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US revives Colombia bio-war plan by Bill Weinberg (17.06.2006)
The DEA stopped funding Fusarium research in the United States during the early '90s after it learned that Fusarium infections can be deadly in "immunocompromised" people --not only AIDS patients and those with other illnesses, but also those who are severely malnourished. The University of the Andes in Bogotá has recently reported that 12 percent of Colombian children suffer from chronic malnutrition. Spraying this fungus on a vulnerable population could be perceived as using a biological weapon.

Urgent Action On Colombian Miners by Colombia Support Network (07.06.2006)
U.S.-based Drummond Coal Company and Swiss-based Glencore International are now the subject of strikes by aggrieved workers. Mark Rich, who received a pardon from President William Clinton for his criminal actions, is reportedly an owner of Glencore. Recently a former official of Colombia's Administrative Department of Security testified he saw the president of Drummond's Colombia coal operation pay money to a paramilitary leader to murder union members at Drummond's coal mine in the Guajira Peninsula in northern Colombia. Two miners who were union leaders were thereafter murdered by paramilitary forces.

Act to oppose Globalization consequenses in Colombian mining by Colombia Support Network (21.05.2006)
The Colombian Army has been carrying out joint maneuvers with paramilitary forces in the gold-mining regions in the south of Bolivar department. These maneuvers are designet to force small-scale miners off their lands and make them available to foreign mining companies. These mineral-rich lands have been coveted for years by foreign mining companies dating back to 1996 when the Canadian company Corona Goldfields soughy to have a mining code implemented which would give the company rights to gold mines which small-scale miners living in the area have worked for many years.

Colombia: Activist Killed by FARC by Weekly News Update on the Americas (26.03.2006)
On Mar. 23, the Campesino Association of the Cimitarra River Valley (ACVC) said it had determined that guerrillas from the 24th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were responsible for the Feb. 18 murder of community leader Guido Romero, vice president of the Communal Action Board in the rural community of La Victoria in Cantagallo municipality, Bolivar department. The ACVC had attributed the murder to rightwing paramilitaries in a Feb. 21 communique.

Colombia: Murder in Cimitarra valley by Weekly News Update on the Americas (05.03.2006)
The Campesino Association of the Cimitarra River Valley (ACVC) has reported a recent increase in paramilitary murders, threats and other activities in the Cimitarra valley of Colombia's Magdalena Medio region, where the departments of Bolivar, Santander and Antioquia intersect. At a meeting in Cantagallo, a paramilitary member from Barrancabermeja in Santander department announced that the legalized paramilitary groups known as Convivir must be reestablished in the town.

US Political Intervention in Latin America, 2006 by In the Name of Democracy (16.01.2006)
Workshop, 2006 World Social Forum. This workshop is designed to bring together representatives of social movements and community organizations in Latin American countries currently experiencing political intervention and independent journalists, researchers and activists from across the hemisphere for a popular education and strategy session. In the Name of Democracy is a project of Pueblos En Camino, a collective dedicated to helping "weave autonomies" for justice and peace.

Leaked Memo: Corrupt DEA Agents in Colombia Help Narcos and Paramilitaries by Bill Conroy (09.01.2006)
Internal Justice Dept. document alleges drug trafficking links, money laundering and conspiracy to murder. The information in that document is also corroborated by a number of other sources that spoke directly to Narco News. The memo further claims that, rather than being simply a few "bad apples" who need to be reported to their superiors, these allegedly dirty agents are being protected by an ongoing cover-up orchestrated by "watchdog" agencies within the Justice Department.

The Struggle for Land in Colombia by Hector Mondragon (09.01.2006)
If there had been justice and reparation for the victims of hundreds of massacres committed in the last twenty years in the Colombian countryside, as well as those committed between 1946 and 1958 and in previous waves of violence, the principal measure would be to return their land to the campesinos, indigenous people and afro-colombians who have time and again been thrown off Mother Earth by blood and fire.

