“In rejection of the persecution against the political opposition
in Colombia through the liberation of the political prisoners and
for the humanitarian exchange”

Justification

The Colombian State has historically and systematically violated Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, through the implementation of strategies and/or policies of war that look for whatever means to put an end to free thinking in our country.  From the physical extermination and disappearances forced on the political opposition in the years of the 70s, 80s and 90s to the accusations, persecutions, fabrications of testimony and the incarceration of all persons who raise their voices in protest.

There exist more than 7,200 persons deprived of their liberty for political motives, that is to say, for having exercised their political opposition to the current regime or for the simple act of living in zones highly affected by the internal armed conflict; these persons are political prisoners, whether it be due to conscience, war, or judicial frame-ups, who for many years have been unrecognized by the Colombian State, with the object of denying the existence of a social, political, and armed conflict, and evading its responsibility to seek a political and negotiated end to the conflict.

In the development of the policy of Democratic Security by its standard-bearer, President Alvaro Uribe Velez, and in his eagerness to show “positive” results, the Colombian state has violated the right to life of more than 1,171 persons who are victims of extrajudicial executions attributed to the national army, and also the right to freedom of thought, increasing the political persecution and incarceration without just cause against intellectuals, teachers, students, unionists, defenders of human rights, among others.  In this way whoever dares to express their critical thinking and opposition is repressed with the tool of the jail. As an example of this we call attention to the unjust detentions and submissions to the judicial processes of the sociologist and Colombian National University professor MIGUEL ANGEL BELTRÁN VILLEGAS, Colombia National University sociologist and defender of human Rights LILIANY PATRICIA OBANDO VILLOTA, the graduate in Social Sciences from the National Pedagogical University and social activist WILLIAN JAVIER DÍAZ RAMIREZ, and hundreds of teachers, university students, journalists and members of the Colombian opposition presently linked to penal investigations with the object of generating terror and exterminating critical thinking.

In rejection of the previous, we invite the National and International Community to take to the streets on the 1st of October, 2009 to celebrate the existence of those who dare to think differently, and to say:  no to more judicial frame-ups, no to the criminalization of critical thinking and social protest, yes to the humanitarian accord and freedom for all the Colombian political prisoners.

General Objectives:

• To denounce the grave crisis the country is suffering in the matter of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
• To reject the criminalization of critical thinking and the persecution against the political opposition in Colombia.
• To make visible the existence of the Colombian political prisoners and to restore them as social activists.
• To demand of the Colombian state the approval of the humanitarian accord and the liberty of all the political prisoners.

Methodology

The 1st of October, 2009, in a simultaneous manner there will take place political-cultural activities at a local, national, and international level.

At the international level:

Different international organizations in Solidarity with Colombia will hold autonomously organized high impact activities in the following cities and countries: Argentina; Australia; Canada; Washington, DC, Tucson, and Chicago, USA; France; and Mexico City, Mexico. (List will be updated as new cities are added).

Equally, the international organizations will publically pronounce their Solidarity with the political prisoners and their families.

At a national level:

There will occur a cultural demonstration in front of the Attorney General of the Nation, the 1st of October, 2009, from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., in the cities of Armenia, Cali, Barranquilla, Bogotá, Bucaramanga and Medellín; by means of diverse social and political sectors they will make visible the policies of persecutions and criminalization of the opposition  in Colombia and the problem of the political prisoners, understood to include the prisoners of conscience, victims of judicial frame-ups and arbitrary detentions, and prisoners of war.

Typical cases of the Colombian political prisoners will be made visible in a symbolic manner.

In Bogotá: The meeting place will be at 9:30 a.m., in the principal building of the Attorney General of the Nation located at Diagonal 22B No. 52-01 (ciudad salitre), where it will remain from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. This will be followed by a rally to the “Che” plaza at the National University.

In Armenia, Cali, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga y Medellín: Meeting places will be determined autonomously by the regional coordinators, and at 9:30 a.m., will begin the movement to the principal seat of the respective Sectional Directorate of the Attorney General, where it will remain from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.

