Colombian Speaker calls for release of political prisoner Ricardo Palmera

Imelda Daza-Cotes recently completed a national speaking tour that included a
stop in Minneapolis. Once a political activist and elected official in
Colombia, Daza-Cotes was targeted by a murderous campaign that wiped out the
Patriotic Union, a leftist political party that rose to prominence in the
1980s. She fled to Sweden where she’s been living in exile since 1989. On Feb.
13, Daza-Cotes addressed an audience of 40 people at Spirit of the Lakes Church
in Minneapolis to discuss her experiences, as well as the extradition and trial
of Colombian rebel Ricardo Palmera and U.S. intervention in her homeland.

In Colombia, 65 percent of the land is owned by 5 percent of the population,
creating an elite ruling class and a poverty-stricken majority. Due to
pervasive inequalities, the Colombian people have a long history of resistance
to injustice. For decades, Colombian activists have struggled for social change
by organizing trade unions, demanding human rights and advocating for land
reform. Frequently, they suffer violent repression from the Colombian military
and paramilitaries. Discouraged by the lack of progress, thousands have joined
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a 27,000-strong guerilla
army formed in 1964.

The U.S. intervenes directly in the Colombian civil war on the side of the
wealthy. Since 2000, the Colombian government has received $4.7 billion from
the U.S. military aid package, “Plan Colombia.” U.S. tax dollars fund a
counter-insurgency war against Colombians fighting for social change. Using
violence and intimidation, the Colombian army and their paramilitary allies
make no distinction between those who choose the political process versus the
armed struggle.

In 1984, the Colombian government and the FARC agreed to a cease-fire and
entered negotiations that created the Patriotic Union (UP), a leftist
alternative to the two ruling parties. In exchange for guaranteed amnesty,
thousands of guerilla fighters laid down their arms and joined the UP.
Teachers, unionists, peasants and various professionals also joined the party.
At that time, Daza-Cotes was an economics professor organizing the peasant
community in her hometown, Valledupar. A founding member of the UP, she was
elected as a city council representative.

The UP was recognized as a legal political party, yet the military and
paramilitaries began assassinating its members, murdering 3,000 people. “One
day in 1989, I came home to find a wreath of flowers and an invitation to my
own funeral,” said Daza-Cotes. She fled the country, seeking refuge in Sweden
with her husband and three children. Of the 19 founding members of the UP, only
three are still alive: Daza-Cotes, another Colombian woman now living in
Sweden, and current U.S. political prisoner Ricardo Palmera.

“Ricardo was my friend,” said Daza-Cotes. “We worked at the same university and
did political organizing together. When I left the country, he joined the FARC.
He didn’t see any alternative.” Despite the enduring armed struggle, Daza-Cotes
emphasized that the rebels want peace. On Jan. 2, 2004, Palmera went to Ecuador
to make contact with a United Nations representative about negotiations with
the Colombian government. He was captured by the CIA and extradited to the
United States. In November 2006 he was tried in U.S. federal court for
narco-trafficking and kidnapping.

Daza-Cotes said the charges are ridiculous. “He was always against drug
trafficking, and they have no evidence that he was involved.” The kidnapping
charges stem from a February 2003 incident in which a helicopter carrying U.S.
private contractors was shot down over FARC-controlled land. The three American
contractors have been held captive ever since. Said Daza-Cotes: “They invaded
territory controlled by an opposing army. They were not kidnapped. They are
prisoners of war.”

Palmera is not charged with direct involvement in the “kidnapping.” Rather,
under the U.S. “war on terror,” he is charged with “conspiracy” to commit the
crime of hostage-taking. Daza-Cotes was contacted in Sweden to testify for
Palmera. “I flew to Washington, D.C.,” she said. “The day before the trial
began, they told me I wouldn’t be allowed to testify.” Dozens of activists from
the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera, including several Minneapolis
residents, demonstrated against Palmera’s trial. They picketed outside the
courtroom, attended the trial and held press conferences to publicize a case
largely ignored by U.S. media. After deliberating four days, the jury was
unable to convict Palmera due to lack of evidence. Rather than dismissing the
case, the judge decided to re-open it. Palmera’s second trial on the same
charges will begin March 26. The U.S. government hand-picked his lawyer, and
the media is not allowed to interview him.

“If Ricardo is convicted, it implies a victory for the Colombian government and
U.S. interference,” said Daza-Cotes. “A just solution requires a
prisoner-exchange and reopened negotiations.” She urges U.S. citizens to stop
Plan Colombia. “U.S. tax-payers are financing war against the Colombian people.
Colombians want justice and the right of self-determination.”