Chemical Warfare in Colombia by Garry Leech (09.01.2005)
With extensive personal experience in Putumayo under my belt and having read numerous erratic accounts of the U.S. war on drugs in Colombia, I cautiously picked up a copy of the recently published book by Hugh O’Shaughnessy and Sue Branford titled Chemical Warfare in Colombia: The Costs of Coca Fumigation. My concerns would prove to be unwarranted as it quickly became evident that Chemical Warfare in Colombia is the best book yet written about the U.S. war on drugs in Colombia.

The Horror Continues in Colombia Against the Unarmed Civilian Population by Regional Foundation Group of Human Rights "Joel Sierra" (15.12.2005)
Select killings continue to happen in Saravena, which is one of the most militarized areas in Colombia. Since the beginning of this current government the area has been called an experiment in "Democratic Security" and has been depicted as a supposedly recovered area from the guerrillas. We ask, how many murders must there be before a humanitarian and social crisis is declared and steps are taken to help the situation?

Coca-Cola Faces Mounting Pressure over Abusive Practices at Plants Worldwide by Haider Rizvi (14.12.2005)
Coca-Cola, the multinational soft drink giant, is facing the wrath of rights advocacy groups here in the United States and abroad for refusing to take responsibility for abusive practices at its bottling plants. The company is also under fire in a number of Asian and Latin American countries, where labor unions, peasant groups, and consumer associations are relentlessly campaigning to force Coca-Cola to just pack up and leave.

Worldwide support for missing peace activists by Renata Sancken (14.12.2005)
Since the disappearance of Norman Kember, Harmeet Sooden, James Loney, and Tom Fox, the four Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) members who have been taken hostage in Iraq, there has been an outpouring of support for the captives from around the world. All four were in Iraq working for peace, talking with Iraqi people, and have been missing sine 29 November. Among the four is Norman Kember, a British lifelong pacifist.

Paramilitaries assassinate 22 campesinos in the municipality of Curumani by Association for the Promotion of Social Alternatives Minga (09.12.2005)
Paramilitaries currently in the process of negotiating with the national government, detained, tortured and executed 22 campesinos in the villages of La Mas Verde and Nuevo Horizonte, Curumani municipality, Cesar. On 4 and 5 December 2005, a group of approximately 200 armed men in uniform, presenting themselves as members of the North Block of the Paramilitaries under the command of Jorge 40 (alias), carried out all manner of violations and humiliating acts against the civilian population.

Freedom for our brothers from CPT, peace fighters in Iraq by Peasant Association of Cimitarra River Valley (02.12.2005)
Our brothers and companions Norman Kember, Briton 74-year-old, the American 54-year-old Tom Fox, and the Canadians 41-year-old James Loney, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) were retained unjustly on Saturday, the 26th of November by the "Brigade of the Swords of the Righteousness". We know CPT from 2001, they have walked close to us, exposing their lives, along the paths of pain and injustice so common in Colombia.

Thousands of Smoke Grenades, M-16 Kits En Route to Colombia by Stephen Peacock (30.11.2005)
The U.S. State Dept. is soliciting proposals from manufacturers of smoke grenades, thousands of which the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) plans to send annually to the government of Colombia. The INL yesterday called on U.S.-only smoke-grenade makers to submit cost estimates by Dec. 7 for up to 3,000 red- and green-smoke grenades.

Protest over Coca-Cola rights record by Louise Taylor (25.11.2005)
On Sunday 20 November, protestors demonstrated at the East Kilbride Coca-Cola factory against the corporation's abuse of human rights and the environment in Colombia and India. This is the second of such protests which are aimed at highlighting Coca-Cola's unethical practices in various countries. Not only have the company been successfully taken to court over their underhand marketing tactics in Mexico, but have also been the subject of a ban by Turin Council, the host of the Winter Olympics this February.

Coca-Cola loses monopoly by Barbara Scott (25.11.2005)
Campaigners against the soft drinks giant Coca Cola received some good news this week. The multinational has been fined almost £40 million by the Mexican federal competition commission for "monopolistic practices". What's most amazing about this story is that the case was brought by the owner of a tiny, one-room shop in the working-class Iztapalapa neighbourhood of Mexico City. Her complaint to the competition commission was eventually accepted and other evidence of similar incidents was uncovered.