At the local level:

In the city of Bogotá, D.C., the persons deprived of their liberty for political motives, will realize simultaneous recreational and cultural activities in the following detention facilities:  La Picota Penitentiary, La Modelo Jail, and the Buen Pastor Women’s Penitentiary.

Likewise, the political prisoners will draw up a communication to be distributed for the public opinion, in support of the Carnival for the Defense of Critical Thinking.

CONVENERS:

National Organizacions

- Campaña Permanente de Solidaridad con las y los Detenidos Políticas “Traspasa Los Muros”

- Campaña TJER Libertad – Por la Libertad de William Javier Díaz

- Campaña por la Libertad de Miguel Ángel Beltrán Villegas

- Campaña por la Libertad de Liliany Obando

- Cruz Negra Anarquista – CNA

- Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios – FEU

- Mandato Estudiantil por el Acuerdo Humanitario

- Colectivo de Estudiantes de la ESAP

- Colectivo Juana Julia de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia

- Asociación de Profesores Universitarios – ASPU

- Federación de Profesores Universitarios – FENALPROU

- Unión Sindical Obrera – USO

- Comisión de Derechos Humanos de la USO

- Comité Permanente para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos

- Federación Nacional Sindical Unitaria Agropecuaria – FENSUAGRO

- Coordinación Nacional Agraria y Popular – CONAP

International Organizaciones

International Network in Solidarity with Colombia’s Political Prisoners (International)

Freedom for Liliany Campaign (Australia)

Campaign for Labor Rights (USA)

Alliance for Global Justice (USA)

Colombia Action Network (USA)

Peace and Justice for Colombia, PJFC (Australia)

Central America Solidarity Coalition (Canada)

Colombia Solidarity Campaign (Canada)

Latin America Solidarity Coalition (USA)

Organizations Behind Bars

- Colectivo de Prisioneras Políticas “Traspasa los Muros” – Reclusión de Mujeres el Buen Pastor de Bogotá

- Colectivo de Prisioneros Políticos “Traspasa los Muros” – Cárcel Nacional la Modelo de Bogotá – Alta Seguridad

- Colectivo de Prisioneros Políticos “Traspasa los Muros” – Establecimiento Carcelario y Penitenciario La Picota de Bogotá

“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.

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.

En las cárceles Colombianas existen mas de 7.200[1] personas privadas de la libertad por motivos políticos, es decir, por haber ejercido su oposición política al régimen vigente o por el sólo hecho de vivir en zonas altamente afectadas por el conflicto armado interno; estas personas son prisioneros y prisioneras políticas, ya sean de conciencia, de guerra o victimas de montajes judiciales, que durante muchos años han sido desconocidas por el Estado Colombiano, con el objeto de negar la existencia de un conflicto social, político y armado, y evadir su responsabilidad en la búsqueda de una solución política y negociada al conflicto.

En desarrollo de la política de seguridad democrática abanderada por el presidente Álvaro Uribe Vélez, y en su afán de mostrar resultados “positivos”, el Estado Colombiano ha vulnerado el derecho a la vida de mas de 1.171 personas victimas de ejecuciones extrajudiciales atribuidas al ejército nacional[2], y también el derecho a la libertad de pensamiento aumentando la persecución política y el encarcelamiento sin justa causa contra intelectuales, maestros/as, estudiantes, sindicalistas, defensores/as de derechos humanos, entre otros. Es así como se reprime con la herramienta de la cárcel a quien se atreve a expresar su pensamiento crítico y de oposición, como ejemplo de ello resaltamos las injustas detenciones y sometimiento a juicio del sociólogo y profesor de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia MIGUEL ÁNGEL BELTRÁN VILLEGAS, la socióloga de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia y defensora de derechos humanos LILIANY PATRICIA OBANDO VILLOTA, el Licenciado en Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional y activista social WILLIAN JAVIER DÍAZ RAMIREZ, y un centenar de docentes, estudiantes universitarios, periodistas y miembros de la oposición colombiana, vinculados actualmente a investigaciones penales con el objeto de generar terror y exterminar el pensamiento critico.

