URGENT ACTION: THREE INDIGENOUS MURDERED IN CERRO TIJERAS RESERVE

Greetings,

Please find below (in English and Spanish) an urgent action on the continued aggression against indigenous communities in Colombia. Three leaders murdered in the past few weeks in Cerro Tijeras! It is especially important that you act now, as the Liberals and Conservatives in Canada are using every trick possible to try to push through ratification of the Canada-Colombia FTA by mid-December. Their overlooking of the presence of paramilitaries and undying support of the Colombian regime sends a direct signal that Canada's interests in Latin America (and in the world!) are economic and have nothing to do with the defence of human rights, not to mention social and economic rights demanded by the Colombian movements facing this aggression.

In addition to the recommendations provided below (courtesy of the Colombia Support Network, UK), we urge you to please write your member of Canadian parliament and members of the International Trade Committee in particular, which is set to deliberate in the Canadian parliament ratification of the Canada-Colombia FTA in spite of the continued aggression in Colombia. The Libservatives must not get away with defending the indefensible, lest they allow the blood on their hands become blood on the hands of every Canadian that did nothing.

Here are the email addresses of some key Liberals, Conservatives and members of the Standing Committee on International Trade: IgnatM@parl.gc.ca, Rae.B@parl.gc.ca, DhaliS@parl.gc.ca, DosanU@parl.gc.ca, FryH@parl.gc.ca, MartiK@parl.gc.ca, MurraJ@parl.gc.ca, Richardson.L@parl.gc.ca, Brison.S@parl.gc.ca, Cannan.R@parl.gc.ca, Guimond.C@parl.gc.ca, Harris.R@parl.gc.ca, Holder.E@parl.gc.ca, Keddy.G@parl.gc.ca, Silva.M@parl.gc.ca

In solidarity,
La Chiva

Message follows

###

Vease VERSION ESPAÑOL abajo

URGENT ACTION: THREE INDIGENOUS MURDERED IN CERRO TIJERAS RESERVE

THE GENOCIDE OF INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES CONTINUES:

CERRO TIJERAS INDIGENOUS RESERVE (SUAREZ MUNICIPALITY, CAUCA DEPARTMENT) AND HONDURAS INDIGENOUS RESERVE (MORALES MUNICIPALITY) TARGET OF CRIMES

The below signed organisations denounce the grave situation that now confronts indigenous communities in the East and North of Cauca department.

In only two weeks three indigenous communities members have been murdered, and another is currently in grave condition in intensive care in a hospital in Cali. It is important to note the high level of militarization of the territories mentioned, which was further increased in the past two weeks.

As we denounced on 22nd October 2009, a threat arrived to the offices of CUT Valle and Nomadesc organisations, in Cali. Five organisations are mentioned in the threat five, including Cerro Tijeras indigenous reserve, and six individuals are also named. All of the organisations and individuals participate in the Minga of Social and Communitarian Resistance. The threat is signed by the ‘AGUILAS NEGRAS NUEVA GENERACION’ paramilitary group [Black Eagles – New Generation].

We would like to highlight that on October 16th the Minga of Social and Communitarian Resistance held a ‘Peoples’ Congress’ in which serious human rights violations against indigenous, campesino, afro-Colombian, student and popular sectors were denounced at national and international level.

Since the threats, the following events have taken place:

1. On October 29th 2009, MARLY CAROLINA HUILA GUAMANGA was murdered in the Damian area of Cerro Tijeras indigenous reserve, Suarez municipality, Cauca department.

2. On November 11th 2009, REINALDO BOMBA was murdered in Bella Vista area of Cerro Tijeras indigenous reserve.

3. On November 13th 2009, NILSON CAMPO was murdered and EGIDIO OVANDO HUILA was seriously inured in the Damian area of Cerro Tijeras indigenous reserve.

At 10pm on November 13, NILSON CAMPO and EGIDIO OVANDO HUILA were attacked by an unidentified group of armed men as they travelled on a motorbike. Both were members of the Cerro Tijeras indigenous community. According to information from the community, NELSON CAMPO was shot five times, receiving three impacts in the abdomen, one in the face and one in the ear. EGIDIO OVANDO HUILA was also shot five times and attacked with a machete. CAMPO was involved in community agriculture projects, and had previously been the treasurer in Honduras indigenous reserve authority in 2006.

All of these events have taken place late at night or very early in the morning. The perpetrators are seemingly paramilitary organisations who carry out their operations in military camouflage clothes with black armbands.

DEMANDS

We demand that immediate protection is provided to EGIDIO OVANDO HUILA, who remains in serious condition in hospital.

That the different armed groups respect the lives and rights of indigenous communities and the Colombian population in general.

That multinational companies respect the territory, autonomy and self-determination of communities.

That the Ministry of Interior and Justice takes sufficient preventative measures in order to prevent any aggression against threatened indigenous communities and social sectors.

That the state investigation organisms undertake a thorough investigation as soon as possible and as quickly as possible to clarify what is happening in the zone, and that they make the results public.

That the Colombian government and all other state institutions recognise the level of vulnerability of Colombian indigenous communities and social organisations, and complies with their constitutional duty and international legislation which requires them to protect human rights.

To the National Army that in their operations they strictly observe Human righrs legislation and International Humanitarian Law.

We all upon the United Nations, Human Rights organisations, social organisations, state institutions, NGOs, and international control organisms to speak out about what is happening to Cerro Tijeras community as soon as possible, and to accompany the threatened communities in their territories.

We request that international organisations from all over the world accompany indigenous communities and social organisations through permanently monitoring the human rights situation in Colombia and demanding compliance with national and international legislation which demands respect for communities and territory, and also support the Minga of Communitarian and Social Resistance in its demands.

Please direct your correspondence to the Colombian Embassy in your country.

If you are in Britain, you can direct your correspondence to the Colombian embassy at elondres@cancilleria.gov.co.

[also mail@colombianembassy.co.uk ]

NOTE: Please copy your emails to the following email addresses: accionjuridica.nomadesc@gmail.com, dhprohibidolvidar@yahoo.com





ASOCIACION NOMADESC, CORPORACION JURIDICA UTOPIA, CABILDO INDIGENA DE HONDURAS, CABILDO CERRO TIJERAS, ASOCIACIÓN PARA EL DESARROLLO SOCIAL INTEGRAL, ECATE, SINDICATO DE LOS TRABAJADORES UNIVERSITARIOS DE COLOMBIA SINTRAUNICOL, CORPORACION SERVICIOS PROFESIONALES COMUNITARIOS, SEMBRAR, RED DE HERMANDAD Y SOLIDARIDAD, CAMPAÑA NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL CONTRA LA PRIVATIZACIÓN, LA CORRUPCIÓN, LA PENALIZACIÓN DE LA PROTESTA SOCIAL Y LA IMPUNIDAD “PROHIBIDO OLVIDAR”.



VERSION ESPAÑOL

ACCION URGENTE

CONTINÚA GENOCIDIO CONTRA COMUNIDADES INDIGENAS: RESGUARDO CERRO TIJERAS DEL MUNICIPIO DE SUAREZ CAUCA Y RESGUARDO HODURAS DEL MUNICIPIO DE MORALES CAUCA BLANCO DE LOS CRIMENES

Las organizaciones abajo firmantes denunciamos la grave situación que afrontan las comunidades indígenas de la zona Occidente y Norte del Cauca. En tan solo dos semanas han sido asesinados tres indígenas y otro mas gravemente herido quien se encuentra en cuidados intensivos en la Clínica Valle de Lili de la ciudad Santiago de Cali. Es importante resaltar la alta y constante militarización del territorio. La cual aumento su pie de fuerza ostensiblemente en las dos ultimas semanas.

