CALL FOR VIGILS AND PROTESTS TO HIGHLIGHT COLOMBIA ON 10TH DECEMBER
 

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY VIGIL
DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, LONDON SW1
(nearest tube Westminster)
6pm-8pm 10th December 2001

No More Paramilitary Massacres! Stop Plan Colombia! Yes to Human Rights! Peace with Social Justice!

News of State Terrorism and Resistance From Colombia

1. TRADE UNIONISTS ASSASSINATED
2. STUDENTS KILLED IN ANTI-WAR PROTEST
3. BUENAVENTURA JOURNALIST AND NEPHEW ASSASSINATED
4. OIL WORKERS ON STRIKE
5. DISPLACED IN OCCUPATION
 

TRADE UNIONISTS ASSASSINATED

"On 9th November 2001 PEDRO CORDEO was assassinated in the main park in Tuquerres, Nari F1o Department. He was a teacher and a member of the Techers Union in NariF1o SIMANA - C

On 10th November 2001 comrade LUIS ALBERTO DELGADO died. He had been the victim of an assassination attack the previous day in Tuquerres, Nari=F1o Department. He too was a teacher and a member of SIMANA - CUT.

On 11th November 2001 HOOVER DE JES=DAS GALEANO was assassinated in the city of Pereira, Risaralda Department. He was a worker at the Pereira Energy Corporation, a great activist and a workers delegate for the Decentralised Institutions Public Service Employees and Workers Union - SINTRAEMSDES - 

In the last week the population of NariF1o Department has been under martial law and that 33 municipalities are isolated and held incommunicado. 8 car bombs located on various roads and there are thousands of displaced people. The government has not taken any real measures to rescue the department and confront the approaching humanitarian crisis, hence we urge your support through energetic protests.

129 trade unionists have been assassinated so far this year.
 

STUDENTS ASSASSINATED

On 8th November 2001, in Bogota city, in the course of peaceful day of protest by the students at Colombia National University, the anti-riot police launched violent assaults to break up a march. This led to disturbances with the result that student CARLOS GIOVANNI BLANCO, in his second year studying medicine, was assassinated, 23 students were wounded and an indeterminate number were detained.

On 9th November 2001, in the city of Medellin, in Antioquia Department, the students at Antioquia University made a peaceful protest repudiating the death of Carlos Giovanni Blanco, with more assassinations. Two students of Pharmacy, DAVID SANTIAGO JARAMILLO URREGO (23 years old) and JUAN MANUEL JIMNEZ ESCOBAR (27 years old), were playing chess when the two armed men entered into the education centre and shot them."

STUDENT KILLED IN ANTI-WAR PROTEST
"CARLOS GEOVANNY BLANCO LEGUZAMO was studying medicine at Colombia National University. A group of students were protesting the bombings in Afghanistan when police responded to the demo with violence. A group of students were confronting police forces who had invaded university campus when Carlos was shot at around noon. Police commander denies police are responsible for the shooting but a number of witnesses confirm the shot came from behind police lines.

Police occupied the campus for the whole afternoon. By night a lot of students were camping in the university and preparing protests for Thursday. The University will be closed today and tomorrow. Reports of this have yet to appear in Corporate media anywhere."

BUENAVENTURA JOURNALIST AND NEPHEW ASSASSINATED
"Hooded gunmen burst into the home of a veteran newspaper and radio reporter and shot him to death as he and family members watched television, officials said Thursday.

Heriberto Cardenas was killed by four assailants Wednesday night in the Pacific port of Buenaventura, 215 miles west of the capital. A nephew also died and a brother of Cardenas was seriously wounded, police said. Authorities said the motive for the attack was unknown and there have been no arrests.

Cardenas had worked for Columbia's two main newspapers, El Tiempo and El Espectador, and a radio station, but was semi-retired." Associated Press

OILWORKERS UNION ON STRIKE
USO, the oilworkers union in Colombia, was on strike for three days last week from 14 - 16th November. The strike was against state persecution of the union and especially against the detention of six of its leaders on charges of 'rebellion' (see 'Colombia Solidarity' bulletin for full report). Messages of support should be sent to usonal@hotmail.com

DISPLACED PEOPLE TAKE ACTION
On 6th November a national mobilisation of peasant and displaced people's organisations in Colombia carried out a series of peaceful occupations of government human rights and social aid offices in Bogota, Bucaramanga and Medellin. They declared:

"We, the inhabitants and displaced people of Magdalena Medio, South Bolivar, Barrancabermeja, of the metropolitan zone of Bucaramanga, of Bogota, of Antioquia and other regions of the country are at our wits end in the face of repeated failure by the national government to fulfil agreed commitments; in face of our abandonment ad repression by the State in our towns and villages.

We are tired of being deceived, of the sneers with which our protests of the last ten years have been subjected. In the meantime our conditions of life have deteriorated due to the economic and social sieges carried out by the paramilitaries and the army blockading food and health care. We have suffered massacres and forced displacement as a mechanism of the state policies of terror and dirty war. Now there is the annihilation of our economy by fumigations and the scorched earth policy called Plan Colombia, which has destroyed hamlets, plundering and destroying the people's goods. Today, as before, we return, obliged by circumstances to demand that you fulfil previous commitments and that you realise the imminent danger of death that we are in and that now you will deign to resolve our problems."

The police violently ejected the occupations in Bucaramanga and Medellin, causing dozens of wounded and taking dozens of people into detention. Then at 4am on 16th November a further police action ejected from the mayor's office in Chapinero the displaced people's team trying to set up national negotiations.

Send messages of support to: gloria cuartas 
 

To remember those whose lives have been taken or destroyed by state sponsored terrorism and the systematic abuse of fundamental human rights in Colombia. Please join us in showing solidarity with the victims of these crimes. We call on the Colombian authorities to take immediate action to stop the violations and to bring those responsible to justice. We will present a letter to 10 Downing Street, criticising the British government's failure to condemn the brutal nature of the Colombian regime and the Blair government's complicity in these human rights violations due to its support for the US inspired Plan Colombia military intervention. Please bring banners and candles.

Forty years of civil war and government repression means that Colombia has one of the worst human rights records in the world:

129 trade unionists have been assassinated so far this year alone;

Over 3,000 assassinations of members of social movements last year;

2.5 million people internally displaced from the violence.

80% of these crimes are the work of government backed paramilitary death squads. Despite its abysmal human rights record, the Colombian government continues to enjoy a cosy relationship with the US and European governments.

On International Human Rights Day, we are asking you to join us in condemning these crimes and demand basic human rights for the Colombian people. Please take action by signing the attached postcard and forwarding it to the Colombian ambassador to the UK. We call on people all over Britain to mobilise solidarity with vigils in as many cities as possible. We suggest that united, humanitarian events are organised. Please contact us and we will try and put you in contact with others in your area.

SEND AN ELECTRONIC PROTEST MESSAGE ON 10TH DECEMBER to the UK Colombian Ambassador. Fax: 020 7581 1829 e-mail: colombia@colombia.demon.co.uk