The North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee Blog
See our home page.(Our old blog on tripod.com is still active, but it is now also appended to the archives of this blog.)
Friday, September 29, 2006
terrible news from Francisco
Reply-To: Lynnnadeau@aol.com
Dear NSColombia Solidarity People,
I think that we on the list can initiate emails as well. Here goes.
I received the following terrible news from Francisco, who sought shelter in New England away from those who were attempting to kill him when he was the President of the coal MIning Union in Colombia.
COLOMBIAN ARMY KILLS MINER' LEADER TO HELP MULTINATIONAL KEDAHDA
On September 19, 2006, Alejandro Uribe, a well-respected leader of the
community of Mina Gallo in the South of Bolivar Department, was murdered by
Colombian Army personnel. Mr. Uribe, a peasant and a small-scale miner was
president of the Mina Gallo Community Action Board. The Army misrepresented
his killing to the news media as that of a guerrilla in combat. About 600
inhabitants of the region traveled to the headquarters of the Nueva Granada
Battallion of the Army〓s Fifth Brigade in Santa Rosa demanding the return of
the body of Alejandro Uribe.
On September 21, the Army responded by threatening the assembled community
members, saying 〓 he (Uribe) will not be the only dead person you are going
to have. There will be more dead leaders〓. The Army had previously indicated
it had a list of leaders of the region and members of the miners〓
federation, whom they hoped to find walking alone in paths in the vicinity
of their homes.
General Jose Joaquin Cortes of the Army〓s Fifth Brigade suggested that
Alejandro Uribe was an ELN guerrilla carrying an AK-47 rifle and was
accompanied by five guerrillas, and died in an army-guerrilla combat, all of
which the community residents totally reject.
What really is going on here is that the Colombian Army is engaged in
uprooting peasants and small-scale miners by attacking their leaders such as
Alejandro Uribe, so that the multinational mining corporation Kedahda can
enter the region and undertake mining operations on peasants〓 and miners〓
lands the government of president Alvaro Uribe has improperly licensed or
conveyed to this company for mining development
Please write to
US to demand that the US government cut off all aid to the Colombian
military which is openly engaged in the forced displacement and murder of
civilians whose lives and properties it is suppose to protect.
In the States please write to :
Your Senators and Representatives. See our website www.colombiasupport.net
Condoleeza Rice . See www.state.gov
Ambassador to Colombia Mr. William Wood:
AmbassadorB@ state.gov
Kevin Murakami, Human Rights Officer, U.S. Embassy, Bogota, Colombia.
E-mail: MurakamiKT@state.gov
And write government officials in South Africa and Canada to tell them you
very much disapprove of the actions of Kedahda, a corporation with
headquarters in these two countries. Please ask them to investigate this
company. Kedahda should recognize the rights and property of of the
Colombian peasants and miners and must refrain from seeking the assistance
of the Colombian Army in obtaining mining lands. Kedahda is expected to act
honestly and should not seek to receive or develop mining lands ilegally or
by threatening or killing those who live upon and work these lands and
mines.
South African Parliament
Mr. Emmanuel Nkosinathi
info@parliament.gov.za
Fax 021 461 5372
Canadian Parliament
Ms.Angela Crandall
faae@parl.gc.ca
Fax (613) 996 1962
Finally to Colombian Government to urge that it
1)Investigate the atrocities committed by the Colombian military and
punished those responsible ;
2)to protect small scale miners and peasants recognizing their legitimate
right to the lands they are occupying and the mines they have been working
and
3) Refrain entering into bogus contracts with multinational corporations
such as Kedahda to give them valuable mining concessions in lands where
small scale miners and peasants have already established their right to
possession; 4) And demand that the Army deliver the list of proposed victims
to the Procurador General〓s office for an investigation
S.E. �D*!lvaro Uribe V�D+1lez, President of Colombia auribe@presidencia.gov.co
[OR to better send e-mail to Uribe login to http://www.presidencia.gov.co
and click on
ESCRIBALE AL PRESIDENTE at the bottom of the page.
Dr. Juan Manuel Santos Calder�D+Qn, Minister of Defense,
juasant@mindefensa.gov.co
siden@mindefensa.gov.co
infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co
General Jose Joaquin Cortes
josecofranco@yahoo.com
Dr. Francisco Santos, Vicepresidente de la Rep�D+bblica,
T�D+1ls. (+571) 334.45.07, (+573) 7720130,
E-mail: fsantos@presidencia.gov.co ;
buzon1@presidencia.gov.co
Dr. Edgardo Maya
Procurador General
webmaster@procuraduria.gov.co
cap@procuraduria.gov.co
reygon@procuraduria.gov.co
See updated information in our web News Section in our CSN web
Francisco Ramirez Cuellar
PS I (Lynn) googled this event and learned also that the army general In an interview, Gen. Jose Joaquin Cortes Franco, commander of the army's Fifth Brigade, claimed that his troops had killed an armed leftist rebel from the National Liberation Army (ELN), only to discover later that he was a local community leader. Cortes would not confirm that the man killed was Alejandro Uribe; he said the attorney general's office was in charge of determining the person's identity. Cortes claimed the man was in a "hostile position" when killed in combat, and that five other men were with him but managed to escape. Cortes confirmed that the man killed was wearing civilian clothing. [Joint Communiques from Corporacion Sembrar, Federacion Agrominera del Sur de Bolivar, Coordinador Nacional Agrario, Red de Hermandad y Solidaridad con Colombia 9/20/06, 9/22/06 via dhColombia; Communique from the Diocese of Magangue 9/22/06]
Cortes served as an instructor at the US Army's School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, Georgia, from January 1993 to January 1994, while he was a major. In 1976, as a 2nd lieutenant, he took a course in "small unit infantry tactics" at the school, then located in Panama. [SOA Graduates List from soaw.org] [SOA was forced to shut down its Panama location in September 1984; it reopened at Fort Benning, Georgia, in January 1985.]
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