Como lo habíamos denunciado anteriormente el día 22 de octubre de 2009, llego una amenaza enviada desde el Municipio de Santander de Quilichao a las oficinas de la CUT VALLE y NOMADESC Cali. En esta amenaza se mencionan cinco organizaciones entre ellas el Resguardo Cerro Tijeras y seis personas con nombre propio de las organizaciones sociales pertenecientes a la Minga de Resistencia Social y Comunitaria que aparecen en la amenaza firmada por un grupo que se autodenomina “AGUILAS NEGRAS NUEVA GENERACION”

Resaltamos que la Minga de Resistencia social y comunitaria el pasado 16 de octubre sesiono en su precongreso itinerante y denuncio ante el país y el mundo las graves violaciones de derechos humanos de las que son objeto las comunidades indígenas, campesinas, populares, afro descendientes, estudiantiles y obreras en todo el país.

Dichas amenazas se han materializado de la siguiente manera:

El día 29 de Octubre de 2009 fue asesinada MARLY CAROLINA HUILA GUAMANGA, hechos sucedidos el la vereda Damián del Resguardo Cerro tijeras, Municipio de Suárez, Cauca.
El día 11 de noviembre de 2009 fue asesinado REINALDO BOMBA en la Vereda Bella Vista del Resguardo Cerro tijeras, Municipio de Suárez, Cauca.
El día 13 de Noviembre de 2009 fue asesinado NILSON CAMPO y herido de gravedad EGIDIO OVANDO HUILA, en el sitio denominado “El Tanque” ubicado en el Cerro Damián del Resguardo Cerro Tijeras, Municipio de Suárez, Cauca.

ULTIMOS HECHOS

El día 13 de noviembre de 2009, siendo las 10:00 p.m. fue asesinado NILSON CAMPO Comunero indígena del resguardo de Honduras y herido EGIDIO OVANDO HUILA, comunero indígena del Resguardo Cerro Tijeras, los dos se trasportaban en moto Zusuki Placas XJB 10A, cuando fueron atacados por un grupo armado que hasta el momento no ha sido identificado.

Los hechos sucedieron en el sitio denominado “El Tanque” ubicado en el Cerro Damián del Resguardo Cerro Tijeras, Municipio de Suárez, Cauca. Según información de la Comunidad NILSON CAMPO, recibió cinco tiros de arma de fuego y el herido además de cinco impactos de bala fue agredido a machete.

NILSON CAMPO, recibió cinco impactos tres impactos en el abdomen, otro en el pómulo derecho y otro en la oreja. El comunero indígena actualmente guardiaba el proyecto piscícola de de las asociación de Piscicultores indígenas ASPROINCA y había sido tesorero del Cabildo Honduras en el año 2006 y capitán del mismo en el año 2007.

Es importante anotar que los hechos han sucedido a altas horas de la noche o en la madrugada, los autores al parecer grupos paramilitares desarrollan sus operaciones vestidos de camuflado y con brazaletes negros.

EXIGENCIAS

Exigimos se brinde protección inmediata al comunero indígena del Resguardo Cerro Tijeras que se encuentra gravemente herido.

Exigimos a los diferentes actores armados respeto a la vida y derechos de las comunidades indígenas y del pueblo colombiano en general.

A las multinacionales respeto al territorio, autonomía y autodeterminación de los pueblos.

Al Ministerio del Interior y de Justicia, brindar los mecanismos de prevención suficientes y necesarios para frenar cualquier hecho que atente contra la integridad de las comunidades indígenas y sectores sociales amenazados.

A los Organismos de Investigación del Estado efectuar de manera oportuna las investigaciones necesarias para esclarecer los hechos en el menor tiempo posible y mostrar públicamente sus resultados.

Al Gobierno Nacional al Estado y a todas las instituciones, a reconocer el nivel de vulnerabilidad de las comunidades indígenas de Colombia y organizaciones sociales y cumplir con los mandatos constitucionales y normas nacionales e internacionales de protección a los derechos humanos.

Al Ejército Nacional que en el desarrollo de sus operaciones observe el estricto cumplimiento de las normas de Derechos Humanos y de DIH.

A todas las instituciones del estado dar cumplimiento a los Autos 004 del 26 de enero de 2009 y 005 de 2009, en los cuales se ordena la protección de los derechos fundamentales de las personas, pueblos indígenas y comunidades afrodescendientes desplazadas por el conflicto armado o en riesgo de desplazamiento.

Convocamos al Sistema de Naciones Unidas, organismos de Derechos Humanos, a las organizaciones Sociales, Instituciones del Estado, ONGs Internacionales organismos de control pronunciarse a la mayor brevedad y acompañar en los territorios a las comunidades amenazadas y en peligro de ser exterminadas.

Solicitamos a las organizaciones internacionales en todo el mundo acompañar a las comunidades indígenas y organizaciones sociales mediante una veeduría permanente de la situación de derechos humanos exigiendo el cumplimiento de normas nacionales e internacionales de respeto, a las comunidades y su territorio. Así mismo acompañar a la Minga de resistencia social y comunitaria en sus exigencias.

Sus pronunciamientos los puede enviar a:

ALVARO URIBE VELEZ
Presidente de la República
Carrera 8 No. 7 -26 Palacio de Nariño Bogotá
Fax. 5662071

FRANCISCO SANTOS
Vicepresidente de la República
Carrera 8 No.7-57 Bogotá D.C.
fsantos@presidencia.gov.co

Ministro de la Defensa (E)
Avenida El dorado con carrera 52 CAN Bogotá D.C.
siden@mindefensa.gov.co
infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co
mdn@cable.net.co

FABIO VALENCIA COSSIO
Ministro del Interior y de Justicia
Avenida El dorado con carrera 52 CAN Bogotá D.C.
Fax. 2221874
ministro@minjusticia.gov.co

Fiscal General de la Nación
Diagonal 22B No. 52-01 Bogotá D.C.
Fax. 570 20 00
contacto@fiscalia.gov.co
denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co

WOLMAR ANTONIO PEREZ ORTIZ
Defensor del Pueblo
Calle 55 No. 10 – 32 Bogotá D.C.
Fax. 640 04 91
defensoria@defensoria.org.co
secretaria_privada@hotmail.com

ALEJANDRO ORDÓÑEZ
Procurador General de la Nación
Cra. 5 No.15 – 80F Bogotá D.C.
anticorrupción@presidencia.gov.co
reygon@procuraduría.gov.co

Tories trying to push through CCFTA: Interview with Dawn Paley

Interview by Redeye Radio, Vancouver

Re-published on Rabble.ca November 2, 2009

Check out this 15 minute audio interview with journalist Dawn Paley on the Canada-Colombia FTA on Redeye Radio.

Listen to the interview on Rabble.ca:
http://www.rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye/2009/11/tories-trying-push-through-canada-colombia-fta

**

Show Notes:

A bill to implement Canada's free trade agreement with Colombia is on the order paper for this session of Parliament. Activists believe the bill can be defeated.

We spoke with independent journalist Dawn Paley on October 10, nine days before the bill would be debated in the House.

To find out more about Redeye, check out our website.

URGENT ACTION on the CCFTA

Hello readers,

Please find below the text of the latest action alert put out by the Council of Canadians. It remains urgent that people in Canada voice their opposition to the Canada-Colombia FTA, as the agreement is moving through parliament and back to the committee phase. We have to stall this as long as possible.

With the possible calling of an election, C-23 (the implementing legislation of the CCFTA) will die.

This has to happen, and it can happen if parliamentarians remain aware of the importance of this issue to Canadians.

