L’accès aux données des dits ordinateurs n’a pas été conforme aux principes reconnus internationalement pour le traitement de preuves électroniques par les organismes chargés de l’application de la loi, selon des rapports officiels d’INTERPOL elle-même. C’est-à-dire qu’il y a eu rupture de la chaîne de surveillance des informations dans le traitement des ordinateurs et des disques durs.

Ce même recours a été utilisé par le Gouvernement d’Uribe pour poursuivre et réprimer beaucoup d’opposants à son gouvernement, comme Jorge Robledo, Gloire Ines Ramirez et le conseiller municipal Jaime Caycedo (tous les trois du parti Pôle Démocratique).

La sénatrice Piedad Córdoba vient de terminer la première partie de la Tournée Européenne pour la Paix et l’Accord Humanitaire en Colombie, EUROPAZ2010, qui a un énorme soutien social international et voit ses espoirs largement comblés quant à la recherche et l’obtention d’appuis pour la cause de la Paix en Colombie. En ce sens, toute accusation contre Piedad Córdoba, aussi dure et absurde paraisse-t-elle, n’arrivera pas à ce que la sénatrice renonce à la cause juste de la lutte pour la paix, ni ne réduira d’un iota l’appui dont elle bénéficie de centaines d’organisations sociales de tous les peuples d’Europe -mais plutôt au contraire ne contribuera qu’à l’augmenter.

Nous soutenons résolument la lutte de cette sénatrice et de son organisation, Colombiennes et Colombiens pour la Paix, dans la défense de la Paix, l’Accord Humanitaire et l’issue non militaire au conflit armé que vit la Colombie.

Au nom de la paix et de la justice pour le peuple colombien, nous rejetons et sollicitons énergiquement qu’on retire, de manière immédiate, les accusations injustement formulées par le Procureur de Colombie contre la Sénateur Piedad Córdoba.

Avec Piedad Córdoba, avec l’organisation Colombiennes et colombiens pour la Paix, et avec les organisations et les personnes de la Colombie et du monde qui combattent par la paix, l’accord humanitaire et une sortie non militaire et avec justice au conflit armé de la Colombie, nous maintenons l’appui et nous adhérons au présent communiqué.

Fait à Madrid, Genève, Paris et Bogotá le 16 avril 2010

Traduction Armando García, armando8garcia@gmail.com

Firmado:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5. Collectif de soutien à l’ALBA de Grenoble. Francia.

6. ARLAC-SUISSE. Suiza.

7. Fundación Hijos del Maíz. España.

8. Asociación Internacional por la Paz en Colombia y el Mundo (AIPAZCOMUN), Suiza.

9. Colombianas y colombianos por la paz. Colombia.

10. Maison Populaire de Genève. Suiza.

11. ARLAC Bélgica

12. INTAL Bélgica

13. COMAC. Bélgica.

14. Polo Democratico Alternativo de Colombia-Geneve-Suisse

15. Asosiacion MALOKA-Nuechatel-Suisse

16. Asociacion Colombiana de Periodistas. Virtin Red Informativa Internacional. Colombia.

17. Association France Amérique Latine. Francia.

18. Soldepaz.Pachakuti. España.

19. Asosiacion MALOKA-Nuechatel-Suisse

20. Frente de acciones por Colombia. Alemania.

21. Breites Bündnis für Kolumbien. Deutschland.

22. Asociación Ecuador. Suiza.

23. Yolocamba Solidaridad. España.

24 Asociación de Solidaridad con Colombia “ASOC-KATÍO”. España.

25. Comunidades Cristianas del Estado Español. España.

26. Colectivo Acuerdo Humanitario – Inglaterra

27. Asociación Paz y Solidaridad Asturias. España.

28. ASOLATINO Berna. Suiza.

29. Candela Projectes Solidaris ONGD. España.

30. Asociación de Yachachiq SOLCODE. Perú.

31. Polo Democrático Alternativo Seccional Suiza.

32. Movimiento Madre Tierra. Honduras.

33. Centro de Prevención, Tratamiento y Rehabilitación de las Víctimas de Torturas y sus Familiares. (CPTRT). Honduras.

34. Asociación Iberoamericana pro Derechos Humanos (Castilla-La Mancha)

35. ATTAC España.

36. Presencia latinoamericana-Suiza

37. Kumbiamerica. Suiza.

38. POLOMOSCA. Colombia.

39. Colectivo de Colombianos Refugiados/as en Asturias “Luciano Romero Molina”. España. Plataforma Justicia por Colombia. España:

40. Paz con Dignidad

41. Mundubat

42. CEAR

43. Instituto de Estudios para América Latina y África (IEPALA).

44. Fundación Madrid Paz y Solidaridad

45. Comité Oscar Romero de Madrid

46. OSPAAAL Solidaridad

47. Grupo de Trabajo Suiza Colombia, Arbeitsgruppe Schweiz Kolumbien (ASK). Suiza

48. Plataforma estatal por la Paz y los DDHHH en Colombia. España.

49. Asociación Hispano-Cubana Paz y Amistad. España

50. Comité Viena PDA. Austria.

51. Coordinadora Nacional de Oficiales en Retiro (CNOR). Nicaragua.

52. CGAS (Communauté Genevoise d’Action Syndical). Suiza.

53. Paul-Emile Dupret, Jurista, Grupo GUE/NGL del Parlamento Europeo.

54. Carlo Sommaruga. Abogado. Diputado del Parlamento Suizo. Suiza

55. Enrique Santiago Romero. Abogado

56. Jaime Ballesteros. Ex-Diputado. España.

57. Ramón Santamaría Secretario General del PCE en Francia. Francia.

58. Jairo Nepomuceno Espinosa Gutierrez. España.

59. Eliecer Jimenez Julio-Journaliste-Geneve-Suisse.

60. Catherine Marchais. Nanterre, Francia.

61. Alvaro Luna Porras, Comité Territorial PDA París-Región Parisina. Francia.

62. Carolina Cano. España.

63. Ricardo Cárdenas. España.

64. Aldemar Llano Álvarez. Austria.

65. José de Jesús Zapata Rivera.

66. Juan Almendares. Honduras.

67. Esteban Mercado. Francia, Colombia.

68. Abimael Castro, periodista. Colombia.

69. Pedro Tostado. Sociólogo. Madrid.

70. Gloria Pérez Escobar, Bruselas. Bélgica.

71. Monica del Pilar Uribe Marin – Periodista, freelance internacional. España.

72. José Jesús Zapata Rivera. Francia.

The premiere screening took place on March 6, outside the Colombian embassy in Canberra, Australia. This coincided with a national day of protest against state terror in Colombia.

Uribe and his supporters say their continuing repression of Colombian people is part of the “war on terror”. Insurgency of the 21st century presents an alternative view.

Members of the Communist Party of Australia, the Socialist Alliance, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the Search Foundation and several others gathered at the screening to protest against the continual violation of human rights in Colombia, and demand freedom of speech and an end the criminalisation of international solidarity.

Speakers reflected on the more than 7000 political prisoners, the 4 million internally displaced people and the assassination of more than 2000 trade union leaders in the last 12 years, all carried out by Colombian state security services and paramilitary forces with connections to the government.

Footage of the action will be soon available

See action report in the media:

English media:

Green Left Weekly . The film Uribe doesn’t want you to see

Chris Wite blog (Canberra): Columbian documentary Canberra

IndyMedia (Australia). The Film Uribe doesn´t want you to see screened on the walls of the Colombia Embassy in Canberra

Spanish language media:

Rebelión Se proyecta un documental sobre las FARC frente a la embajada colombiana en Canberra

KaosenlaRed “FARC-EP: La insurgencia del siglo XXI”, proyectado frente a la embajada colombiana en Canberra, Australia

La Haine: “FARC-EP: La insurgencia del siglo XXI” se proyecta frente a la embajada colombiana en Australia

Dear students, workers and colleagues of the public and state universities of the country,

From my new prison cell in the high security wing of “La Picota” prison I wish to send a warm greeting, accompanied with renewed hopes of success in the struggles that appear on the horizon in 2010. A year that official tradition dedicates to the celebration of the bicentennial of independence.