Violence, Victory, Warning: Freedom for Mother Earth and San Jose de Apartado by En Camino (17.11.2005)
While there is of course a victory for the persistence of those who organized for ‘Freedom for Mother Earth’, the violence in San Jose de Apartado on the same day might lead to the suspicion that the government might not negotiate in good faith. Striking at one community while talking to another is a disrespect to all. Still, what has happened in Japio with ‘Freedom for Mother Earth’ has been remarkable, another achievement for the indigenous movement, as was the Popular Consultation on the FTA.

Lines in the Sand: A Week of Drug War Summits in South America by Dan Feder (19.10.2005)
The northern Colombian city of Santa Marta --and Colombian president Álvaro Uribe-- played host this week to the 15th Summit of the Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies (HONLEA) of Latin America and the Caribbean. President Uribe, addressing the delegations of about forty nations, took the opportunity to bash the drug legalization movement and demand that its neighbors do more to stop Colombian drugs from reaching consuming countries.

"Day of Indigenous Resistance" picket of Colombian embassy in London (report) by Pescao (14.10.2005)
Exactly 513 years since Christopher Columbus "discovered" America, around 40 peace and solidarity activists picketed the Colombian embassy in support of workers, students, indigenous communities and other social movements there out on general strike. The strikers were protesting against this state-sponsored terrorism as well as president Uribe tampering with the Constitution in order to stand for re-election next year. Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world to be an activist.

Legislating impunity: Do Colombia and U.S. think some terrorists are better than others? by Cecilia Zarate-Laun (30.09.2005)
The visit of Colombian President Uribe to Crawford Texas ranch of George W. Bush, the historical context of the demobilization of the paramilitary forces (AUC) and its impact on the victims of paramilitary violence. This "demobilization" is to occur within the context of Colombia's Law of Justice and Peace. The Colombian president has expressed his interest in training demobilized paramilitaries as guides in national parks, cultural workers, security guards in shopping centers or at public events like concerts or games.

Colombian Farmers Occupy Town to Protest Drug War by César Jerez (28.09.2005)
Around 300 people, including several woman and children, from the 22 outlying rural zones of the town of Catagallo, have been occupying the municipality’s downtown area since Saturday, September 24... The protest action is being realized, according to participants, because of the grave situation of health and nutrition that the local peasant farmers are currently enduring as a product of the indiscriminate fumigations of Plan Colombia. The farmers are demanding an end to the fumigations.

The FARC-EP in Colombia: A Revolutionary Exception in an Age of Imperialist Expansion by James J. Brittain (09.2005)
The United States and the Colombian ruling oligarchy have, since the 1960s, repeatedly implemented socioeconomic and military campaigns to defeat the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People’s Army (FARC-EP). However, this offensive, whose main purpose is to maintain capitalist accumulation and expansion, has resulted in an embarrassing setback for U.S. imperialism and the Colombian ruling class.

Judge Gone Crazy? Tells Colombian Revolutionaries: "Come to D.C." by Fight Back News Service (21.09.2005)
A U.S. judge placed ads in Colombia's newspapers the last week of August "ordering" the FARC - the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, to appear in his Washington D.C. courtroom. This adds to a list of bizarre procedures involving the extradition, imprisonment and trial of Ricardo Palmera, an important FARC leader. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan ridiculously asserts that the FARC members should leave their homeland and come to the U.S. to appear on charges of, "taking hostages in violation of U.S. laws."

Blanket Coverage by Garry Leech (Summer 2005)
Yet whilst President Uribe's strategies have diminished kidnapping and killings, they have also resulted in a dramatic increase in forced 'disappearances' and arbitrary detentions. Under the Uribe administration, human rights abuses by state security forces waging a counter-insurgency war against the country's largest leftist guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), have risen alarmingly.