The conservative government is doing all it can to support the murderous regime of Uribe. The NDP and the Bloc Quebecois have done outstanding work from within parliament to stop it. Outside parliament, pressure must be kept up. Please participate in this action. It should only take a few minutes of your time, and it is extremely important.

La Chiva

The Council of Canadians message follows...

Dear chapters,

About a week ago we told you about Scott Brison’s statements in the House of Commons suggesting that paramilitary violence in Colombia was a thing of the past, and that the Liberals should no longer be concerned about passing Bill C-23 – ratification legislation for the Canada–Colombia Free Trade Agreement and related environmental and labour side agreements. Today, Council of Canadians Chairperson Maude Barlow wrote to Brison, Liberal trade critic, urging him to retract those statements and to adhere to his earlier statement from May 25, calling for “a full independent human rights assessment, as recommended by the committee… before we vote again on Bill C‐23.”

PROGRESS TO CANADA-COLOMBIA FTA

As mentioned in a news update earlier this week, Bill C-23 is still moving slowly through Parliament on its way to a second vote in the House of Commons, which would send the free trade agreement to the international trade committee for further study. An NDP sub-amendment to a Bloc amendment failed to pass this week, and MPs are still debating a Bloc amendment that would defeat the FTA on the grounds that democratic process was not followed (Harper rushed C-23 into the House of Commons while the international trade committee was still studying it).

From what we’ve heard, the Liberals are not entirely comfortable supporting the FTA with Colombia because of the human rights implications and ongoing violence, some of it linked to paramilitary groups with ties to President Uribe’s security forces. The ongoing investigation into Uribe’s spying on human rights groups, as well as his public campaign against the Supreme Court and proposed constitutional reforms that would remove a “parapolitics” investigation from its jurisdiction are also not endearing the Colombian government to Canadian MPs.

But even pro-FTA Liberals such as Bob Rae are committed to further studying bill C-23 if or when it reaches the international trade committee. It’s absolutely crucial they keep their word to hold an independent human rights impact assessment.

TAKE ACTION – Demand Brison retract his false statements!

Send the following letter or a version of it to Liberal Trade Critic Scott Brison at BrisoS@parl.gc.ca.

Make sure you CC your own MP and other key Liberals, including:
Michael Ignatieff (IgnatM@parl.gc.ca); Bob Rae (RaeB@parl.gc.ca); Marina Minna (MinnaM@parl.gc.ca); John Cannis (CanniJ@parl.gc.ca); Mario Silva (SilvaM@parl.gc.ca), and; Irwin Cotler (CotleI@parl.gc.ca).

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear MP Brison:

I am writing to demand you retract your statements in the House of Commons from September 30, 2009 regarding paramilitary violence in Colombia. It was completely irresponsible to suggest that: “To say that paramilitary forces are murdering union leaders today is false, because everybody who has been studying the issue recognizes that the paramilitary forces have been disbanded...”

A recent report from Amnesty International found that paramilitary groups remain active, despite Colombian government claims that they have demobilized through a government‐sponsored process that began in 2003. “Paramilitaries continued to kill civilians and to commit other human rights violations, sometimes with the support or acquiescence of the security forces,” says the Amnesty report.

A 2008 Human Rights Watch report called “Breaking the Grip: Obstacles to Justice for Paramilitary Mafias in Colombia” also states that “the administration of President Álvaro Uribe is squandering much of the opportunity to truly dismantle paramilitaries’ mafias. While there has been progress in some areas, some of the administration’s actions are undermining the investigations that have the best chance of making a difference.”

Human Rights Watch states in its report that the Uribe government:

- Repeatedly launched public personal attacks on the Supreme Court and its members in what increasingly looks like a concerted campaign to smear and discredit the Court;

- Opposed and effectively blocked meaningful efforts to reform the Congress to eliminate paramilitary influence;

- Proposed constitutional reforms that would remove the investigations into the links between paramilitary groups and the Uribe government from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

In the past 12 months, 27 trade unionists and 77 Indigenous leaders have been murdered in Colombia. The vast majority, if not all these murders, have been carried out either by government security forces or the paramilitaries. How can you deny these facts simply to support the Conservative government’s efforts to fast-track a free trade agreement with Colombia?

Mr. Brison, retract your September 30 statement and adhere to your May 25, 2009 call in Parliament for “a full independent human rights assessment, as recommended by the committee… before we vote again on Bill C‐23.” It is the only responsible action to take – action many Canadians would expect of a party that prides itself on its support for human rights. Sincerely,

[Your name]

RECALCA: On the territorial minga de pensamiento, Toez, Cauca

Colombian Action Network in Response to ‘Free Trade’, RECALCA

Webpage: www.recalca.org.co

Email: recalca@etb.net.co

Indigenous Territory of Toez - Caloto, 29 September, 2009

ON THE TERRITORIAL MINGA OF THOUGHT: ECONOMY-ENVIRONMENT

Between the 28^th and 30^th of September, hundreds of indigenous peoples from the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN), Colombia, met to debate the environmental, territorial and economic situation in Latin America, Colombia, and in their own communities. RECALCA, as a participating organization in this process, gave the following declaration at the event:

The superpowers of the world, especially the United States, the European Union and Canada, the same that have tried to sign ‘free trade agreements’ with Colombia, have found themselves struggling for control over the exploitation of natural resources and biodiversity wherever it is found.

The advance of infrastructure megaprojects – dams, highways, telecommunications projects, mining, and fossil and agro-fuels – occurs quickly and voraciously through the activities of transnational corporations with the support of governments at the service of private interests. This occurs against the sovereignty and autonomy of countries and communities, the true owners of these territories.

The pace has quickened over the past 20 years, robbing countries and generating misery, hunger and poverty for the majority of the inhabitants of Latin America. In Colombia, the situation is extreme: 4 million internally displaced, 4 million Colombians forced to leave the country, 22 million living in poverty and 8 million homeless.

If that weren’t enough, the government of Álvaro Uribe Vélez has signed ‘Free Trade Agreements’, at the behest of companies from these countries, to ensure control over natural resources, food and inexpensive labour. This project goes against indigenous, Afro-descendent and peasant communities, workers in the fields and in the cities, students, women, average citizens and national companies. It is a project of re-colonization, not unlike that from which all of the Americas suffered during the Spanish colonization.

The Cauca Department, and especially its indigenous territories, is one of the primary targets of the FTAs and the transnational corporations. In these territories, there is an abundance of resources: water, arable land for agriculture, rich biodiversity, coal, gold and other minerals.

The principal priority of the government of Álvaro Uribe Vélez, as demonstrated by its actions over the last 7 years, is to hand this territory over on a silver platter to foreign capital through policies such as ‘Investor Confidence’ and ‘Democratic Security’. Feigning to minimize the effects of the armed conflict, the government has increased its military presence in the region, repressing all expressions of social organization and resistance to neoliberalism and, in so doing, opening the way for the penetration of big extractive and agro-fuel companies.

The submission of the government of Uribe Vélez to the interests of Empire pushes forward the destruction of democracy and national institutions, stigmatizing and persecuting critics of his policies. Moreover, he is perpetuating his power in order to continue this project, which successively diminishes national sovereignty to the point that he is willing to give 7 military bases to the United States, so they can continue their intervention in Colombia and expand into other South American countries.

The only way out for indigenous, Afro-Colombian and peasant communities in Cauca is to strengthen their resistance against this model, defending their ‘life projects’ within their territories and without falling into appeasements meant to ruin us. An important example of this is that – through resistance – the Social and Community Minga has enjoyed important victories with its 5-point agenda. Through this agenda, the Rural Development Statute came down, and not a single FTA negotiated by the government has been ratified.

What is required is an expansion of the unity of all democratic sectors in Colombia and Latin America, an unavoidable precondition for reversing neoliberalism and the recuperation of sovereignty. May the project at the service of all triumph.