En rechazo a lo anterior, invitamos a la Comunidad Nacional e Internacional a ocupar las calles el 1 de octubre de 2009, para festejar la existencia de quienes nos atrevemos a pensar diferente, y para decir: no más montajes judiciales, no a la criminalización del pensamiento crítico y de la protesta social, libertad para las y los presos políticos colombianos, si al cuerdo humanitario.

Objetivo General:

Realizar el 1 de octubre de 2009, actividades político-culturales en Defensa del Pensamiento Crítico y la Libertad de las y los Prisioneros Políticos, a nivel Internacional, Nacional y Local.

Objetivos Específicos:

• Denunciar la grave crisis que padece el país en materia de Derechos Humanos y Derecho Internacional Humanitario.
• Rechazar la criminalización del pensamiento crítico y la persecución contra las y los opositores políticos en Colombia.
• Visibilizar la existencia de prisioneras y prisioneros políticos en Colombia y reivindicarlos como luchadores sociales y políticos.
• Exigir al Estado Colombiano la aprobación del acuerdo humanitario y la libertad todas y todos los presos políticos.

Metodología

El 1 de octubre de 2009, de manera simultánea se realizarán actividades político-culturales a nivel internacional, nacional y local.

A nivel internacional:

Diferentes organizaciones internacionales en solidaridad con Colombia, autónomamente llevaran a cabo actividades de alto impacto político en las ciudades principales de los países de Argentina, Australia, Canadá, Estados Unidos, Francia y México.

Igualmente, las organizaciones internacionales se pronunciaran públicamente en solidaridad con las y los prisioneros políticos y sus familiares.

A nivel nacional:

Se realizará un plantón cultural al frente de la Fiscalía General de la Nación, el día 1 de octubre de 2009, desde las 10:00 a.m. hasta las 12:00 m., en las ciudades de Armenia, Cali, Barraquilla, Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Ibagué, Pasto y Medellín; mediante el cual diversos sectores sociales y políticos visibilizaran la política de persecución y criminalización de la oposición en Colombia y la problemática de las y los prisioneros políticos, entendiendo como tal a los prisioneros-as de conciencia, víctimas de montajes judiciales y detenciones arbitrarias, y prisioneros-as de guerra.

De manera simbólica se visibilizaran los casos tipos de prisioneros políticos colombianos.

En Bogotá: El punto de encuentro será a 9:30 a.m en la sede principal de la Fiscalía General de la Nación ubicada en la Diagonal 22B No. 52 – 01 (ciudad salitre), donde se permanecerá desde las 10:00 a.m. hasta las 12:00 m. posteriormente, se hará el desplazamiento en marcha hasta llegar a la plaza “Che” de la Universidad Nacional.

En Armenia, Cali, Barraquilla, Bucaramanga, Ibagué, Pasto y Medellín: El punto de encuentro lo determinarán autónomamente las coordinaciones regionales, y a las 9:30 a.m., se hará presencia en las sedes principal de la Dirección Seccional de Fiscalía respectivamnte, donde se permanecerá desde las 10:00 a.m. hasta las 12:00 m.

A nivel local:

En la ciudad de Bogotá D.C., las personas privadas de la libertad por motivos políticos, realizarán simultáneamente actividades de tipo recreativo y cultural en los siguientes establecimientos de reclusión: Penitenciaria La Picota, Cárcel La Modelo y Reclusión de Mujeres El Buen Pastor.

Igualmente, en apoyo al Plantón las y los prisioneros políticos elaboraran un comunicado para difundir a la opinión pública.

INFORMES:

e-mail: camperpp@gmail.com

web:  libertadpresxspoliticxs.jimdo.com

CONVOCAN:

Organizaciones Intramurales

-  Colectivo de Prisioneras Políticas de la Reclusión de Mujeres el Buen Pastor de Bogotá

- Colectivo de Prisioneros Políticos Cárcel Nacional La Modelo de Bogotá

- Colectivo de Prisioneros Políticos Penitenciaria La Picota de Bogotá

Organizaciones Nacionales

- Campaña Permanente de Solidaridad con las y los Detenidos Políticas “Traspasa Los Muros”

