Month of June, 2007

In northwestern Colombia in 2001, the president and vice president of the mining union Sintramienergetica were taken off a Drummond bus and shot to death by paramilitary death squads hired by the corporation. Later that year, paramilitaries also killed the new president. These men were all killed during negotiations with Drummond.

Statement from the Colombia Action Network and call to action against Plan Colombia.

There is a growing debate in Congress concerning Plan Colombia. There needs to be an end to US military aid to Colombia. The almost 5 billion dollars the US has sent in military aid since 2000 has had horrendous results in Colombia. It has paid for military and para-military human rights abuses including massacres, disappearances, kidnapping, and threats of social justice and labor activists and their families.

Statement from the Colombia Action Network on the trial of Ricardo Palmera.

The US has given almost 5 billion in military aid to Colombia since 2000. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, & Colombia Action Network (CAN) delegations have all documented that our tax dollars are going directly to support military & death squad violence in Colombia.

Every day things are clearer. The initial government proposal for the “paramilitary demobilization” presented by then Minister of Interior, Fernando Londoño, did not contain any element of truth, justice, or reparation. In the end, the government was forced to eventually shelve this revolting proposal due to opposition expressed nationally and internationally. As a result, other legislative bills emerged to assemble a legal framework for these purposes.