* RECALCA brings together the 53 most important social and worker organizations in Colombia to coordinate strategies of education, information and mobilization against the Free Trade Agreements pushed forward by the national government.

Liberals vote with Conservatives against NDP amendment to Colombia FTA

By Stuart Trew
http://www.canadians.org/tradeblog/?p=428

Debate on the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and attached environmental and labour side-agreements, is drawing to a conclusion in the House of Commons. Tonight, Liberal and Conservative MPs voted against an NDP sub-amendment to a Bloc amendment, both of which would stop the FTA from going to second reading, essentially killing the agreement.

The government motion is as follows:

That Bill C-23, An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Republic of Colombia, the Agreement on the Environment between Canada and the Republic of Colombia and the Agreement on Labour Cooperation between Canada and the Republic of Colombia, be now read a second time and referred to the Standing Committee on International Trade

The Bloc amendment, brought by Bloc MPs Cardin (Sherbrooke) and Ménard (Hochelaga), suggests:

the House decline to give second reading to Bill C-23, An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Republic of Colombia, the Agreement on the Environment between Canada and the Republic of Colombia and the Agreement on Labour Cooperation between Canada and the Republic of Colombia, because the government concluded this agreement while the Standing Committee on International Trade was considering the matter, thereby demonstrating its disrespect for democratic institutions

Finally, the NDP sub-amendment, brought by NDP MPs Crowder (Nanaimo-Cowichan) and Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster), which was voted down tonight by the Liberals and Conservatives (74 yeas to 194 nays), says the following:

That the amendment be amended by adding after the word “matter” the following: “, including having heard vocal opposition to the accord from human rights organizations.”

With the NDP sub-amendment off the floor, MPs will now be given a chance to debate the Bloc amendment, which mostly has the effect of stalling the legislation before the 2nd reading vote, which would send it to committee.

The vote against the NDP sub-amendment tonight cannot be seen as a defeat. Without such strong civil society opposition to Canada signing the FTA with the corrupt regime of Alvaro Uribe, the agreement would be law by now. Even the Liberals are saying they will work during committee, after 2nd reading, to stall the deal.

Big congratulations to the NDP (Peter Julian in particular) and Bloc Quebecois (thank you Serge Cardin) for their efforts to stop this dangerous and useless free trade pact with Colombia. It can and will happen if we keep the pressure on.

For a comprehensive update on Colombia — government spying on rights groups, ongoing paramilitary violence, and Liberals Scott Brison and Bob Rae’s summer vacation — see the article “Where will you stand on the Canada-Colombia FTA?” by Micheál Ó Tuathail, 30 September 2009.

Stuart Trew is Trade Campaigner at the Council of Canadians.

Where will you stand on the Canada-Colombia FTA?

By Micheál Ó Tuathail, 30 September 2009

I spent a good part of the other week watching the performances of Liberals and Conservatives in the Canadian House of Commons as they debated Bill C-23, implementing legislation of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA). With a looming election, one might have expected some attempt to meaningfully distinguish the parties from one another, even on an issue as contentious as supporting a regime engaged in genocide against its own people.

What I saw was Liberals and Conservatives joining forces to defend the regime in Colombia against its critics within the NDP and Bloc Quebecois, knowing that with passage of the CCFTA in Canada, Colombia’s other stalled FTAs with the United States, Norway and other countries would come under pressure to be passed as well. The bill, once removed from the government’s agenda in the spring because of widespread public opposition, returned as the top priority of the Harper government when Parliament resumed in the fall session in September.

As the debate dragged on, the government downgraded the bill’s priority, resulting in a short but uneasy calm for those of us fighting this legislation. Some of the most passionate speeches in support of the Uribe regime came from the Conservative government, as one would expect. It’s their bill. But, on the whole, the Liberal performance was not much different.

Two Liberal MPs, in particular, Bob Rae and Scott Brison, showed themselves to be true cheerleaders of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez and the 'free trade' dogma. Both are members of the International Trade Committee and recently returned from a four-day trip to Colombia at the end of August.

The important thing is not so much their visit, which appears to have been heavily orchestrated by those who typically orchestrate such things, but their reaction in the House and ignorance of what was going on around them. Either they are incredibly naïve, or they willingly overlook the facts on the ground. I think the latter to be much more plausible; their staff must read the Colombian papers, or at least the countless letters sent to Liberal MPs over the past several months.

In any case, the points below are a few things Liberal and Conservative MPs in Canada should know about, if they are doing as much of their homework as they say they are. Canadians should know this, too.

Another Massacre Against the Awá

Mr. Speaker, this debate should not be about ideology, it should be about people: the people of Colombia whose lives have been ripped apart and turned upside down by civil war and narcopolitics. – Liberal MP Scott Brison’s speech from the House floor

In the early morning of 26 August, armed men in camouflage broke into a home in El Rosario, Nariño, shooting and killing 11 indigenous Awá, including four children and three adolescents. A few days earlier, Gonzalo Rodríguez was murdered; his wife was among those murdered on the 26th.

Conservatives and Liberals have often quoted Human Rights Watch, so here is what José Miguel Vivanco, HRW's Americas Director, had to say about it: “Initial reports suggest that members of the [Colombian] Army may have massacred these people, with the purpose of eliminating and intimidating witnesses of atrocities.”

The Awá were also attacked this past February by the FARC, who later admitted to carrying out the massacre of 11 people, while the Awa reported the murder of 38. The response from the Colombian government since then has not been to provide justice but to continue with attacks of its own.

As the Communications Network of the indigenous of Northern Cauca highlighted in an excellent analysis of the February massacre, the militarization and attacks on the Awa in Nariño have everything to do with megaprojects planned for the region, one where multinationals see resources for export and not the people who live there. Massive infrastructure projects, like the IRSA and national projects, constitute the open veins through with the continued pillage of Latin America through 'free trade' is intended to flow.

The ‘Three-Letter Cartel’: Recent Revelations about Colombia’s Secret Police

Colombia has made real economic, social and security progress in recent years, but it is a fragile progress, under the constant threat of FARC terrorists, drug gangsters and hostile attacks from the Chavez regime in Venezuela. – Scott Brison’s speech from the House floor

On September 6, Colombian television networks broadcast an interview with Rafael García, a former Information Director of the Colombian secret service, best known by its Spanish acronym, DAS. It has more recently become known by what its own insiders have called it, the ‘three-letter cartel.’

Mr. García, currently in hiding abroad, revealed that the DAS has been directly involved in the trafficking of narcotics. In his own words (my translation):

[Former DAS Director] Jorge Noguera travelled to Mexico as part of his job as DAS Director. In reality, this trip (which was official and paid for by the Colombian government) was intended to establish alliances with the narco-trafficking organization of the Beltrán Leiva brothers. He did it, which meant that speed boats filled with drugs would be received in Mexico by that organization, which in turn was responsible for transporting the drugs to the states of the East Coast of the US.

Jorge Noguera, DAS Director from Uribe’s inauguration in 2002 until October 2005, is currently being investigated for numerous crimes, including murder. He is accused of passing ‘intelligence’ on trade unionists and academics to paramilitaries, who later murdered these people. When the paramilitary-DAS scandal broke in October 2005, Uribe shipped Noguera off to Italy as Colombian Consul in Milan, like a delicate piece of dirty laundry.

The DAS has also been under major criticism for illegally spying on members of the Supreme Court, human rights activists and political opponents of Uribe. García’s testimony also confirms previous reports that a DAS-paramilitary alliance was involved in a plot against the government of Venezuela.