It has been more than eight months that I have been in prison under trial for the supposed crimes of ” rebellion” and “concert to break the law with terrorists aims”, in which I have been subject to the flagrant violation of my procedural guarantees; admitting illicit and illegal evidence like the computer of the deceased leader of the FARC, “Raul Reyes”; and incorporating victims of that guerrilla organization as special interveners who have received no concrete, real and specific damage from me.

Not being content with these abuses, on the 23rd of December I was removed under extreme security measures, from the facilities of the national jail “La Modelo”. During two days, my family, lawyers and friends did not know my whereabouts, to the point that they needed to raise the alarm about this situation to some national and international mass media and NGOs. My transfer took place the same day I obtained, after numerous institutional obstacles, the authorization for the visit of my son, whom I had not seen for two years and ” coincided” with the denunciations of corruption that days earlier I had made against a civil servant of the national Prison “La Modelo”.

On the 17th of February the “trial hearing” will go ahead .This is the step prior to sentencing, in a process that has had clearly political aims, and in which critical thinking and the freedom of teaching, principles that distinguished the student movement of Cordoba (Argentina) nearly a century ago, are also on trial.

These events occur in a chain of systematic attacks on the public university community, demonstrated not only in the increasing cuts of financial resources that place knowledge and the education services under the implacable logic of the market,and also violate the fundamental principles – like the freedom of thought and its institutional autonomy.

All of this has been demonstrated by the arbitrary detentions of students, the incursion of the police in the university campus, the murder and disappearance of students, the threats to teachers and professors, the request on the part of the General Office of the public prosecutor of the Nation of the students names pertaining to public universities of Bogota and the proliferation of rebellion accusations levelled at university community members in hasty trials.and with restriction of access to the material of Luis Eduardo Sarmiento.

This situation takes us back to the dark years of the military dictatorships in South America, and becomes even more worrisome with recent government proposals to use a thousand students of Medellín as police informants , thus exploiting for its war interests the economic needs of this important social sector, trying to turn Colombia into a country of informers, and intensifying, the armed and social conflict that President Alvaro Uribe Vélez tries to hide.

The incorporation of students in these military intelligence activities not only denotes an absence of an education project for strategic sectors in the social and cultural development of the nation, but also entails high risks of transforming the university campus into a war zone.

It should be noted that the informant network is one of the fundamental pillars of the ill-named government policy of ” democratic security” that has served to sustain “false positives” (extra judicial killings),the persecution of numerous intellectuals, students, social, popular, and indigenous leaders who at the moment flood the jails of the country. Today we can speak of more than 7,000 political prisoners detained under cruel and overcrowded conditions that the Colombian government tries to ignore with the sophism of having a frontal attack against terrorism.

Against these facts, the university cannot evade its responsibility by using a supposed “neutrality.” On the contrary it must assume the social commitment to lead, from the academic sector, the generation of proposals that help to give solution to the social problems.

It is through open and pluralistic debate of ideas-not of the silence and the adulation of individual thought- that the university can guarantee the fulfilment of its social function and be elevated to a true instrument for social transformation, in the context of an ever changing world.

This becomes even more necessary in a country like ours where – a colleague of the University of Antioquia reminded us, “the people are gagged, plugged and blindfolded, so as not to speak anything, not hear anything and not see anything”, because – in a society riven by internal conflict it turns out to be convenient to keep silence so not to be misunderstood, and moreover it is comfortable to speak the language of those in power, so they will not turn us into the object of their reprisals.

My academic life has closely been linked to the fight for democratic ideals, first as a student, as later as a teacher and now as political prisoner of an establishment that criminalizes committed educational work.