- Campaña TJER Libertad – Por la Libertad de William Javier Díaz

- Campaña por la Libertad de Miguel Ángel Beltrán Villegas

- Campaña por la Libertad de Liliany Obando

- Comité Distrital por el Acuerdo Humanitario y la Paz

- Cruz Negra Anarquista – CNA

- Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios – FEU

- Mandato Estudiantil por el Acuerdo Humanitario

- Rebeldía  Estudiantil Organizada – REO

- Colectivo de Estudiantes de la ESAP

- Colectivo de Estudiantes Universitarios Afrodescendientes – CEUNA

- Juventud Comunista Colombiana

- Asociación Colombiana de Estudiantes Universitarios – ACEU

- Hijos e Hijas por la Memoria y contra la impunidad

- Colectivo Juana Julia de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia

- Colectivo ASOMUR

-Coordinadora Juvenil de Bogota

- Corporación Casa de la Juventud – CCJ

- Asociación de Profesores Universitarios – ASPU

- Federación de Profesores Universitarios – FENALPROU

- Movimiento Nacional de Víctimas de Crímenes de Estado – MOVICE

- Unión Sindical Obrera – USO

- Comisión de Derechos Humanos de la USO

- Sindicato Mixto de Trabajadores de las Universidades Públicas Nacionales – SINTRAUNAL

- Comité Permanente para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos

- Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Políticos

- Campaña Nacional e Internacional contra la Extradición de Presos Políticos

- Fundación Walter Benjamín

- Asociación Colombiana de Juristas Demócratas – ACOLJUDE

- Federación Nacional Sindical Unitaria Agropecuaria – FENSUAGRO

- Coordinación Nacional Agraria y Popular – CONAP

Organizaciones Internacionales

- Red Internacional en Solidaridad con las y los Prisioneros Políticos Colombianos/ International Network in Solidarity with Colombia’s Political Prisoners

- Campaña Permanente de Solidaridad con l@s Pres@s Politic@s de Nuestra América “Creando Puentes”

- Paz y Justicia para Colombia, PJFC / Peace and Justice for Colombia, PJFC

- Campaña Internacional por la Libertad de Liliany Obando/Freedom for Liliany

- Campaña por Derechos Laborales / Campaign for Labor Rights

- Alianza por Justicia Global / Alliance for Global Justice

- Red de Acción Colombiana/ Colombia Action Network

- Coalición de Solidaridad con América Latina/Latin America Solidarity Coalition (LASC)

[2] Fuente: Fiscalía General de la Nación

click here (available in Spanish only)

People´s Power is Changing the World

Victorian Trades Hall

Major cracks are appearing in the global capitalist system – cracks that are being forced open by the tide of rebellions and revolutions across Latin America.

From Cuba to Venezuela and Bolivia to El Salvador, people’s power is toppling neo-liberal governments, challenging multinational corporations, and constructing social and economic alternatives to the plunder, war and injustices of the old system. For 50 years, the Cuban revolution has inspired millions of people around the world struggling for independence, human rights and genuine democracy. Now, the Venezuelan revolution, with its vision of “socialism of the 21st century”, is continuing to provide examples of what a socialist government can achieve.

Imperialism is confronting an unprecedented challenge to its brutal rule. The Latin America Solidarity Conference will provide an open forum for all people wanting to learn about, learn from and build solidarity in Australia with the people’s power movements in Latin America.

FRIDAY

7pm • People’s power is changing the world: revolution and reconstruction in Latin America
50 years since the victory of the Cuban revolution and 10 years since the coming to power of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela has shown that the continent is unwilling to bow to international capital. Over the last few years further victories have been added including Evo Morales in Bolivia and the FMLN in El Salvador. What does all this mean for a new socialism of the 21st century?

SATURDAY

9:30am • Obama´s foreign policy for Latin America: militarisation, blockade& trade agreements
The Bush administration supported death squads and mass killings in Colombia, an attempted coup in Venezuela, continued the blockade against Cuba, organised assassination attempts against Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales and reinforced trade agreements in favour of its multinationals. Will the empire be any different under the Democrat regime of Obama?