Recycling amongst the bullets in San Josecito de Apartadó, Colombia; An Invitation... by Anne Barr (07.2005)
I have just spent a week in the new settlement of San Josecito, Urabá, where the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó moved to when the police and army moved into their village 3 months ago. They left their comfortable houses to build a new village from scratch because they refused to accept as their 'protectors' the same armed forces whose most recent crime, in a very long list of crimes, was the massacre 8 members of the Community including a baby and two kids.

Colombia: Paramilitaries Kill Campesino by Weekly News Update on the Americas (17.07.2005)
On July 3, at a checkpoint on the road leaving the town of Dabeiba in Antioquia, rightwing paramilitaries took campesino Albeiro Higuita Agudelo off a local bus heading for Camparrusia. Later that afternoon, Higuita's body, showing visible signs of torture, was found in Boton, 10 minutes from Dabeiba on the road to Medellin. Higuita was a member of the Campesino Association of Dabeiba; he lived in Balsillas, a rural community two and half hours from the town of Dabeiba.

Behind the 'Justice and Peace Act' by Berta Joubert-Ceci (07.07.2005)
In June the Colombian Congress approved a bill entitled the "Justice and Peace Act" (JPA) that will reduce the sentences of right-wing paramilitaries --really death-squad members-- who confess their crimes, return stolen goods and compensate their victims. This law's opponents say it will grant immunity to paramilitaries for their many crimes. Around the same time, the U.S. Congress extended Plan Colombia, which was due to end this year. Interview with Colombian labor unionist.

Report on San Jose Massacre by Colombia Support Network (05.07.2005)
The Colombia Support Network (CSN) is pleased to be able to release the results of an investigation carried out by a fact-finding CSN delegation from San Jose de Apartado's sister community of Dane County (Madison) Wisconsin. The delegation investigated the massacre of February 21, 2005, in which Peace Community leader Luis Eduardo Guerra and 7 other persons were murdered.

Imperialism's world control: towards a defeat? by Don Hoskins (03.07.2005)
Middle East insurgency chaos and setbacks for US invasion are looking more and more like a catastrophic defeat for imperialism's world control. Iran vote for militancy and anti-westernism adds to the problems, combining with rising worldwide hostility from South America to Africa. But setbacks will not halt imperialism's plunge to Third World War war, driven by urgent necessity to deal with its now historically unprecedented depths of crisis contradictions.

Student Coca-Cola Boycott Gains Victory by Fight Back News Service (07.2005)
Students boycotting Coca-Cola have won another victory. At Chicago's DePaul University on July 7, university administrators from across the U.S. agreed to an independent investigation of the murder of nine Colombian trade unionists who worked at Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola uses death squads to break the Coca-Cola workers' union in Colombia. In India, Coca-Cola has been illegally polluting the water and land of poor peasant farmers.

Killer Coke's deadly policies exposed by Bryan G. Pfeifer (30.06.2005)
A struggle against Coca-Cola's labor and human-rights violations in Colombia and elsewhere continues building in the United States, Canada and many other countries. The Student Coalition to Cut the Coca-Cola Contract dealt the latest blow to the multi-billion dollar corporation. In a June 20 news release, the coalition announced that the University of Michigan has placed Coke "on probation" until August 2006 because of the corporation's actions in Colombia and India.

Colombia: Peace Initiatives Under Attack by Bill Weinberg (10.06.2005)
In recent weeks, the government of President Alvaro Uribe has launched a major counter-guerilla offensive, a showcase of his Orwellian "democratic security" program. The offensive itself is called the Patriot Plan, in apparent emulation of the US anti-terrorist legislation. One frontline in this contest is Toribio, a Nasa Indian village in the mountains of conflicted Cauca department, where residents have proclaimed their own right not to participate in the war.

"Planting Dreams to Harvest Peace" by Asociación Campesina del Valle del Río Cimitarra (09.06.2005)
In their territory, the campesinos continue wretched yet stubborn, restless, organized, with their plans and proposals, to stay alive, attached to the land, while the war is defined and a political solution to the conflict is cleared up. National and International Solidarity Campaign with the Campesino Association of the Cimitarra River Valley (ACVC). "We are the political wing of the campesino".