As a recent report in the New York Times notes, over the last 5 decades, Colombian presidents have empowered the DAS to work under the sole direction of the president, who appoints all high-level officials at the agency. Mr. Uribe is thus not only aware of but also directly responsible for their actions, as they report to him alone.

Such is this reality that Mr. Uribe has reacted by announcing that he will suddenly dissolve the DAS after over 5 decades of existence and replace it with a new agency. In accordance with the style of Uribe, this unprecedented measure is intended to cover-up the president's role in crimes for which he will one day be judged.

I asked Colombian opposition Senator Jorge Enrique Robledo what he thought of the DAS scandal. He responded with the obvious question, “well, what would have been the reaction in Canada if [CSIS] had been dismantled over a scandal that implicated Harper in similar crimes?”

The above revelations make Brison's comments all the more peculiar. Is he really that ignorant of events that took place in Colombia around the same time has his visit?

Baseless Lies become Threats for Export

Watching the debates on the House floor, I was astounded as many Liberal and Conservative members alike demanding that members opposed to Bill C-23, such as NDP MP Peter Julian, apologize for presenting information on the connections between Mr. Uribe and paramilitary death squads and drug lords in Colombia.

That’s right, they demanded an apology.

When Uribe came to Canada with baseless claims that people in Canada working against the CCFTA were 'foreign ambassadors' of the FARC guerrilla, classified by Canada as a terrorist organization, proponents of the CCFTA, including the Canadian Prime Minister, said nothing apart from that the deal had to be passed.

The FARC-Canada allegations came from a 'news' story broadcast by Colombian network RCN. The mainstream press in Colombia frequently uses these tactics to single out individuals opposed to the regime, people who are then persecuted and in some cases murdered by legal or illegal armed groups.

That same story was irresponsibly re-published in the Canadian press.

Sure enough, the allegations were revealed to be completely false, as those named as FARC’s 'foreign ambassadors' supposedly working with 'left political parties' and 'human rights organizations' in Canada had never left Colombia. The lies of the regime also singled out Vancouver, Quebec and Toronto as hosting the 'offices' of the FARC in Canada. Those places are also where there has been much peaceful mobilization and activity against FTA.

Discrediting opposition with baseless lies is Uribe's calling card, and the Lib-servative alliance bent on passing the FTA did nothing to stand up for Canadians engaged in an honest debate on an issue that matters to them. There were no demands for an apology there.

Is it acceptable that a foreign president up to his ears in scandals for direct links between his secret service and narco-paramilitaries and the murder of innocent people is able to come to Canada and call citizens 'terrorists' without a shred of proof?

Canada Turns a Blind Eye

Oh, and there is also the so-called 'false positives' issue, the Uribe's bribery of Congressmembers to have the constitution amended so he could run again (the first time, that's his current mandate!), and the scandal surrounding the use of the Red Cross emblem in the 'rescue' of former FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt, a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

But the ignorance of the above points in the House of Parliament is driven by an ideological fervour for the advancement of neoliberalism in Colombia, Canada and around the globe. Massacre, corruption, drug-trafficking and the silencing of opponents is what is being supported by the Canadian government (and the Liberal Party that props it up) as long as it ignores the realities lived by people in Canada and Colombia alike.

Let's stop pretending that Colombia needs an FTA to resolve its problems. Of this there is not a single proof. Let’s stop pretending Canadian multinationals somehow do not also benefit from the forced displacement of millions of Colombians through violence and terror. Let's also stop pretending that Colombia's problems are Colombia's alone. Let's stop assuming that this is just about human rights violations in Colombia. Something is broken in Canada!

With a looming election, now is the time for the Liberal Party to step up to its own rhetoric. I hope the Liberal Caucus in particular is capable of seeing past the lies and misinformation of the Colombian government and those interests that see only resources and not the wellbeing people. So far, it hasn't.

I hope they come to realize the ignorance of their Trade Critic and resist his whip the next time Bill C-23 comes into the house for debate. If the likes of Brison and Rae are incapable of even reading the news in Colombia, what authority do they have to defend the regime as they do, to make the decisions they do?

I trust that there are several Liberal MPs who are strongly unnerved by the direction of the party on this and many other issues as their party has shifted further to the right. I hope they will speak out.

The people have owners, and an FTA means we’ll have a hard time doing anything about that if we ever decide we want to act collectively. The pressure must be kept up. In opposing the CCFTA, we as Canadians have nothing to gain but a bit of our own dignity and the knowledge that we did not stand by in silence while the Canadian government once again aligned itself with murderers and sold us out to thieves.

Where will you stand?

I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!

Jorge Enrique Robledo
Senator of the Polo Democrático Alternativo, Colombia
Mingas-FTA

The Prosecutor General of Colombia , Alejandro Ordóñez, has decided to conduct a preliminary investigation against me "for alleged ties with illegal groups". The reason? His office received a request from the National Police because, according to them, my name appears in the computer of slain guerrilla leader Raul Reyes, a computer that's been in the hands of the government for 15 months!

With a completely clear conscience I will respond to any accusations made against me. At the same time, I emphatically reject, with outrage, what my personal convictions lead me to believe is a sinister conspiracy against me by the government of Alvaro Uribe Velez -- a government in which high-ranking officials in the Executive branch, directors of the Administrative Department of Security and drug traffickers have gone so far as to plot against the Colombian Supreme Court.

My almost three decades as a full time professor at the National University of Colombia and forty years of public service allow anyone who wishes, to verify that I have been absolutely faithful to the principles of MOIR, an organization that has always rejected armed struggle and kidnapping. And it's well known that I would not have joined the Polo Democrático Alternativo if they had not written these principles of nonviolence into their program. Anyone who would say otherwise is a shameless liar.

It's obvious that they are attacking me because of my uncompromising opposition to the economic, political and social policies of the Uribe regime, as well as my criticism of his subservience to the dictates of the White House, of policies that leave Colombians unemployed and hungry, of the surrender of our natural resources and privatizations, of the destruction of our agricultural sector, of the presidential cover up to protect pro-Uribe Congress members and government officials who have ties with the death squads, of the immorality of the Justice Minister, of the shady and illegal business dealings of the president's sons and of his plan to impose a tyranny (by changing the Constitution to allow himself to run for a third term).

It's not a coincidence that this slanderous accusation, aimed at discrediting me, is launched as Alvaro Uribe struggles to get a Free Trade Agreement passed in Canada, a country where a version of my denunciation of the shady business dealings of the president's sons is circulating and in whose parliament I explained a short time ago, to the international trade commission, why the FTA agreement should not be ratified.

How proud I feel for not having supported the appointment of the current Prosecutor General of Colombia.

As the true nature of Uribe's government is increasingly exposed both within Colombia and abroad, Uribe and his supporters are obviously becoming more and more desperate. So it's not surprising that they are stepping up their attacks on the Polo Democrático Alternativo and trying to silence our party's leaders and, along with them, all the other groups and individuals who are resisting.

President Alvaro Uribe Velez should understand one thing: that this senator, who with dedication and integrity is committed to defending our national dignity and true democracy, will not be silenced by the threat of his attacks. And I am convinced that those who, from other political positions, are also opposed to this disgraceful regime, will not be silenced either.

Bogotá, June 11, 2009

Calling for an Anti-Protectionist Strategy to Go with Rhetoric

By Michelle Collins
June 17, 2009
Embassy Magazine

MONTREAL—Gone was the talk of promoting human rights, providing opportunities for prosperity and, as a result, the strengthening of democracy and stability in a wartorn land. Instead, during a press conference with visiting Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in Ottawa last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper took a different tack in spelling out why Parliament needed to pass the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement.

"I call on Parliament to pass this free trade agreement and send a clear message from Canada against protectionism," Mr. Harper said as his Latin American counterpart looked on. "It is the right thing to do for Canada, to do for Colombia and the right thing to do for the global economy."