2pm • Latin America as alternative: new models of economic, social and political power
After more than two decades of orthodox neoliberal doctrine and anti-democratic regimes, the tide has decisively turned across Latin America. Spearheaded by the Venezuelan revolution’s practical experiements in participtory economic and democratic models, the movement is impacting struggle from Boliva to El Salvador and Ecuador. The “end of history” has itself ended; a new discussion and practice for human suvivial and justice is being pursued apace.

5:30pm • Their struggle is our struggle: Strengthening solidarity
Campaigns, brigades and projects have been part of the process of globalising resistance to exploitation and inequality and building solidarity between Australia and Latin America.

Plus many workshops and evening fiesta

Registration:

Friday*: Conc $5/ regular $10/ Solidarity $15
Saturday: Conc $15/ regular $40/ Solidarity $50
* When registering for Saturday, Friday is free
To register use the form attached below or fill in the online form on the website.
Payments can be made by Money order or Cheque payable to Solidarity Conference.

Please send registration forms to c/ PO Box 5421 CC Melbourne VIC 3001
For more information, please email info@solidarityconference2009.org or phone
Roberto 0425 182 994, Sean 0415 122 135,
Oscar 0415 232 057, Paul 0413 072 137 or Lisa 0413 031 108

Aidee Moreno Ibagué recently learned that the Colombian government is investigating her for the crime of rebellion. But Moreno Ibagué has not taken up arms against the state. She does not plant bombs in Colombia’s cities. Nor does she carry an AK-47 assault rifle in the jungles of rural Colombia where leftist guerrillas have been fighting to overthrow the government for more than four decades. She is a lawyer who lives in the capital Bogotá. More specifically, she is a human rights lawyer for the country’s largest peasant union federation Fensuagro (The National Federation of Agricultural Farming Unions). She is also an outspoken critic of the government’s security and economic policies and the dirty war it is waging against those who struggle for social justice. According to Moreno Ibagué, it is her work and her political views that have made her a target of the state. “I will not be silent when there are so many atrocities,” she declares emphatically. “They have not been able to assassinate me, so now they want to put me in prison.”

Moreno Ibagué comes from a family of social activists and it is a family that has suffered more than its share of suffering as a result of its political work. “Unfortunately, the violence has hit us hard,” she explains. “They murdered my husband in 1994. We had a five-year-old son and I was four months pregnant at the time. And then in 2000 they murdered my brother. That same year my 16-year-old niece was disappeared. After the death of my husband I returned to my union work and I now have four children; I worry about the children.”

It is no secret that the Colombian state has targeted the country’s civil society organizations and individuals working non-violently for social justice, repeatedly labelling them “subversives,” “guerrillas” or “terrorists.” On numerous occasions in recent years, President Alvaro Uribe has publicly accused human rights defenders of being spokespersons for the guerrillas. But while the country’s political leaders and its security forces have been at the forefront of such attacks, there has been little evidence showing the degree to which the country’s public prosecutors in the office of the Fiscalia harbor similar sentiments. On many occasions, the Fiscalia has conducted investigations into the actions of political leaders and members of the state’s security forces. But recent documents obtained from the Fiscalia authorizing the issuance of warrants allowing the National Police to spy on Moreno Ibagué and other members of civil society groups raises troubling questions with regard to civil liberties and due process.

The Colombian army’s recent seizures of laptop computers and documents belonging to guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has resulted not only in the arrest and imprisonment of Colombians actively involved with civil society groups; it has also led to the state spying on many others. On various occasions the government’s interpretations of seized information has been suspect, as evidenced by its portrayal of information garnered from the laptop of the late FARC Commander Raúl Reyes. Furthermore, rarely is any of the alleged evidence presented to the public; only the government’s interpretation of it.

Therefore, given such a lack of transparency, when arrest and wiretapping requests are approved by the Fiscalia the public is left to assume that the police have presented reliable evidence in order to obtain the necessary warrants. But recently obtained Fiscalia documents that authorize the opening of investigations and the issuance of warrants based on information obtained during military operations against the FARC suggests that the state prosecutors’ anti-terrorism office is little more than a rubber-stamping operation when it comes to approving requests by the National Police.

