Across the Americas - Colombia

It's one world. Hear us.

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:27:07 -0800

An Open Letter from the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca, ACIN, to U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama

Cauca, Colombia

Dear Mr. President-Elect,

First, please accept our sincerest congratulations. We congratulate you for having won because of the noblest aspirations of your people. We believe your election expresses the deep desire for change felt by the majority of the American people: change in the economy and society, change in international relations, and from there, we hope, a change in the relation between the United States of America and the indigenous peoples of the world.

Open Letter to Nancy Pelosi from Colombian Organizations

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:45:33 -0800

November 20, 2008

Congresswoman
NANCY PELOSI
Speaker of the House of Representatives

The network of Colombian organizations that have signed this letter would like to express our thanks and recognition of your concern for and interest in Colombia, in particular in relation to human rights, as expressed by your decision to postpone indefinitely the debate in the US Congress around the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

The Walk of Our Word: Colombia Will Walk the Minga!

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:40:30 -0800

Translation of the Final Working Document from the Social and Community Minga in Colombia

November 21, 2008
Bogotá, Colombia

The Minga LIVES, may the MINGA LIVE! We call for a Colombia of the people without owners; all the wisdom, all the pain, all the experience, all the words, all our grandmothers and our memories guide us. We are going to live because we are forever tired of the pain, death and greed of those that
continue to rob us of a life of peace.

History Repeats Itself For Indigenous Communities in Colombia

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:57:37 -0800

By Mario Murillo (Bogotá, Colombia; October 14, 2008)

As I write this, over 12,000 indigenous activists and representatives of other popular and social sectors of southern Colombia are urgently congregating in the "Territory of Peace and Coexistence" in La Maria Piendamó, in Cauca, confronting a massive presence of state security forces who have been ordered to dislodge them.

Colombian Trade Unions Stand Up to Uribe’s State of Emergency

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:13:52 -0700

Faced with the situation generated by the declaration of a State of Emergency [lit. Interior Commotion], the CUT has met with trade unions and social organizations and as a result concluded that once again the Uribe Government seeks to take away the minimum democratic guarantees and, especially, strike down the trade union movement and other social organisations.

Betancourt makes emotional plea to EU parliament

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:50:08 -0700

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt made an emotional appeal to EU lawmakers Wednesday to work for the release of other captives, saying nations must drop long-held taboos against talking with terror groups.

She said isolating such groups made no sense anymore and did little to address root causes of terrorism such as poverty.

Betancourt said that seeking "dialogue was indispensable" to ending conflict. "When I say we have to negotiate with terrorists, I say it's the best way to save lives."

Frekuensia Kolombiana

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:07:36 -0700

A LETTER from CHICAGO-AREA ORGANIZATIONS AND UNIONS OPPOSING the U.S.-COLOMBIA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:21:34 -0800

January 27, 2008

Dear Senators Durbin and Obama:

In light of upcoming Congressional consideration of the pending Free Trade Agreement with Colombia, we write to you today as Chicago-area trade unions and human rights, ecojustice, faith, and community organizations concerned about significant flaws in the current trade model as a whole, and in particular in the U.S.-Colombia FTA.

The Colombia agreement stands out from all other trade agreements negotiated by the United States due to the unparalleled levels of violence experienced by Colombian workers. Colombia continues to be the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists. In 2006 alone, 72 trade unionists were assassinated in Colombia, out of 136 killed globally. That same year 244 Colombian union members suffered death threats, in addition to forced displacement, violent intimidation, arbitrary detention, kidnapping, harassment, and torture. These forms of violence victimize not only workers but also families and entire communities.

The agreement also poses major threats to the rights of indigenous and Afro-Colombian groups, particularly around issues of land control. In preparation for FTA implementation, the Colombian government has passed new laws that threaten the collective land holdings of these groups. In order to make Colombia more attractive to U.S. investors, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities that have collective title to their lands will now own only the first three meters of the trees on their land, with the rest made available to loggers.