Protectionism has quickly become the negative buzzword of the financial crisis, especially, it seems, in Canada. Exactly how big a threat protectionist policies are for a recovery depends on who one asks, but most agree that Canada's best defence is to have a good offence, including a real plan of action, which—rhetoric aside—has been largely absent.

With so much unknown when it comes to the current crisis, most experts refer back to the Great Depression of the 1930s to point out how protectionist policies implemented by great powers such as the United States and Great Britain exacerbated the tough times.

Though hesitant to say the world, and the United States in particular, has again followed such a path, experts say the edge of the cliff is not far off.

At the Economic Forum of the Americas in Montreal last week—a small-scale model of the Davos conference usually dominated by grand talk of growing economies and burgeoning markets in the developing world—great minds gathered to comment on the current state of affairs, and make cautious predictions for the future.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick avoided panic by describing the rate of protectionism he's seen as only a "low-grade fever" for now. Former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright, however, was more pessimistic in her assessment and warned that protectionism could lead to "an economic Armageddon."

In Montreal, the protectionism theme carried the conference, with most agreeing that nothing good could come of it. Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Bank of the Americas, followed the view that much of Latin America's wealth depends a great deal on the success of free trade agreements there, declaring that Latin American countries will "trade their way out of the recession."

Meanwhile, Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day has also been warning against protectionist activity in every speech he makes.

"When protectionist walls get built up, economies come down," Mr. Day declared in Montreal. "We are sending out a signal, first of all, for our own interest, because we believe this will advance our interests, but also as a signal to the rest of the global community that we do profoundly believe one of the ways to move through this time of downturn is to open up these doors."

But as the world economy has become increasingly integrated and complex, closing a nation's "doors" to trade has become just one method of protectionism.

"Protectionism can take many forms," said Danielle Goldfarb, associate director of the International Trade and Investment Centre at the Conference Board of Canada. "We're even seeing that it's difficult to separate the actual protectionist action versus protectionist rhetoric, and there's a range of things that one could use that could protect domestic industry from outside competition."

Indeed, Canada is already feeling the impact of these various forms of protectionism taking hold in the U.S., said Jayson Myers, president of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

The "Buy American" provisions slipped into America's massive stimulus bill has become but one hurdle for Canadian businesses to jump, Mr. Myers said, warning that such local-content requirements will show up in even more U.S. legislation.

"Governments have become more creative, so they've created other barriers to trade in goods, services and investment often now in the forms of policies like Buy American, buy local," said Debra Steger, a law professor at the University of Ottawa. "Sometimes product standards, even other standards on goods, can be a barrier to trade if the standard is applied differently to domestic production than to other countries. [Protectionism] has been around for a long time; I guess what has changed is the form it takes."

Exactly what the Canadian government is doing to make up for the effects of protectionism has also become somewhat tricky to follow, experts say. While the government's outspoken interest in quickly finalizing trade agreements with countries such as Colombia is not without economic merit, the experts agree that Canada's time and energy is better spent resolving problems with the U.S.

"I think those are less important, quite frankly," Ms. Steger said of the trade agreements Canada is pursuing in Latin America. "We're not doing those so much for trade as we are for political reasons. If you take a purely trade and economic perspective in terms of what's in it for us and our own economy, our own economic well-being, I would say focus on eliminating the problems with the U.S. relationship and get down to negotiating this big bold agreement with the EU."

Most encouraging up till now, say experts, is that Canada's provinces have signalled they are interested in opening their public procurement tenders to foreign investors, particularly the U.S., but they urge the federal government to more aggressively pick up the lead.

"I think we need a strategy here, we need a very clear strategy with the provinces on board, one that goes beyond the short-term," Mr. Myers said. "What's our strategy to keep our markets open? That's going to require a lot of political courage as well as support from the provinces."

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities recently passed its own resolution on local-content requirements, but experts say that such retaliatory protectionist measures will do more harm than good, suggesting a more comprehensive plan needs to be formed.

"It seems like there's some defensive actions taking place. What works better is to be more pro-active and put in a better framework, not just fighting every protectionist action taken," Ms. Goldfarb said.

Life and Dignity Ceremony

On June 2, 2009, we published a note that was a call for ceremonies to stop the Canada-Colombia FTA. It was initiated by several friends of ours in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where a group of students has engaged with this struggle and the process of weaving solidarity among the peoples in minga -- a minga of the peoples without owners.

While much of the efforts of civil society groups and organizations opposing this agreement has focused on the parliamentary/institutional arena, and there is no doubt that this is an important focal point in stopping these FTAs, it is equally important to recognize the other ways in which these death projects can be, and often are, confronted.

On June 10, 2009, a criminal from Colombia came to meet with his fellow criminals in Canada. The governments representing no one but the interests of transnationals, the agents of the death project, met amidst smiles, handshakes and what must have been countless conversations behind closed doors. The time taken to address the public was used to repeat and discuss baseless claims aimed at stigmatizing those of us who still believe in the defense of life... all life.

But in 5 places across Colombia, in Sault Ste. Marie, and in the hearts of those of us who journey with friends and companions we may not have even met (yet), another incredibly special encounter was taking place. With coca and tobacco, the condor and the eagle came together, transforming pain into the joining of spirits in common struggle.

We leave you with a message from our friends in Sault Ste. Marie, a report on the ceremony which speaks for itself.

La Chiva

- -

Hello La Chiva friends,

We had about 35 people attend the ceremony on campus. This may sound like few, but our campus is very tiny, and everyone is gone for the summer, and there was another event going on that day too. So we were quite thrilled with the turnout.

The ceremony was extra special because the woman that was originally scheduled to conduct the ceremony was unable to attend at the last minute.... so a friend of ours conducted the ceremony for us. This friend missed his flight that morning, and we figure this was why.. he was meant to be with us on this day. At the ceremony I spoke about Peru, and the CCFTA and what it would mean if it was ratified. A friend reminded us all, that this is not just a Canada-Colombia problem, and it's not just an indigenous problem... but a world problem. Whatever we do, effects everyone else.

During the sacred fire ceremony we put down tobacco in the fire, and asked the Eagle to take our prayers to the Creator, remembering that in Colombia at that exact moment, they were putting down their coca and asking the Condor to take their prayers to the Creator.... a spiritual minga... our spirits and ancestors joined for a common goal.

After the sacred fire we conducted another ceremony at a historic site on the ShingwaukKinoomage Gamig campus; the site of the residential school. Our posters for the ceremony had a tree with no leaves. At this ceremony we planted three lilac trees, representing Canada, Colombia and the US; the 3 countries that were called to ceremony. It was a community event with many generations in attendance. The water that we had with us at the sacred fire ceremony was used to water the seedlings as they were planted. During the ceremony the people were each given a fabric 'leaf' to put their thoughts of solidarity into. After the trees were planted, people were encouraged to write those thoughts onto their 'leaf'. These leaves were then tied onto string that connected all the trees together.

We now have a lasting, and beautiful, reminder of this ceremony, this struggle, this spiritual minga.

It is also our hope that these trees with their messages of solidarity, generate curiosity and bring greater attention to the work that needs to be done.

After the ceremonies were complete we gathered in the Anishinaabek students lounge and shared a feast.

The local newspaper, the Sault Star was on hand. The caption read: "A.N. digs a hole for one of three lilac trees planted Wednesday on Algoma University grounds, while M.B. 5, walks past one of several symbolic flags tied to a string as part of an International Day of Ceremony held by Fair Trade Algoma. The event coincided with meetings in Canada between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who is promoting a free trade deal between the countries which was signed in the fall, but not yet ratified. Ceremonies, called for by the local fair trade group, were held across Canada, Colombia and the US in solidarity with Colombia's indigenous people."

