Senator Jorge Robledo, Bogotá, July 11, 2009

As we now know, the government is secretly planning --without consulting the Foreign Relations Advisory Commission, Congress or particularly public opinion-- to grant concessions to the United States to use five Colombian military bases, one of the worst decisions in the country's history. Two of the bases are on the Caribbean coast (Cartagena and Barranquilla), one on the Pacific Coast (in Bahía Málaga, close to Buenaventura), another one in the middle of the country (in Palanquero, close to La Dorada) and the fifth in Apiay, on the Eastern Plains. This decision would turn Colombia into an occupied country, threaten neighboring countries and violate national sovereignty and the Constitution.

A massacre was committed in Perú as a result of the implementation of a "free trade agreement". As this was happening and the world watched in horror, the Canadian Conservative and Liberal Parliament ratified a CPFTA. Yet, those who voted in favour of the deal, contrary to the painful facts, tell us that the massacre has nothing to do with the agreement. This article by Michelle Collins of Embassy Magazine exposes the situation.

Michelle Collins from Embassy Magazine, published this article addressing Prime Minister Harper´s rhetoric on overcoming protectionism, which he used as the main argument in favour of the CCFTA. The motivation for this statement is political, rather than economic. Quoting several speakers of interest groups, the argument for protectionism from Canada towards the US, rather than pursuing the rhetoric against it with regards to a minor and not very useful partner (Colombia) appears as a priority. The strategy of Global Capital to face the crisis seems to be implementing protectionist measures among the big economic powers, while imposing anti-protectionist action on the poorest counterparts to extract their wealth and resources, under the cover of maintaining anti-protectionst, pro "free trade" rhetoric for all. Please read the full text:

Roberto Espinoza, Technical Coordinator for CAOI - Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones Indigenas (Andean Coordinating Body for Indigenous Organisations). 13/06/2009. Ver español abajo.

The Bagua Massacre left 34 dead, 158 wounded by gunfire, dozens of prisoners, and disappeared civilians, police, baguins, Awajun, and Wampis who have not yet been identified. This exemplifies not only the beginning of a dictatorial phase in Peru, but also the aggravation of an old pattern of ethnocide permitted and promoted by the State. For a long time there has been a complex ideological, judicial, political, and repressive offensive of narcissistic, privatisation-oriented, and neoliberal tendencies against the indigenous communities, peasants, and traditional inhabitants of the Andean, costal, and Amazonian regions of the country. This process has continued with the support of business associations, the majority of the media, and the Apra party, the Unidad Nacional party, and Fujimoriism, and where Toledo’s and Belaunde’s political platforms are also consistent with these practices.

Bogotá, June 11, 2009

An Alert to the International Community:

URIBE IS DESTROYING DEMOCRACY TO GET RE-ELECTED

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.

In my question/answer about the Canada Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA), I cited a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), an organization that has a board with people like George Soros, Kofi Annan, Richard Armitage, Louise Arbour, Shlomo Ben-Ami, Lakhdar Brahimi, and Ernesto Zedillo on it - not exactly raging radicals, in other words. The ICG report I cited is called "The Virtuous Twins: Protecting Human Rights and Improving Security in Colombia." The passage I cited recommended that the international community condition arms sales to Colombia on respect for human rights. Its strongest stance was reserved for the Colombian government's practice of attacking human rights activists as terrorists:

RECALCA, Bogotá, junio 11 de 2009

Alertamos a la comunidad internacional, a los gobiernos y parlamentos del mundo, a las centrales sindicales, movimientos sociales y a los organismos de derechos humanos, sobre la gravísima situación que estamos sufriendo en Colombia por cuenta de la agudización sistemática de los ataques del gobierno de Álvaro Uribe Vélez contra las instituciones legítimas del país y contra quienes cuestionan y promueven alternativas a sus políticas por vías democráticas y pacíficas.

Jorge Enrique Robledo
Senator of the Polo Democrático Alternativo

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!

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is rolling out the red carpet. For whom? Please see attachment.

May 31st, 2009 by bronxdoc
The weekend of May 16th-17th brought Dr. Mauricio Torres, Andean Coordinator for ALAMES (http://www.alames.org/) (the Latin American Social Medicine Association) to New York City. Dr. Torres is part of Colombia’s Movimiento Nacional por la Salud (National Movement for Health) and we found a few minutes to discuss the current state of health activism in Colombia. Recent developments in Colombia are not without relevance to the current US debate over the role of private insurance in assuring health coverage for all Americans.