I am thankful to all the students, workers and colleagues of the public university and some private universities who, with their words and actions – in an open or quiet way – have offered valuable solidarity to me. Also I am thankful to the Association of University Professors (ASPU), to the Association of Professors of the University of Antioquia (ASPRUDEA), to the organizations and student work groups, as well as to their alternative media for their untiring commitment for my freedom. This is the commitment to freedom of thought and opinion and the respect for scientific and intellectual work.

Be assured that the campaign that you have developed has not been in vain, and although these bars and armed guards try to scare me and to debilitate my democratic convictions, I guarantee that I will maintain unbroken my critical voice, my commitment to the defence of the public university and the search for political solutions to the armed and social conflict in Colombia.

Fraternally

Miguel Ángel Beltrán Villegas

Associate Professor of Sociology, National University of Colombia

From the “High Security” pavilion of “la Picota” jail, February 1, 2010.

La voz del pueblo

Translated for Peace and Justice for Colombia

Stop criminalisation of International Solidarity!

Stop State Terror in Colombia!

Saturday, March 6^th, 7:30pm

Garema Place, ACT Canberra

A documentary on the current struggles of the Colombian people will be screened, introduced by Colombia solidarity activists. Followed by the controversial documentary that Uribe does not want you to see.

At the time Colombian President Alvaro Uribe agrees to accept seven new US military bases and the US government reactivate its Fourth fleet, Colombian peasants, workers, indigenous, women and children continue to be displaced or even executed.

Internationally, all of those who denounce the criminal regime of Uribe, demand social justice or show any kind of solidarity with the Colombian people and workers, are immediately accused of supporting terrorism. In the US, Australia and other countries, activists, journalists and human rights advocates had been harassed or interrogated by the police. The Colombian government, supported by their Ambassadors and supporters around the world, is leading a campaign to suppress websites, ban films from being publicly screened and persecute political activists.

The Colombian people deserve the support of people around the world. International solidarity is not a criminal activity and all efforts to silence voices of dissent attempt against the basic civil liberties.

This night we will come together to:

• Demand justice for the victims of state terror in Colombia
• Denounce all initiatives to criminalise international solidarity
• Defend our civil rights and liberties to express our solidarity

Supported by: Revolutionary Socialist Party (Canberra), Communist Party of Australia (Victoria) and Socialist Alliance

Find the event on Facebook

Part of Uribe’s international campaign to criminalise solidarity, is a violent cultural campaign of deceit, led by the corporate media. Censorship and right-wing propaganda from the Colombian government is aired in main news outlets and targeting also new media such as the internet, You Tube and weblogs. Uribe’s latest event has been via the the Colombian Foreign Ministry to intensify their propaganda war against FARC Marxist guerrillas and what the Uribe government terms the FARC’s “parallel diplomacy.” Colombian Foreign Ministry Jaime Bermúdez, called home 29 Colombian ambassadors (plus 12 other that were connected via video conference) to draft an agenda of combating this “diplomacy” and prevent the screening of a recently released Argentinean production titles “La insurgencia del siglo XXI” (The insurgency of the 21st Century). The documentary that depicts the rebel group as an organization made up of peasants, indigenous, afro-Colombian men and women, their work with the land and hold revolutionary points of view about Colombian society. The screening of the film has been banned, and the Ambassadors and their collaborators have the task of prevent the film of being distributed.  Despites Uribe´s efforts, a number of countries including Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay, Ecuador, Spain, Italy, France, Denmark, Turkey, and possibly others have already seen the film. In Argentina and Cuba the documentary premiered in nationa  Film festivals.

According to the Colombian Foreign Ministry, to screen or watch this video is considered “a statement in defence of crime”. What is dangerous from such declarations are the actions taken by some countries in response to these initiatives. This happens at a time when Uribe has accepted seven US military bases that include the use of air and navy forces, contractors and security forces which threaten not only the Colombian people, but the entire region.