Miigwech.

J, R, S, E, A, & S

RECALCA: URIBE IS DESTROYING DEMOCRACY TO GET RE-ELECTED

By RECALCA (Colombian Action Network in Response to Free Trade)
Bogotá, June 11, 2009

We send out this alert to the international community, to governments and parliaments around the world, to unions, social movements and human rights organizations to call attention to the dangerous situation we are experiencing in Colombia. The government of Alvaro Uribe has systematically increased its attacks on the country's legitimate institutions and against anyone who questions him or promotes, through democratic and peaceful means, political alternatives to his policies.

The assault on democracy is carried out in the following ways:

· Attacks on the judicial system. Members of the Court have been systematically spied on and slandered, and their decisions disregarded. These abuses required the presence, in Colombia, of a UN Special Rapporteur on Judicial Independence and another UN official to investigate Extrajudicial Executions, a well documented State crime.

· The persecution of social activists. The government accuses them irresponsibly and without providing any evidence, of being members of illegal armed organizations. One tactic, which President Uribe used during his recent visit to Canada, is to threaten to jail individuals with the help of other governments.

· The persecution of prominent opposition leaders in the Colombian Congress such as Senator Jorge Enrique Robledo, Congress Members Piedad Córdoba, Wilson Borja, Gloria Inés Ramírez and Bogotá City Councilman Jaime Caicedo, against whom the Office of the Prosecutor General --an institution controlled directly by the President-- has opened investigations, based on alleged evidence of links to illegal groups. The Justice system is manipulated yet again to persecute serious, respected, and legitimate opposition leaders, and to thwart democracy by criminalizing political opposition.

· The threat of calling a Constitutional Assembly to close Congress if the referendum that will allow the president to seek re-election after 2 consecutive 4-year terms does not pass.

· The persecution of important and well known Indigenous leaders, such as Feliciano Valencia, Aida Quilqué and Daniel Piñacué, against whom arrest warrants have been issued, ignoring and disrespecting the indigenous jurisdiction clearly established in the Colombian Constitution.

· The increase in attacks against and murders of Colombian labor leaders, for which the ILO (International Labor Organization) has again included Colombia on the watchdog list of the Committee on the Application of Standards, while the International Trade Union Confederation has confirmed that more than half of the 76 union leaders murdered in the whole world in 2008 happened in Colombia.

The scandals that surround the Uribe government grow by the day. Prominent examples are the established links between high ranking members of the government and vigilante death squads, and the wire tapping of Court and opposition phones as part of a systematic plan to track their movements. Other examples are the occurrence of extrajudicial executions and the pressure on Congress to get Uribe’s second re-election approved.

Lately the situation has worsened. President Alvaro Uribe has attempted to lay a smokescreen to fool the international community, taking a number of trips abroad and pulling out all the stops to try to get harmful trade treaties ratified. He looks for international support by sacrificing national interests, accepts any type of onerous condition and distracts people's attention away from the true nature of his government, accusing anybody who opposes him of supporting terrorist acts, accusations which persist even though terrorist acts have been roundly condemned not only by the Indigenous and social movements but also by the democratic left, which the government stigmatizes and persecutes.

We call on all governments and people around the world to manifest their solidarity with the Colombian people who have suffered seven years of attacks on their democracy by Alvaro Uribe Velez. The repressive measures taken by the government --intended to close down the democratic process and centralize power in the Presidency and the executive branch as well as in the Police and the Army, with obvious ties to drug trafficking and death squads-- are increasing as the accusations, investigations and illegal and criminal actions of the Government multiply.

The Government of President Uribe is trying to suppress already limited constitutional freedoms, dismantle collective and citizens' rights, persecute and silence any form of democratic opposition while giving away the wealth and sovereignty of the country to obtain the necessary international support to overcome its glaring illegitimacy. Colombian society and democracy are now facing a serious threat that comes from their own government.

We ask the Heads of State and the Parliaments of those countries that are negotiating or in the process of ratification of a Free Trade Agreement with the Colombian Government to stop these agreements that will only increase poverty, displacement, and violence in Colombia and will give President Uribe the support he's looking for to consolidate his authoritarian project.

Red Colombiana de Acción Frente al Libre Comercio, Recalca
(Colombian Action Network in Response to Free Trade)

Translation Mingas-FTA / Traducción Mingas-TLC

A victory, a red carpet, and a massacre: the struggle against the FTA agenda must continue

By La Chiva Collective and Pueblos en Camino
June 9, 2009

It’s time again for another installment of our bulletin. In this edition, we update on the stalling of the Canada-Colombia FTA; the Conservative and Liberal parties rolling out the red carpet for Colombia’s President Uribe this week in Canada; continued pressure from indigenous, civil society and labour organizations; and the horrific news coming out of Peru of the latest FTA massacre courtesy of another Canadian ally… occurring 2 days after the Canada-Peru FTA ascended to the Canadian Senate for its stamp of approval. The struggle against the murderous model continues:

The indigenous of the Peruvian Amazon named and exposed the consequences of the FTA and decided to oppose it. They stood on that highway understanding what is at stake for all of us. Because the ‘free trade’ model cannot be defended in any way other than under the veil of secrecy or the use of force, a conscious people paid with their lives.

The CCFTA: frozen but easily thawed

At the end of May, we celebrated as Canada’s minority Conservative government removed from its legislative agenda Bill C-23, enacting legislation for the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) [1]. In other words, because it would be difficult for the Conservatives to push the controversial deal through parliament before its June 19th recess, the Canada-Colombia FTA is frozen... for now [2] [3].

After facing months of intense pressure from thousands of Canadians and their Colombian and US allies, the Harper Conservatives met ferocious opposition when earlier last month they attempted to push the FTA through Canada’s parliament. The Bloc Quebecois and the NDP led the charge during the parliamentary debate, and several Liberals, whose questions about the deal exposed sharp divisions within the party, complemented their efforts.

On the one hand, there is a faction of the Liberals that is critical of where Harper is leading the country; that group has called for an independent Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) before the CCFTA is even presented to the House of Commons for debate. On the other hand, it is obvious that the minority Conservatives are relying on Liberal support for their survival, a support that is rooted in a deep-seated ideological affinity between the two parties.

Critically, it is the latter faction that dominates the Liberal position in the International Trade Committee (CIIT) proceedings. For example, Liberal trade critic and member of the CIIT Committee, Scott Brison, while calling for an Independent HIRA on his website, personally helped the Conservatives to block a presentation by a Colombian lawyer and human rights activist at the last minute. He voted with the Conservatives to end proceedings early, and she was turned away at the door [4].

This comes as the Liberals and Conservatives have bent over backwards to accommodate a visit to Canada by Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

Putting aside the rhetoric, the semantic acrobatics that have characterized Liberal discourse on the CCFTA, the substantive difference between the Liberal Party and their Conservative counterparts remains superficial.

“If [the Liberals] can’t find principles,” writes Justin Podur in an outstanding recent article on the CCFTA, “they might at least recognize the saying that when voters have a choice between a real conservative and a fake conservative, they’ll choose the real thing” [5].

Rolling out the red carpet for Uribe

Putting principles aside, Canada’s real and fake conservatives have shown contempt for Colombian human rights defenders and victims of violence. But that’s not all: they’ve reworked their agenda to accommodate a visit by the highest public representative of the murderous regime, President Uribe himself.

Uribe had been invited to speak at the International Economic Forum of the Americas in Montreal on Wednesday June 10 [6]. Groups and organizations from Quebec have been planning to give him a welcome he will not forget [7].

