Bulletin archive

Letters: BRING THEM HOME - COLOMBIA THREE

2008-08-28T20:50:05Z

Dear friend,

The trial of Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and Jim Monaghan will begin in early October 2002. The men were arrested in August 2001 and have been held in various Colombian Jails since then. They have been charged with the use of false documents and training the FARC. The men will be tried in a one judge no jury court.

Review: Killing Peace

2008-08-28T20:48:46Z

Gary Leech's new book, Killing Peace: Colombia's Conflict and the Failure of US Intervention offers a highly readable introduction to anyone wishing to begin to understand the roots and dimensions of Colombia's social conflict. In the first part of the book, a potted history takes the reader through the country's formation up to the catastrophic social implosion of La Violencia in the 50s, in whose savage repression of a large section of Colombia's poor lay the origins of the current 40-year conflict and the emergence of Colombia's largest insurgent movement, FARC. It goes on to outline how the breakdown of the social fabric lead to the proliferation of coca cultivation, the rise of paramilitarism linked to the cocaine trade and the extent of US involvement with the death squads, including a list of Colombian army officers trained by the US involved in paramilitary atrocities.

TUC AGREES ON RESPITE SCHEME

2008-08-28T20:46:50Z

Following the critical debate on the USA and Iraq, Colombia was a major foreign policy issue at this year's TUC conference. Hector Farjado, General Secretary of the CUT, addressed the TUC explaining "Colombian trade unions are under continual attack" from an offensive against the workers and that "we have lost over three thousand members in the last 15 years". The conference agreed a respite scheme for Colombian trade unionists in danger of their lives so that they can stay in Britain for several months at a time. The motion was proposed by ASLEF and the FBU, and supported by speakers from UNISON and Amicus, received unanimous approval from the conference.

?Where?s the pig??. he?s in the hole!?

2008-08-28T20:45:28Z

The Story of Gilberto Torres

Gilberto Torres, regional leader of USO oil workers union, and social activist in Casanare, was kidnapped by paramilitaries in February as he left the OCENSA pipeline that transports BP’s oil across Colombia. After six gruelling weeks, he became only the second trade unionist to survive kidnap and imprisonment by the paramilitaries, and was handed over to representatives of the Red Cross. Gilberto, now living in exile in Spain, visited Britain in July. He spoke at several meetings across the country, including an address to the 5,000 trade unionists at the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival in Dorset. Here, in his own words, he retells his experiences at the hands of the AUC.

LA NUEVA INQUILINA

2008-08-28T20:44:01Z

Este medio da llevaba a mi hijo a la escuela, acompañada del inclemente sol de El Salvador, y extrañando la comodidad de un automóvil particular, cuando de pronto, la nostalgia, esa maldita nostalgia que se instaló a vivir en mi alma, volvió a jugar con mis recuerdos y me trajo los buenos tiempos en mi patria. El tiempo en el que creía en todo y le juraba a cualquiera que no haba nada imposible de alcanzar. El tiempo en el que tenía "asegurado" mi futuro y el de mi hijo; el tiempo en el que vivíamos todos junto a la familia y nos reuníamos cada sábado o domingo a comer frijoles sin saber que esos eran los mejores momentos y los que alimentíaran vorazmente a mi nueva inquilina: la nostalgia.

THE NEW GUEST

2008-08-28T20:43:07Z

The experiences of a Colombian refugee, so often marginalised and rendered invisible, are related in this moving account.

View from Panama Indigenous Community

2008-08-28T20:42:08Z

Marcial Arias is an Indigenous Kuna leader from Panama and currently works in London at the Technical Secretariat of the International Alliance of Indigenous-Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests, pursuing Indigenous Peoples’ interests at the United Nations and in other international fora. Indigenous people make up about 15% of Panama’s population of nearly three million. There are seven Indigenous nations in Panama. The most numerous are the Nobles, near the border with Costa Rica, then the Kuna, who live close to the Colombian frontier on the Atlantic Coast. The Embera and the Waunan also live close to the Colombian border in the province of Darien. Marcial spoke to a Campaign meeting in July.

Days of Continental Resistance against FTAA

2008-08-28T20:40:22Z

27 October to 1 November 2002, Quito, Ecuador

The networks and continental campaigns, the social organisations of our countries taking part in the continental campaign of struggle against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA,) issue a call to the Days of Resistance and Struggle against the FTAA that will take place in Quito, Ecuador, from 27th October to 1st November of this year.

Resistance to Neoliberalism

2008-08-28T20:39:17Z

The Battle for Paraguay

While the attention of the mainstream press has focused almost exclusively on events in the Middle East over the last year, yet another spectacular victory has been won by the people of Latin America in their struggle against US-led neo-liberal imperialism.

From ATPA to FTAA

2008-08-28T20:38:22Z

The doctrine of neoliberalism says that Third World economies will succeed through export-led growth. Colombia is an interesting test case. Throughout the 1980s it was hard to suppress the evidence that illegal drugs were in fact Colombia's biggest export given that marijuana, heroine and especially cocaine were earning over $3 billion a year. The mechanisms for returning the US dollars and exchanging them back for pesos were imaginative and varied. Ordinarily, the influx of volumes of hard currency would be seen as a problem of success, a sign of export led growth in fact. Certainly as the hot money sloshed around, the benefits of the cocaine boom were enjoyed, not just by a few drug barons, but by the Colombian ruling class sui generis. Investment clubs were set up to fund shipping runs, and some $1 billion drug money was exchanged for pesos each year through official channels. This was when one Alvaro Uribe Vélez and his peers learnt to use the official apparatus to protect illicit enterprise, when Colombia's narco-bourgoisie was formed.