The delegitimization and defamation campaign is also a major component of Uribe´s propaganda war, sometimes with judicial consequences. Colombian intellectuals have been jailed. On August 2008, film-maker and human rights defender Liliany Obando (who toured Australia in two occasions) was detained, being the first victim of Uribe´s so-called “FARC-politica” in response to ongoing political scandals in Colombia linking Uribe with paramilitary death squads, drug trafficking, and other damning activities. Liliany is yet to be tried in court and she remains in a high security prison to date. On May 2009, Professor Miguel Ángel Beltrán was illegally extradited from México to Colombia, accused of being a “FARC-Intellectual” for his criticism of the Colombian government. Beltrán  was jailed with no trial and has now been reported as disappeared. These cases add to the over 7,500 political prisoners languishing in Colombian prisons.

Outside Colombia, several human rights advocates and solidarity activists had also been interrogated or harassed. In Spain on July 2008, pacifist activist María Remedios García Albert was temporarily jailed for alleged links to the rebel organization. At the time, Gen. Oscar Naranjo, chief of the Colombian Police declared that “that capture was the first in a series of detentions that will be carried out in Europe, of people linked to the FARC”; following that first detention, houses of Colombian activists in Switzerland were raided. To date, the Colombian Government have failed in providing evidence of such connections. During 2008 and 2009, solidarity activists in Chile, México and Peru were harassed with their pictures constantly appearing in the national media without any incriminatory evidence. On January this year, American writer and Colombia solidarity activist James Jordan was escorted out of a plane while returning home from Haiti. US Homeland Security officials interrogated him about solidarity work with Colombia. On February this year, an Australian activist was also  interrogated by the Australian Federal Police on request of the Colombian National Police. This is not the first time that an Australian activist has been interrogated for solidarity work with Colombia as it has been the main focus for the interrogators.

This Uribe campaign, carried out on a global scale, is unprecedented for the current “post-military junta period” in Latin America as it resembles  ‘Operation Condor’ throughout the 1970s and 1980s which involved the clandestine work of US sponsored state-terror carried out by military and secret services of several Southern Cone regimes. In the 1970s and 1980s the pretext of the Cold War was used to carry out repressive and horrific crimes against humanity that involved the deportation, incarceration, torture, “disappearance,” and murder of both common people and revolutionaries for their alleged support of  “terrorism.” Today, in the context of an asymmetrical global US ”War on Terror” where there is “no clear” enemy, it has become very easy for some police and intelligence agencies to declare anyone a “criminal” or a “terrorist.” Without evidence and with only suspicion, this intelligence work has been carried out by local security and police forces and violates the basic civil liberties of freedom of speech and freedom of organisation. Put simply, it threatens the rights of people to demand much needed social justice.

March 6 marks the day to protest against State Terror in Colombia, called by the Movement of Victims of State Crimes (Colombia). On the first week of March, there would be a number of different activities campaigning against extrajudicial executions of young people (who are killed, dressed up and presented as guerrilla fighters, in an attempt of showing with “numbers” the success of Uribe′s counter-insurgent efforts) , and against the criminalisation of international solidarity and critical thinking.

© Peace & Justice for Colombia (copy left)

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PEACE AND JUSTICE STATEMENT

4 February 2010

Take Action: Oppose to the attempts to criminalise International Solidarity

Peace and Justice for Colombia (PJFC) is deeply concerned about the recent questioning and interrogations of activists in Australia that for years have been working in solidarity with Colombia.

On 3 February 2010, a member of our organisation, Mr. Alejandro Rodriguez, was interviewed by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in an attempt to obtain information on individuals, the Agricultural Workers Union of Colombia (FENSUAGRO) and about the activities of our organisation.

Peace and Justice for Colombia is a solidarity organisation that promotes the respect of human rights of all Colombians, and in doing so we have been denouncing the violations of labour and human rights in that country under the regimen of Alvaro Uribe.

It is very shameful that the AFP is aiding Uribe’s regime that has been engaged in the systematic persecution of human rights defenders, journalists, labour leaders and the opposition. Still worse, there is evidence that Uribe’s regime has been involved in drug trade and paramilitarism.

Peace and Justice for Colombia believes that the actions of the AFP in this particular matter, violates the rights of Mr Rodriguez who for years have been involved in solidarity work with Colombia and with Latin America, but also that the AFP action supports the Uribe regime’s campaign against international solidarity expressed by Australian trade unionists, individuals and political organizations.