On November 28, 2005, the Colombian army’s Counter-Guerrilla Battalion No. 9 allegedly seized documents, including notebooks, following combat operations against fighters belonging to the FARC’s Antionio Nariño Front near San Agustín in the department of Huila. The documents were handed over to the Investigations and Intelligence Unit (SIJIN) of the National Police. Three and a half years later, based on alleged evidence obtained from the notebooks, the SIJIN sent a report to the Fiscalia requesting permission to open an official investigation and for warrants to intercept the phone calls and emails of numerous people affiliated with civil society organizations working in southern Bogotá.

In its request to the Fiscalia, dated November 13, 2008, the SIJIN claim that the army had “seized various documents with information about the FARC-ONT, and direct orders issued by the secretariat of this guerrilla group related to the movement of the masses.” The SIJIN report asserts that FARC notebooks contain information describing how the guerrilla group is organizing urban cells of the Clandestine Colombian Communist Party (PCCC) in the nation’s capital Bogotá. According to the SIJIN report, the captured notebooks show that the objectives of the PCCC is to organize cells on behalf of the FARC in an attempt to infiltrate various social sectors in the city including communal action committees, schools, universities, sports organizations, environmental programs, community kitchens and “NGOs and other organizations of a social character.”

SIJIN investigators claim that one notebook describes the mission of the urban cell named PCCC-USME, which is allegedly active in Usme in southern Bogotá. According to the SIJIN report, cell members listed in the notebook were named Javier, Victoria and Evangelista, and their mission is to participate in the Asamblea Sur (Somos Urbano Rural), which translates as South Assembly (We’re Urban Rural). Asamblea Sur is an organization that works to improve the lives of poor people—many of them forcibly displaced from rural parts of the country—in areas of southern Bogotá such as Usme. The organization seeks to gain legal recognition of newly-established community settlements and access to public services, as well as to defend the environmental and social rights of residents.

The SIJIN claim that subsequent investigations revealed the existence of an NGO named Corpocristal (Crystal Planet Environmental Corporation), which works with youths on environmental issues. According to the SIJIN, the FARC notebooks contain a phone number for “Javier” of the “PCCC-USME” cell and that this number corresponded to Edison Javier Reyes Roa, an activist in Usme who works for Corpocristal and is a participant in the Asamblea Sur. From this information, the SIJIN report draws the conclusion that the FARC has created social organizations and is using NGOs to gain access to the population of southern Bogotá by addressing environmental and other social problems faced by these communities.

While it is not unreasonable to assume that the FARC are trying to establish links to civil society groups—after all, most insurgencies do—most of the evidence against Reyes Roa is circumstantial. For instance, it is not unusual for a community activist in Usme such as Reyes Roa to work for an environmental NGO and to participate in the Asamblea Sur, whose mission is to address environmental and social problems in the community. Evidence that could be considered more compelling is the alleged existence of Reyes Roa’s phone number in the FARC notebook. But this phone number represents the only “evidence” suggesting that Reyes Roa is a member of the PCCC and is linked to the rebel group. Even if one were to accept this single hand-written piece of information as sufficient evidence to launch an official investigation into his activities, it still only implies that one individual PCCC member is active in Corpocristal and the Asamblea Sur and does not provide any proof that these NGOs as entities—or any more of their members for that matter—are linked to the FARC as the SIJIN claims.

The SIJIN report expanded on its assertions by also accusing people who have worked on social issues with Reyes Roa—and even people who have worked with people who have worked with Reyes Roa—of also being FARC operatives despite there being no evidence whatsoever in the FARC notebooks—or elsewhere—to support such claims. In fact, many of these people are viewed by the SIJIN as guilty by association. For instance, the SIJIN report includes an organizational chart of the alleged clandestine network headed by Reyes Roa. It lists a total of eight people for whom the SIJIN were seeking permission from the Fiscalia to officially investigate for the crime of rebellion, which is defined as “the use of weapons with the intent to oust the national government or to suppress or to modify the constitutional or legal regime.”.