Further, as the Colombian countryside is being taken over by companies cultivating African oil palm for export, thousands of acres of forest are being destroyed. Increased investment by U.S. companies in natural resource exploitation will only exacerbate this problem. The FTA limits itself to demanding that Colombiaâ€™s government comply with its own very lax environmental laws, which have been aggressively weakened in recent years. Global climate change will proceed apace.

The Free Trade Agreement process overrides the democratic processes of both countries. With corporations permitted to sue for damages where regulations and laws diminish their profits, either nation might be required to ignore its own sovereign laws and even provisions of its constitution. Only those who have the money and power end up benefiting under this current model of trade: international corporations and government elites.

Perhaps the most alarming aspect of this particular agreement is the ongoing collusion between the Uribe administration and the paramilitary apparatus in Colombia. As has been demonstrated by the arrests of Colombian Members of Congress and government leaders in recent months, collaboration between paramilitary groups, the Colombian military, and the political establishment has been extensive, reaching deeply into President Uribeâ€™s political circle. Ratifying a trade agreement with Colombia would send a clear signal that the United States is willing to support a terrorist state if there is potential for economic benefit.

The expanded labor and environmental provisions that were added to the trade template do not compensate for the flawed economic model it is based upon. A new vision for trade will have to be grounded in democratic and inclusive processes and a genuine respect for human rights and the environment.

We therefore call on you to take a public, vocal position against the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and the other pending agreements (South Korea, Panama) based on the current trade model. We hope you will find the courage and clarity to stand with us in calling for real change.

Why Marmato is Being Displaced

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:22:32 -0800

Regarding a large-scale gold mining project in Colombia
by Jorge Enrique Robledo. Bogotá, 11 January, 2008

Millions of Colombians are living at risk. For decades, every winter, more and more inhabited areas are flooded and face crushing landslides, while others await catastrophe at the base of active volcanoes and occupy buildings constructed without anti-seismic techniques, constituting 80 percent of the total. In Armero, 25,000 people died in a foretold slaughter that could have easily been averted. In Manizales, for example, 2,700 homes were constructed on mountains that should never have been developed. Not one person has been held responsible for many disasters described as "natural" but which, in reality, are political and social and manipulated in impassioned appeals to the public's emotions, ignoring the victims.

Bogotá continues to the left

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:56:25 -0800

Nov 4, 2007 -- The leftist Alternative Democratic Pole held on to the mayoral office in the Colombian capital with the Oct. 28 election of former Sen. Samuel Moreno Rojas.

Moreno, grandson of former dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (1953-57), captured 43.7 percent of the votes despite attacks from President Álvaro Uribe, who supported right-wing candidate Enrique Peñalosa, who served as Bogota’s mayor between 1998-2000. Peñalosa won just 28 percent.

Pelosi, Hoyer, Rangel, and Levin Statement on Trade: "We cannot support the Colombia FTA at this time"

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:35:40 -0700

06/29/2007 -- “We believe there must first be concrete evidence of sustained results on the ground in Colombia, and Members of Congress will continue working with all interested parties to help achieve this end before consideration of any FTA. Consequently, we cannot support the Colombia FTA at this time." Read the full statement.

Colombia’s President Uribe and the Para Scandal

Tue, 15 May 2007 11:43:36 -0700

This analysis was prepared by COHA Senior Research Fellow Dr. W John Green, May 15th, 2007, http://www.coha.org

Just months after Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Vélez’s landslide re-election in May 2006, some critics began pointing to ‘cracks in the pedestal’ of his popularity. The ongoing brouhaha surrounding the evident connections between the Uribe government and the paramilitary organizations, however, make that claim seem like so much wishful thinking. Uribe’s millions of supporters have long been aware of his ties to the paramilitaries but have chosen to ignore them, though they realize that they made a deal with the Devil. Without question, a majority of voting Colombians want to stay the course.