PJFC requests that you and your organisation write to the Australian authorities to:

• Protest for the AFP cooperation with the Uribe administration
• Condemn any attempts of Uribe to criminalise international solidarity with Colombia.
• Demand that the Australian Government suspends its involvement with the Uribe regime until such time human and trade union rights are protected in Colombia.

Post or fax your messages and letters to:

Hon Brendan O’Connor MP
Minister for Home Affairs
PO Box 6022, Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2601
Tel:  (02) 6277 7290 or
Fax: (02) 6273 7098

Tony Negus APM
Commissioner of the AFP
PO Box 401
Canberra City ACT 2601
Tel: (02) 6223 3000

Copy your letters to:

Peace & Justice for Colombia,
Email: pjfcolombia@gmail.com

Yours in solidarity,

Peace & Justice for Colombia, PJFC-Australia
www.colombiasolidarity.net
www.freeliliany.net

Mr Brendan O’Connor MHR
Minister for Home Affairs
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Mr. O´Connor,

Minister for Home Affairs,

We are writing to protest against the interrogation of Mr. Alejandro Rodriguez by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) on February 3^rd. Mr. Rodriguez is a member of our organisation, Peace and Justice for Colombia, and he is a well known advocate for workers´ rights and solidarity.

It is of our knowledge that during the interrogation Mr. Rodriguez was asked about individuals, the work of Peace & Justice for Colombia and about the Agricultural Workers Unions Federation of Colombia (FENSUAGRO). FENSUAGRO is a legitimate Colombian organisation that is formed by several affiliated unions, peasants and farmers´ organisations, with a total of 80,000 members nation-wide, with presence in 22 out of the 32 federated entities of the Colombian State. In a country where land distribution continues to be a major motive of inequality and injustice, FENSUAGRO is also the union that has been more brutally targeted by the Colombian state, its official forces and the paramilitaries. According to the International Trade Union Confederation, 49 union leaders were killed in 2008 alone, and 838 between 2000 and 2008; 95 per cent of the cases are reported as ’unsolved ’, many of these crimes have been committed against FENSUAGRO organizers and activists. We consider it to be a trust-worthy union.

It has been well documented that key members of the Colombian government have been historically linked to leading drug trafficking organisations and far right extremist groups. In 1991, the US Defense Intelligence Agency listed Uribe among ‘important Colombian narco-traffickers’ as well as a ‘close personal friend’ of Pablo Escobar Gaviria. Uribe’s Colombia is also responsible for arguably the largest internally displaced population in the world; 4 million Colombians are internally displaced rivalling only the Sudan.

We are also aware that the government of Alvaro Uribe has launched a campaign to censor and delegitimize solidarity initiatives internationally. We can only consider this interrogation as part of the mentioned campaign and it is completely disgraceful that the AFP is being used for the systematic persecution of human rights defenders, journalists, labour leaders and any other organisation or individuals who raises their voices in support of the Colombian people in their demands of democracy and social justice, and denounce the atrocities committed by Uribe´s government. Mr. Rodriguez has the support of professionals, trade unionists, academics and human rights organisations in Australia and internationally. For his work and commitment to the people of Colombia and Latin America, he too deserves the support of the Australian government.

• Peace & Justice for Colombia is an Australia-based solidarity organization that aims to build solidarity amongst Australians with the Colombian people and workers, and all the work we do is public and open.
• Peace & Justice for Colombia strongly condemns any attempt by the AFP, ASIO or any other intelligence agencies in Australia to persecute, detain or harass Mr. Rodriguez or any other solidarity activists. We consider this is a serious abuse of power under the Australian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005.
• We protest against the AFP cooperation with the Uribe administration.
• We condemn any attempts of Uribe to criminalise international solidarity with Colombia.
• We demand that the Australian Government suspends its involvement with the Uribe regime while human and labour rights are not respected in that country.

Yours sincerely,

Peace and Justice for Colombia