One branch of the organizational chart claims that Reyes Roa is linked to Dora Yaneth Peña Cano, who is linked to Oscar Baron Garzon, who in turn is linked to Aidee Moreno Ibagué. Each link becomes increasingly vague and by the time the organizational chart reaches Moreno Ibagué, there is absolutely no evidence presented in the SIJIN report that shows a relationship between her and any of the others named. According to the report, Reyes Roa regularly communicated with Dora Yaneth Peña Cano, who also worked with the Asamblea Sur. The most damning evidence that investigators could provide to the Fiscalia implicating Peña Cano was circumstantial, claiming that she and Reyes Roa communicated regularly, exchanged information related to the Asamblea Sur and that the Asamblea Sur was mentioned in the FARC notebooks as an organization the PCCC was to infiltrate. None of the activities that the report ascribed to Reyes Roa and Peña Cano were unusual given that both were active participants in the Asamblea Sur.

The only example provided in the SIJIN report of the type of information exchanged between the two was that Peña Cano told Reyes Roa she had experienced difficulties with another member, Oscar Baron Garzon, although no further details were provided. This latter—and only—suggestion of a relationship between Peña Cano and Baron Garzon is presented in the report as evidence that the latter is the next link in the clandestine chain. The report describes Baron Garzon as a social activist in the Ciudad Bolívar neighborhood of southern Bogotá and claims that his brother runs community kitchens that allegedly involve members of the PCCC.

The final link in this branch of the organizational chart—Aidee Moreno Ibagué—is completely disconnected from the previous ones and nowhere in the report does the SIJIN make any attempt to explain the connection between her and the others on the chart. The only reference in the report to Moreno Ibagué states that she “works as a lawyer for the NGO Fensuagro, which has economic links to the British NGO Justice for Colombia.” The SIJIN report also claims that Fensuagro—which is a union federation and not an NGO as the National Police claim—is mentioned in the FARC notebooks. The fact that Moreno Ibagué works for Colombia’s largest rural union federation—with more than 80,000 members—and that Fensuagro appears in the FARC notebooks is apparently sufficient “evidence” for the SIJIN to investigate her. The report also inexplicably implies that Fensuagro’s links to the British NGO Justice for Colombia further implicate Moreno Ibagué—even going so far as to include photos of the logos of both Fensuagro and Justice for Colombia as though that corroborates the implication.

Moreno Ibagué denies knowing any of the others listed on the organizational chart and believes that she is being persecuted because of the work she does. “The Colombian state has accused me of the crime of rebellion for the sole purpose of continuing its efforts to discredit Fensuagro, in which I am the national secretary for human rights,” claims Ibagué. “It has sought to block our work on the national and international level; it is simply state terrorism. They are seeking to discredit our organization in this manner because we know that we have a narco-paramilitary, neoliberal, extreme-right government in our country that seeks to put an end to all political, social and democratic expression.”

While it is not surprising that the National Police would cast such a wide net in its attempts to identify operatives of the FARC’s clandestine political network, the Fiscalia is expected—and required by law—to demand sufficiently compelling evidence before authorizing an official investigation and allowing for the interception of emails and phone calls of suspects. However, despite the clear lack of evidence presented in the report, prosecutor Jorge Iván Piedrahita Montoya of the Fiscalia’s anti-terrorism office approved the requests of the SIJIN the same day he received them.

Piedrahita Montoya deemed that the flimsy evidence provided by the SIJIN—apparently all that the police could muster after more than three years of investigative work—met the “minimum proof” required to show the existence of links between Reyes Roa, Peña Cano and three others on the organizational chart. Consequently, he authorized the opening of an official investigation into the five for the crime of rebellion.

In a separate ruling in the same case made on December 19, prosecutor Luis Isnardo Barrero deemed the SIJIN had successfully established that the FARC was implementing a strategy to clandestinely infiltrate social organizations and communities by focusing on social problems affecting the population. He also deemed that investigators had sufficiently verified the identities of those involved in these clandestine operations and authorized the opening of an investigation into Moreno Ibagué and others on the organizational chart for the crime of rebellion—despite the absence of evidence linking Moreno Ibagué to any of the other suspects.