Secretary Rice gives thumbs up to Colombia's death squad government by Socialist Resistance (06.2005)
Rice stated on her visit that the notorious 'Plan Colombia', passed by the US congress four years ago, had been "highly successful". The plan was posed as an attempt to crush Colombia's drug lords, but in reality the bulk of the $4 billion spent by the US on the plan so far has been spent on the Colombian military, to aid them in the fight against the FARC and ELN leftwing guerrillas.

Álvaro Manzano: A survivor of the UP (Patriotic Union) persecuted by the Colombian State by César Jerez (27.05.2005)
The story of the life of Álvaro Manzano should be a contribution to memory, truth and justice which sooner or later will have to come to all the victims of the UP.

Massacres, corruption accompany Plan Colombia by Berta Joubert-Ceci (19.05.2005)
Conservatives are criticizing Plan Colombia for its failure, both in its stated goal of eradicating the drug industry and its intention of destroying the armed insurgency, which can no longer be hidden. But progressive organizations in Colombia and around the world blame it for causing terrible human rights abuses that have taken the lives and the freedom of thousands of Colombians.

Colombia tramples indigenous rights by An Phoblacht (05.05.2005)
Jaime Arias is a spokesperson for the Kankuamo indigenous people of Colombia, who are paying a very high price for trying to maintain their culture and identity. In 2001, Colombian paramilitaries tortured and killed Jaime's father, a spiritual leader. In August 2004, one of his brothers, Freddy Arias, the coordinator of human rights issues in the Kankuamo Indigenous Organisation, was also killed. An Phoblacht interviewed Jaime during his recent visit to Ireland.

In Latin America, Caribbean: Millions come out for May Day by Berta Joubert-Ceci (04.05.2005)
Throughout Latin America the commemoration of May Day was once again a reminder that the majority of the peoples are not willing to allow the United States to impose so-called "free trade" agreements on them. From Mexico to Argentina, unions and social organizations mobilized, honoring the legacy of the Chicago heroes of 1886 while bringing into focus the local issues particular to each country-all of them voicing specific demands on their own governments.

Death and Displacement Foretold in Colombia by Joe DeRaymond (10.04.2005)
On January 15 of this year, Luis Eduardo Guerra, a founder of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, stated in an interview, "Today we are talking, tomorrow we can be dead. Today we are in San Jose, tomorrow the community can be displaced by a massacre of 20 or 30 people." We know now that Luis was a walking ghost, and that his statement foretold his own death, for on February 20 or 21, in a rural settlement of the Peace Community, he died in a massacre.

Colombia vs. Venezuela: Big Oil's Secret War? by Bill Weinberg (10.04.2005)
Hugo Chavez is in a difficult position. He needs more oil and gas revenues to fund the populist social programs which guarantee his support among the peasants and urban poor. But cooperation with the multinational industrial agenda for the bloody border zone may cost him his support among indigenous peoples. Worse still, by welcoming oil companies which appear to be cooperating in a destabilization drive, he could be making a noose for his own neck.

Colombia: Peace Community under occupation by Virginia McGlone (10.04.2005)
After eight years of existence, the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado in Antioquia, Colombia, continues to stand strong in the midst of a war that they do not want to be part of. But in the wake of the Feb. 21 massacre of community leader Luis Eduardo Guerra together with his eleven-year-old son and six close friends and relatives, the community faces the gravest crisis of its history.

Colombia: Action must be taken to guarantee the safety of abducted Human Rights Defenders by Amnesty International (07.04.2005)
The work of human rights defenders must be respected by all parties to the conflict, said Amnesty International today in reaction to the abduction of five human rights activists working with the Afro-descendant community of Jiguiamiandó and Curvaradó in the department of Chocó.

