“En rechazo a la persecución contra opositores políticos en Colombia, por la libertad de las y los prisioneros políticos y por el acuerdo humanitario”
Actividades para el 1 de octubre a nivel mundial
Justificación
El Estado Colombiano ha violado histórica y sistemáticamente los Derechos Humanos y el Derecho Internacional Humanitario, a través de la implementación de estrategias y/o políticas de guerra que buscan por cualquier medio acabar con el libre pensamiento en nuestro país. Del exterminio físico y las desapariciones forzadas contra opositores políticos en los años 7Os, 80s y 90s pasó a los señalamientos, persecuciones, fabricación de pruebas y encarcelamiento de todas las personas que levantan sus voces de protesta. Continue reading »
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Dear comrades,
We wish to extend greetings to your forum. We also send our solidarity in your efforts to have Liliany released immediately.
Her work with The National Federation of Agricultural Farming Unions, part of which was a tour of speaking engagements in Australia, was obviously too effective in explaining the human rights crisis in Colombia. Her imprisonment is a travesty of justice, without even a trial! Continue reading »
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Today 8 August, it is exactly one year since the Colombian police detained our comrade and friend Liliany Obando and charged her with two counts of rebellion and managing funds for a terrorist organization.
On this open letter, Liliany herself gives a brave account on how the Colombian government uses her case in an effort to silence the political opposition and proponents for social justice. Continue reading »
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By Miguel Ángel Beltrán Villegas,National Model Jail/High Security Block, July 31st, 2009
Miguel Ángel Beltrán, kidnapped in Mexico and held as a prisoner in the Model Jail in Bogotá [Colombia], writes from prison a letter to his comrades and teacher colleagues in which he presents the state in which he finds himself and the irregularities that gnaw at his trial. Below we present the letter in its entirety. Continue reading »
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Thursday 6th of August, 6:00pm
@ Melbourne University Student Union, Members′ lounge (Ground Floor, enter via Tin Alley, Parkville).
Entry by donation
Minga means “collective” or “community work”. In this session we will hear about the different social movements in Colombia, from the indigenous struggle for self determination, the Afro-Colombian opposition to forced displacement and against free-trade agreements, the people´s movement for peace with social justice.
With the participation of a Colombian Academic & member of Peace & Justice for Colombia
Plus footage & video. Continue reading »
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Last week, NSW secretary of the Construction Division of the CFMEU, Andrew Ferguson, paid a visit to trade unionist and human rights activist Liliany Obando who is being held on trumped up charges in the Buen Pastor women’s prison in Bogotá, Colombia. He was moved by Liliany’s strength and good spirits but appalled by the conditions he saw: “There are 89 persons in her section of the jail built for 60. Her room consists of a bunk bed for two prisoners with a third sleeping on the floor. The jail is riddled with asbestos and is rat infested. There are seven children living in this section of the jail. When the children turn three they are prohibited from continuing to stay with their mums,” he noted in a brief email report. He said that support systems for political prisoners can barely function in the repressive political atmosphere of Colombia and called for increased international solidarity.
In related news, the Colombian Supreme Court announced recently that the politically motivated charges of supporting the country’s guerrilla forces against Senators Gloria Ramírez and Piedad Córdoba and several other opposition figures have been dropped. Liliany’s matters come to court on August 27. Continue reading »
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By Garry Leech, from Colombia Journal
On August 8, 2008, Colombia’s National Police arrested Liliany Obando and charged her with the crime of rebellion and providing funding to a terrorist group. Ten months later, Obando had yet to have her day in court and remained a prisoner in Bogotá’s Buen Pastor Prison. Her work for the international relations commission of FENSUAGRO (The National Federation of Agricultural Farming Unions) included speaking and fundraising trips to Canada, Europe and Australia during which she openly and repeatedly criticized the Colombian government’s human rights record. Obando was the first person arrested as part of the so-called FARC-politica scandal that resulted from alleged evidence found on the laptop computer of FARC Commander Raúl Reyes, who was killed by the Colombian military in March 2008. I recently interviewed Obando in her prison cell. Continue reading »
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