The same Conservatives who barred British MP George Galloway from Canada [8] for leading a humanitarian convoy in Gaza – claiming he helped Gaza's government, which the Tories label "terrorist" – have no problem rolling out the red carpet for Uribe, President of a regime that routinely assassinates activists and murders citizens. President Uribe will be given two hours... by ‘special invitation’ no less, according to CIIT documents.

This visit must be bittersweet for Uribe and his supporters in Canada. The Colombian government has stated that this is not a state visit but a ‘working visit’ with ‘private meetings’. Surely, if the Conservatives had been successful in pushing through the FTA, things might have been different.

That’s the bitter, but where’s the sweet? With even more scandals arising in Colombia, a trip to Canada must be a welcome escape. Aside from the on-going investigations into his political allies’ links with paramilitary death squads [9], a fraudulent re-election reform process from which the president gained a second term [10], evidence of the systematic practice of carrying out ‘false positives’ [11] (whereby civilians are murdered by the army and later dressed up at guerrilla fighters in order to improve their numbers and those of the president), newer scandals have come to light.

As a recent Washington Post article points out, one scandal involves Colombia’s secret police wire-tapping Supreme Court judges, opposition politicians, activists and journalists under orders from the presidential palace [12]. Jorge Alberto Lagos, a former secret police director, revealed to his interrogators that information obtained by the wire-tapping had been turned over to two of Uribe’s top aides.

Another scandal centres on President Uribe’s sons, Tomás and Jerónimo [13]. It is alleged, and not contradicted by statements by the Uribe boys themselves, that the President’s sons have become very wealthy overnight thanks to the decisions of a mayor and several high-ranking officials in their father’s government. Through a dubious land deal with the transnational Bavaria SabMiller and that land’s later conversion to a duty-free zone, the brothers and their father’s influential allies turned $4 million into $60 million. While corruption and crony business deals are hardly shocking news these days, they are still wrong.

In a recent article in The Nation, journalist Teo Ballvé found that money from the United States under Plan Colombia may have been used to finance narco-paramilitaries [14]. "Plan Colombia is fighting against drugs militarily at the same time it gives money to support palm, which is used by paramilitary mafias to launder money," Colombian Senator Gustavo Petro told The Nation. "The United States is implicitly subsidizing drug traffickers."

Meanwhile attacks on indigenous leaders in Colombia continue. After her husband was brutally murdered by the army late last year, indigenous leader Aida Quilcue is once again the focus of threats [15]. On May 11, her 12 year-old daughter, Mayerli, was held up at gunpoint outside her home in broad daylight. One week later, Robert de Jesús Guacheta, an indigenous Nasa governor from Cauca, in Southwest Colombia, was found murdered [16]. Authorities have not lifted a finger; on the contrary, several indigenous leaders are being hunted down by the Colombian government for their role in peaceful mobilizations, the Social and Communitarian Minga, of late 2008.

Fighting back

As Uribe arrives in Canada, indigenous peoples in Canada and Colombia are planning ceremonies to protest his presence and the FTA he is coming to promote. A call for ceremonies first came out from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where a group called Fair Trade Algoma decided a different approach to opposing the deal was necessary [17].

That call has been answered across Canada and Colombia. In Colombia, ceremonies by indigenous peoples in at least five regions, from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to the valleys of the Cauca region, will join in for the protection of life and “a meeting of the Condor and the Eagle.”

With Uribe’s arrival imminent, civil society and labour organizations are organizing demonstrations in Montreal and Ottawa on Wednesday, June 10, to send a clear message: Uribe is NOT welcome in Canada [18] [19].

Press coverage of civil society opposition to the CCFTA has continued, especially as gains have become more and more apparent. Alternative media, radio and online, have been exceptional. Surprisingly, the more mainstream press has begun to wake up, as the Toronto Star has come out with a critical editorial [20] [21] [22].

One might expect coverage to increase as public disgust in the prospect of another Harper FTA becomes more pronounced. As a final section for this bulletin, we now turn to the horrendous actions of another Canadian ally, the Peruvian government of Alan Garcia, where the ‘free trade’ model that threatens life itself has been defended with blood and fire.

FTA Massacre in Peru

Just 2 days after Canada’s Bill C-24, implementing legislation for the Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement, moved to the Canadian Senate for a stamp of approval, news out of Peru is of fierce repression and murder enacted upon indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon region in the name of such agreements.

For almost 2 months, indigenous peoples had been protesting the implementation of the FTA between Peru and the United States, a deal that seeks to open up the Amazon rainforest to oil and mineral extraction companies.

In a statement, mobilization participants outlined, “Indigenous peoples value the land as a part of a our system of life, we don't own the land but we belong to it. There will not be a way for the government of Peru to impose its corporate benefiting laws because Indigenous people will defend their territories.”

In stark disregard for Peru’s ratified and signed international obligations and stated commitments (as well as human life), the government of Alan Garcia unleashed brutal repression against protestors, who were fired on by the police, in some cases from helicopters, in what is becoming known as the Bagua massacre of June 5 and 6, 2009.

Estimates range from between 30 and 80 murdered and countless injured by state-sponsored repression. Gruesome photos of the horror are circulating on the Internet and generating widespread condemnation: http://catapa.be/en/north-peru-killings. Perhaps the best reporting has come through alternative media outlets (an article from Indymedia Ireland, for example, has tens of links for further reading and coverage) [23].

This free trade massacre has been swiftly condemned by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (of the Organization of America States) and countless human rights organizations and observers [24].

A series of demonstrations of protest and solidarity with the Amazon Indigenous Peoples of Peru have taken place across North America. Peruvian social organizations are calling for more international observers for a national General Strike on Wednesday, June 10.

Indigenous leaders are being hunted down by the Garcia government, and while tension appear to be easing, the possibility of future attacks remains.

The indigenous of the Peruvian Amazon named and exposed the consequences of the FTA and decided to oppose it. They stood on that highway understanding what is at stake for all of us. Because the ‘free trade’ model cannot be defended in any way other than under the veil of secrecy or the use of force, a conscious people paid with their lives.

Let us stand by them as we oppose this same model from wherever we are.

Send a message to the president of Peru, Alan Garcia:
http://www.amazonwatch.org/peru-action-alert.php

-30-

[1] http://canadacolombiaproject.blogspot.com/2009/05/canada-colombia-fta-removed-from.html

[2] http://www.hour.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=17471

[3] http://www.harperindex.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=00224

[4] http://www.mingas.info/node/127

[5] http://www.killingtrain.com/node/701

[6] http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2009/09/c3948.html

[7] http://www.pasc.ca/spip.php?article488

[8] http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/kim-elliott/jason-kenney-bans-george-galloway-canada

[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_parapolitics_scandal

[10] http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yidispolitica

[11] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8038399.stm

[12] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/16/AR2009051602301.html

[13] http://canadacolombiaproject.blogspot.com/2009/06/illicit-profits-for-president-uribes.html

[14] http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090615/ballve/single

[15] http://nasaacin.org/solidaridad_maye_aida2009.html

[16] http://www.nasaacin.org/noticias.htm?x=9928

[17] http://canadacolombiaproject.blogspot.com/2009/06/call-for-ceremonies-to-stop-canada.html

[18] http://canadacolombiaproject.blogspot.com/2009/06/asocolom-uribe-is-not-welcome-in-canada.html

[19] http://canadacolombiaproject.blogspot.com/2009/06/uribe-in-montreal-poster.html

[20] http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/639036

[21] http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/4218-gorilla-radio-with-chris-cook-chris-genovali-michael-otuathail-janine-bandcroft-june-1-2009.html

[22] http://www.hour.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=17471

[23] http://www.indymedia.ie/article/92604

[24] http://www.cidh.org/Comunicados/English/2009/35-09eng.htm