Colombia: Soldiers Kill More Civilians by Weekly News Update on the Americas (03.04.2005)
On Mar. 27, relatives found the bodies of Colombian campesinos Javier Alexander Cubillos, Wilder Cubillos and Heriberto Delgado at the morgue in Fusagasuga, Cundinamarca department. The army had taken their bodies there, claiming they were guerrillas killed in combat. The three men were Communist Party activists from the community of San Juan de Sumapaz, in the federal district of Bogota, just north of Fusagasuga.

Colombia: Peace Community Displaced by Weekly News Update on the Americas (03.04.2005)
The Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado in the Colombian department of Antioquia announced in an Apr. 1 statement that it had begun to leave the hamlet of San Jose.

Colombia: Army Kills More Civilians by Weekly News Update on the Americas (27.03.2005)
On Mar. 6, Colombian Army troops shot to death three civilians and wounded seven others--one of whom later died --in the village of Corocito, Tame municipality, in the eastern Colombian department of Arauca.

Venezuela: Campesino Murdered by Weekly News Update on the Americas (27.03.2005)
On Mar. 19 or 20, paramilitaries hired by a local landowner stabbed or hacked to death campesino leader Luis Enrique Perez as he worked near the bank of the Caparo river in Santa Barbara municipality, Barinas state, Venezuela. Perez was a leader of the Ezequiel Zamora National Campesino Front (FNCEZ).

Paraguay: Campesinos March by Weekly News Update on the Americas (27.03.2005)
On Mar. 16, some 10,000 Paraguayan campesinos marched in the capital, Asuncion, to press their demands. (Semanario Hoy, the publication of Argentina's Revolutionary Communist Party, gave the number of marchers as 20,000.) The column of marchers stretched for six blocks along four lanes of Eusebio Ayala avenue.

Boycott of "Killer Coke" catches on by Lou Paulsen (02.03.2005)
The three biggest universities in Ireland and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland have banned Coca-Cola. A march protested Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the Sundance Film Festival. "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" mentioned the boycott. And the Service Employees, the biggest U.S. union, endorsed the boycott at its 2004 convention.

U.S. steps up intervention in Venezuela, Colombia by Berta Joubert-Ceci (27.01.2005)
Washington is rapidly and dangerously stepping up its hostile acts against Hugo Chávez's Bolivarian government in Venezuela. A Jan. 14 article in the right-wing Washington Times newspaper quoted a Bush senior official as saying, "The administration will begin a broad campaign in Latin America soon, urging friendly countries to reassess their relations with Mr. Chávez and to speak up against his authoritarian and anti-democratic rule".

The US / Colombia Plot Against Venezuela by James Petras (25.01.2005)
A major diplomatic and political conflict has exploded between Colombia and Venezuela after the revelation of a Colombian government covert operation in Venezuela, involving the recruitment of Venezuelan military and security officers in the kidnapping of a Colombian leftist leader.

The Objective Reality of Plan Patriota by James J. Brittain (25.01.2005)
In response to their failure to eliminate the guerrillas and their corroborators throughout rural Colombia under the guise of the war on drugs, the U.S. and Colombian governments have reformulated their politico-economic and military strategy toward the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People’s Army (FARC-EP), now targeting the Marxist rebel group as part of the war on terror.

Rice's Imminent Confirmation Bad News for Latin America by Jessica Leight (25.01.2005)
Rice's outdated Cold War credo suggests her term at the helm of the State Department will witness no new diplomacy, let alone innovative ideas. Bush's championing of democracy and freedom in his inaugural address will no doubt remain nothing more than rhetoric, and dangerous rhetoric at that. More bad news for Latin America: while Rice’s words on the region are few, they are retrogressive and full of clichés, displaying a total absence of any new vision for the region.

Colombia’s Double Standard for Terrorism by Laura del Castillo Matamoros (24.01.2005)
The Colombian Government’s Lies on the Kidnapping of Rodrigo Granda and Its "Solidarity" With Venezuelan Coupsters.

Colombia: Unsafe for union organizers by Berta Joubert-Ceci (30.12.2004)
Labor unionists around the world know that Colombia is the most dangerous country for union leaders. A recent visit to the United States by Francisco Ramírez Cuéllar, president of the Colombian mineworkers' union, set this fact into clear focus.

