We in Freedom Road Socialist Organization salute the Colombian people's heroic struggle for national liberation and socialism.
We oppose the U.S. government's continuing intervention in Colombian affairs. The U.S. government has a long history of interfering with the sovereignty of Latin American countries that seek independence from the domination of imperialism. This interference has come in the form of political, economic, and military interventions. Today, the Colombian people are utilizing all means necessary to liberate themselves from this unjust assault on their national sovereignty.
We denounce Plan Colombia, the almost 5 billion dollars in military aid the US government has given to the Colombian government. We denounce the oppressive and exploitative role of the U.S. corporations in Colombia, such as BP-Amoco, Occidental Oil, Drummond Coal, Coca Cola, and Chiquita Banana. U.S. military aid and these corporations fund paramilitary death squads and are responsible for terrible violations of human rights and crimes against the Colombian people. We denounce the daily disappearances, murders, and threats to trade unionists, human rights activists, indigenous people, students, and peasants. We denounce the Colombian government’s use of massacres and aerial fumigation as collective punishment for communities that support the right to organize for social justice. We denounce the assassinations of more than 3,000 members of the Patriotic Union and the Colombian government's betrayal of the peace process. The Colombian Government is not representative of the Colombian people, but of a handful of big landlords, compradors, and foreign imperialists. The U.S. government does everything possible to secure the interests of the big corporations in order to extract super-profits for the benefit of U.S. imperialism, the main enemy of all the peoples of the world. The U.S. government therefore shores up this comprador elite in Colombia, headed by Bush's right-hand man in Latin American, Colombian President Uribe.
We support the Colombian people's right to wage armed struggle against the Colombian Government. We firmly state that the armed rebellion is justified. We also support the unarmed mass movements of the Colombian people as an essential part of the Colombian Revolution.
We demand freedom for the Colombian political prisoners being held in the United States, such as Ricardo Palmera (Simon Trinidad), the peace negotiator for the FARC-EP, and his comrade-in-arms, Anayibe Rojas Valderrama (Sonia). Their extradition and imprisonment in the U.S. is a violation of Colombian sovereignty and an attempt to criminalize the Colombian Revolution.
We support all forces that are fighting for the liberation of Colombia. We salute the FARC-EP in their courageous and heroic fight to liberate the country from U.S. imperialism and for the Colombian people's control over their own land, labor, and lives. We believe the FARC-EP stand firmly at the head of an unstoppable movement that will bring peace and justice to Colombia and Latin America. The revolution in Colombia promises to turn all existing social relations upside down and put workers and peasants in power!
We denounce Plan Colombia, the U.S. government’s plan for war against the Colombian people in the guise of Bush's "War on Terror." Plan Colombia provides military training, personnel, intelligence, attack helicopters, guns, planes, equipment, and fumigation chemicals for the Colombian government’s war against their own people. Freedom Road Socialist Organization will continue to build the movement against Plan Colombia and against U.S. corporate greed, and will continue to stand for the self-determination of the Colombian people!
Down with U.S. imperialism!
Stop Plan Colombia!
¡Que viva la lucha Colombiana!