Barrero authorized the SIJIN to intercept Moreno Ibagué’s cellular phone and her Fensuagro email account. The prosecutor also authorized the police to engage in surveillance of email addresses belonging to a wide array of people that she communicates with as part of her work such as members of Justice for Colombia, including that organization’s director Liam Craig-Best. According to Craig-Best, “Justice for Colombia coordinates support provided by British unions to Colombian unions including Fensuagro. Aidee Moreno Ibagué’s work is entirely legitimate and it’s shocking that the Colombian government would intercept not only her emails but also those of people she works with such as foreign reporters, human rights workers, as well as Justice for Colombia’s emails.”

In total, the warrants issued in the cases related to the FARC notebooks authorized the SIJIN to intercept more than 150 email accounts belonging to unionists, human rights defenders, academics, journalists and the offices of NGOs without any evidence that they had participated in the commission of a crime. In addition to Fensuagro and Justice for Colombia, the SIJIN also intercepted the emails of The Movement for Victims of State Crimes, the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the U.S.-based Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) among others. According to a FOR statement, “The fear that such interception engenders may also promote self-censorship by human rights defenders and therefore impact their right to freedom of expression. Finally, it may be a harbinger of worse to come for the affected individuals, such as unfounded criminal prosecutions based on the data collected.” FOR also noted that the United States is partly responsible since the State Department awarded a $5 million contract to California-based Oakley Networks in 2006 to provide “internet surveillance software” to the SIJIN.

While the Colombian National Police, with the help of U.S. taxpayer-funded surveillance equipment, carried out the spying activities, it was the Fiscalia that irresponsibly authorized the investigation of people for the crime of rebellion based on very little, and in some cases a complete lack of, evidence. The only actual evidence presented in the SIJIN report relevant to the eight accused was a single phone number belonging to Reyes Roa that was allegedly found in a FARC notebook. Beyond that, the evidence—or lack thereof—showed that the other seven people were guilty of nothing more than association. In the case of Moreno Ibagué, she was not even guilty of that. However, all of the accused—and the domestic and foreign organizations that they collaborate with who were also spied upon—do have two things in common: They are all engaged in the struggle for social justice and are critical of the Uribe government.

The Fiscalia’s rubber-stamping of the SIJIN’s warrant requests raises troubling questions about due process and the rule of law for the thousands of Colombians who are either currently under investigation or have already been imprisoned. It is estimated that there are more than 7,000 political prisoners in Colombia. Many of them are accused of the crime of rebellion and are languishing in prisons without ever being convicted. Among them is Liliany Obando, a human rights activist and international representative for Fensuagro who has been incarcerated for the past six months without trial. The Fiscalia authorized the SIJIN to investigate Obando based on alleged evidence—which has never been made public—garnered from the computer of FARC Commander Raúl Reyes. While Colombian authorities have claimed Obando’s case is based on information contained in emails that she exchanged with Reyes, a counter-terrorism investigator for the National Police has since denied that any emails were found on the FARC leader’s laptop, stating: “We haven’t seen any e-mails, I haven’t found them so far. They found a large number of e-mail addresses, but Reyes kept these in a Word document and other Microsoft documents.” Despite the fact that the counter-terrorism investigator’s revelation contradicts the core “evidence” in the government’s case, Obando continues to languish in prison.

In the cases related to the FARC notebooks, authorization to investigate the accused was given by two prosecutors: Jorge Iván Piedrahita Montoya and Luis Isnardo Barrero. Moreno Ibagué claims that Piedreahita Montoya has abused the rights of many other people in the past, often resulting in peasants being detained by the state’s security forces and falsely accused of crimes. In one controversial case that recently came to the public’s attention, Piedreahita Montoya authorized a widespread investigation of databases at five universities based on very little evidence in an attempt to track down subversives. In response to a public outcry over Piedreahita Montoya’s actions, Attorney General Mario Iguaran recently dismissed the prosecutor. However, questions remain about just how widespread the Fiscalia’s practice of rubber-stamping police investigation requests is and regarding the plight of those who have already been imprisoned as a result of such actions. As the FARC notebook cases make evident, it appears that in at least some instances the Fiscalia has acted as an accomplice in the state’s war against civil society organizations. As for Moreno Ibagué, she is worried because the accusations and the investigations authorized by the Fiscalia could lead to worse things. “I fear for my life,” she admits. “In this country, they can kill us on any street corner.”