Activists from Around Globe Meet, Say No to Imperialism by Meredith Aby (30.11.2004)
Activists from across the globe met here Nov. 10-14 for the Second International Conference of the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS). Organized around the theme "Advance the people's solidarity and struggle for liberation and democracy against imperialist plunder and war," the conference drew more than 200 delegates and supporters from 30 countries in Asia, Europe and North America.

Oil makes U.S. raise military stakes in Colombia by Bill Weinberg (26.11.2004)
President George W. Bush's quick stop in Colombia on his return from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Chile on Monday brought this forgotten front in Washington's war on terrorism briefly into the headlines. Bush promised Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe - his closest South American ally - to boost aid for his military campaign against leftist guerillas.

Nov.2004 Colombia Speaking Tour in the Northeast (11.11.2004)
The International Peace Observatory, a new organization formed in Colombia, has the idea of not only informing people in the United States of the situation in Colombia, but also to accompany threatened communities and processes through nonviolent international presence. In this small way, we can help to open up spaces for social organizing in Colombia.

CAN Calls National Days of Action for Colombia by Fight Back Staff (30.10.2004)
The Colombia Action Network has called for national days of action, Nov. 1 through Nov. 6, to support Colombian trade unionists and to stop Plan Colombia. Plan Colombia is the U.S. military aid package given to Colombia’s death squad government. "Boycott Killer Coke, No Blood for Oil!".

Statement on Increased U.S. Military Presence in Colombia by Colombia Support Network (12.10.2004)
The Colombia Support Network (CSN), which has worked for the last 16 years to promote a negotiated resolution of the conflict in Colombia, is very disappointed by the action of the conference committee of the US Congress in voting to support an increase of US military personnel in Colombia from 400 to 800 persons and of private US contract workers from 400 to 600.

Colombian Peasant Leader Speaks Out Against U.S. Intervention by Thistle Parker-Hartog and Meredith Aby (26.09.2004)
Members of the Colombia Action Network interviewed Colombian peasant leader Miguel Cifuentes, the executive secretary of the Cimitarra River Valley Peasant Association.

Truth Commission exposes Colombian gov't coverup by Berta Joubert-Ceci (23.09.2004)
On Sept. 7 the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo printed an article titled, "The Prosecutor's office ordered the capture of three military officers for the deaths of three union leaders in Arauca." Since it's general knowledge in the international labor movement that Colombia is the most dangerous place for union leaders, this should not be a surprising article.

What the World Thinks of This Empire by Mumia Abu Jamal (28.08.2004)
A recent book on the dark and dangerous ties between Colombia and the US shows the latest features of this trend.

Colombia's Unions: Under Attack and Fighting Back by Meredith Aby (22.08.2004)
Colombia is the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist. On average, right-wing paramilitary death squads or the military murder three Colombian trade unionists a week. Many more are threatened each day. At the same time the U.S. has given more than $3 billion in military aid, which funds both the military and paramilitary war on Colombian trade unionists, human rights workers and campesinos (peasants).

Eyewitness Colombia: unions develop strategy against death squads by Workers World News Service (29.07.2004)
Four participants in the June International Caravan to Save the Lives of Colombian Workers gave first-hand accounts of their trip at a Workers World meeting here on July 16. They spoke about the repression and resistance in Colombia, urging solidarity from the U.S anti-war movement and labor unions.

Union sows resistance to corporate farming by Jana Silverman (19.07.2004)
The United National Agricultural Workers Union Federation (Fensuagro) represents farm laborers and small farmers in 22 of Colombia's 32 provinces. The union also fights for farmer credit and pushes for agrarian reform in a country with one of the world's most unequal distributions of land. And the union promotes Colombian food security and food sovereignty.

In Colombia, union busters come in the night by Betsey Piette (15.07.2004)
Globalization's war against the workers has taken a heavy toll in this tropical city of 1.5 million people on Colombia's northeastern Atlantic coast, an 18-hour bus ride over the mountains from Bogota, the capital. Over the past decade 68 union leaders, students, teachers and political activists from Barranquilla have been murdered.

Int'l visitors show solidarity with Colombia workers by Berta Joubert-Ceci (08.07.2004)
From June 20 to June 26, some 60 delegates from Brazil, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, the Basque Country, Germany, Ireland, Britain and the United States participated in an International Caravan to Save the Lives of Colombian Workers.

Colombian unions fight back: Int'l caravan to challenge repression by Berta Joubert-Ceci (10.06.2004)
SINALTRAINAL, the Colombian Coca-Cola workers' union, and others will host an International Caravan to Save the Lives of Colombian Workers from June 21-25. Several international delegations have already pledged support for this crucial event, including one from the United States.

Colombia 3 acquitted of trumped up charges by Susanne Kelly (13.05.2004)
Three Irish activists who spent 32 months in Colombian jails were acquitted on April 26 of trumped-up charges of terrorism. But it is not clear when they will be allowed to return home to Ireland.

Int'l caravan backs Colombian union by Heather Cottin (13.05.2004)
The Colombian Coca-Cola workers' union, SINALTRAINAL, has called for an international caravan to travel to Colombia in solidarity with the union movement there. In response to this call, the International Caravan to Save the Lives of Colombian Workers will take place from June 20 to June 30.

U.S. Latin-American Strategy Focuses on Colombia by Berta Joubert-Ceci (25.03.2004)
Colombia today is more strategic to Washington's hegemonic plan in the region than ever before. It is no coincidence that the military component of the Free Trade Area of the Americas is called Plan Colombia.

Terror in Colombia, An instrument of 'Free Trade' Policy? by Bill Weinberg (23.03.2004)
Uribe's visit to Coral Gables made headlines in the United States; the numerous atrocities in Colombia so far this year have not. But against this backdrop, Uribe's assurances to investors appear in a stark light--as does the annual ritual of "certification." The paras are the actual enforcers of the promised favorable investment climate.

Film Documents 'Red Dance' of Annihilation by Constanza Vieira (24.01.2004)
The Colombian documentary film "El baile rojo" (The Red Dance), competing this week at an international film festival, marks an effort to restore collective memory of an experiment in reconciliation that was erased by blood and fire from the country's political map.

Bolivar, Marx and the liberation of Latin America by Workers World News Service (18.12.2003)
The prevalent slogan--"Beware imperialists, Bolivar's sword is going throughout Latin America"--is not an empty threat. The people are moving.

Media: Blind spot in drug-war coverage by Phillip Cryan (17.11.2003)
If the media were going to report on the effects of U.S. antidrug efforts, they'd have to focus on this southern Colombian town of 7,000 inhabitants. Just outside Villagarzon, the Colombian army established its first U.S.-funded counternarcotics brigade, the central component of Plan Colombia, a multibillion dollar aid package signed by President Bill Clinton in 2000.

Bush is pleased: Colombia offers amnesty to death squads by Teresa Gutierrez (02.10.2003)
The administration of President Alvaro Uribe Velez of Colombia continues to implement a reactionary agenda in an attempt to consolidate a neo-fascist state. As unionists, human rights organizations and popular sectors are brutally targeted by the deadly paramilitaries, Uribe is carrying out measures that will bring more bloodshed and turmoil.

Glyphosate and Paramilitary Terror in Colombia`s Cimitarra Valley by Bill Weinberg (27.08.2003)
“We developed our own plan for a sustainable economic alternative. We called for roads, schools, hospitals, mills for sugar and rice, local cooperatives to exploit fish and timber, so the campesinos can take their product directly to the market without intermediaries. These solutions could work. But there is no political will to provide the resources. The region means nothing to those in power.”

Paramilitary Terror and the Struggle for Colombia`s Oil by Bill Weinberg (27.08.2003)
For over two months now, Colombia´s most important oil refinery, at the tropical river port of Barrancabermeja, in central Santander department, has been under occupation by the military.