Agricultural workers union leader and human rights defender Guillermo Cano jokes with AfGJ delegates.  Photo by Raquel Mogollón.

The Alliance for Global Justice has received news that Guillermo Cano of the FENSUAGRO agricultural workers union has been detained along with seven unidentified unionists and members of the Marcha Patriótica (Patriotic March) in the Colombian Department of Tolima. Don Guillermo is the Human Rights Coordinator for ASTRACATOL, the FENSUAGRO affiliate in Tolima. He is also on the Executive Board for FENSUAGRO. Don Guillermo is a good friend of AfGJ’s and accompanied us on our most recent delegation to Colombia. These arrests took place just a few days after all involved had attended a forum organized by the United Nations Development Program in Colombia and the National University on popular participation in the peace process.

CLICK HERE to send an email to Colombian authorities, including the prosecutor who ordered these arrests, and to the UN Office on Human Rights in Colombia.

This is the latest in a series of events showing an increase in repression against both FENSUAGRO and the Marcha Patriótica, a social and political movement advocating for popular participation in the peace process and for meaningful land reform. In late March, two FENSUAGRO leaders were assassinated, both members of the ASOCAT peasant union (and FENSUAGRO affiliate) in the Department of Cauca: Alonso Lozano, murdered on March 24, 2013, and Gustavo Adolfo Pizo Garcia, murdered on March 25, 2013. On March 3, 2013, ASTRACATOL leader Maribel Oviedo was apprehended by members of the Colombian Armed Forces and threatened with execution and illegally detained for two days. AfGJ organized a solidarity campaign calling for her freedom, and Maribel credited national and international solidarity for her safe release.

Once again we ask our supporters to take quick action on behalf of Don Guillermo and his seven fellow union members, and on behalf of FENSAUGRO. The charge of “Rebellion” is notoriously vague and has been used repeatedly to silence and intimidate unionists and members of the political opposition. Colombia has more than 10,000 political prisoners, the vast majority of them in jail for nonviolent activities. A high proportion are human rights defenders and labor leaders like Don Guillermo.

CLICK HERE to send an email to Colombian authorities.

PLEASE LET OTHERS KNOW

We urge our friends and supporters to repost, retweet, resend, republish and otherwise spread this alert to whomever you think might support this effort. If we act quickly and substantially, we hope we can win Don Guillermo’s release just the way we helped win the recent release of fellow ASTRACATOL member Maribel Oviedo.

BELOW IS THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE ALERT WE RECEIVED FROM THE LAZOS DE DIGNIDAD FOUNDATION IN COLOMBIA, FOLLOWED BY THE ORIGINAL SPANISH

GUILLERMO CANO, HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER AND ASTRACATOL LEADER, ARRESTED IN MASS DETENTION OF PEASANTS IN TOLIMA

PUBLIC DENUNCIATION
MASS DETENTION OF PEASANT LEADERS IN TOLIMA
GUILLERMO CANO HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER AND ASTRACATOL LEADER DETAINED

The Lazos de Dignidad Foundation DENOUNCES  before the national and international communities the mass detention of eight (8) peasant leaders belonging to the Social and Political Movement Marcha Patriótica in the Departament of Tolima, in accordance with the following:

FACTS

1.       Yesterday, May 9th, 2013, in different small towns of the department of Tolima, by orders of the 2nd Circuit Municipal Tribunal of Purificación (Tolima) the National Army carried out raids and the mass arrest of eight (8) peasant leaders, who were taken by helicopter to the 21st Mobile Military Base, located in La Chica, Prado Municipality- Tolima; during the transfer, the detained were photographed on various occasions, and subsequently at 8:00 pm, were transferred by car to Purificación – Tolima.

2.       Among those arrested is Mr. GUILLERMO CANO, Human Rights Coordinator of the Association of Peasant Farm Workers of Tolima (ASTRACATOL) and Executive Board member of FENSUAGRO, and whom during the 28th, 29th, and 30th, participated in the “FORUM ON POLITICAL PARTICIPATION” organized by the UNDP (United Nations Development Program in Colombia) and the National University, where in his capacity as a human rights defender demanded of the Colombian State democratic guarantees and security for the carrying out of his work as a leader.

3.       Today, May 10th, the arrested peasant leaders were subjected to combined preliminary hearings concerning the legalization of the raid, capture, accusation, and preventive detention, where the Lazos de Dignidad Foundation legally represented the human rights defender and peasant leader GUILLERMO CANO.

4.       It is necessary for us to denounce that these arrests and prosecutions have been brought by the 29th District Attorney’s Office of Purificación (Tolima), which has accused the peasants of being responsible for the crime of Rebellion basing their accusations on the statements of alleged demobilized guerrilla members.

Don Guillermo. Photo by Raquel Mogollón.

DETENIDO GUILLERMO CANO, DEFENSOR DE DERECHOS HUMANOS Y LÍDER DE ASTRACATOL, EN CAPTURA MASIVA DE CAMPESINOS EN EL TOLIMA

DENUNCIA PÚBLICA
CAPTURA MASIVA DE LÍDERES CAMPESINOS EN EL TOLIMA
CAPTURADO GUILLERMO CANO DEFENSOR DE DDHH Y LÍDER DE ASTRACATOL

La Fundación Lazos de Dignidad DENUNCIA ante la comunidad nacional e internacional la captura masiva de ocho (8)  lideres campesinos pertenecientes al Movimiento Político y Social Marcha Patriótica en el Departamento del Tolima, de acuerdo a los siguientes:

HECHOS

1.       El día de ayer, 9 de mayo de 2013, en diferentes veredas de los departamentos del Tolima, por ordenes el Juzgado 2 Promiscuo Municipal de Purificación (Tolima) el Ejército Nacional desarrolló allanamientos y captura masiva de ocho (8) líderes campesinos, quienes fueron conducidos en helicóptero a la Base Militar Móvil 21, ubicada en La Chica, Municipio de Prado- Tolima; durante el traslado, los capturados fueron fotografiados en varias ocasiones, luego de esto siendo las 8:00 pm, fueron trasladados en carro hasta Purificación – Tolima.

2.       Entre los capturados se encuentra el señor GUILLERMO CANO, Coordinador de Derechos Humanos de la Asociación de Trabajadores Campesinos del Tolima (ASTRACATOL) y miembro del Ejecutivo de FENSUAGRO, quien durante los días 28, 29 y 30 participó en el “FORO SOBRE PARTICIPACIÓN POLITICA” organizado por el PNUD y la Universidad Nacional, donde en su calidad de defensor de derechos humanos exigió al Estado Colombiano garantías democráticas y de seguridad para el ejercicio de su liderazgo.

3.       Hoy 10 de Mayo, los líderes campesinos capturados fueron sometidos a audiencias preliminares concentradas de legalización de allanamiento, captura, imputación y medida de aseguramiento, donde la Fundación Lazos de Dignidad representó jurídicamente al defensor de derechos humanos y líder campesino GUILLERMO CANO.

4.       Es preciso denunciar que estas capturas y judicializaciones han sido promovidas por la Fiscalía 29 de Purificación (Tolima), que ha señalado a los campesinos de ser responsables del delito de Rebelión basándose en declaraciones de presuntos reinsertados.

We As US Citizens call for NO Intervention in Venezuela

Respect for Election Results

End to US funding of Opposition groups in Venezuela

Actions:

1. Call the US State Department’s Venezuela Desk at 202-647-4216 or email mcnamarajt@state.gov.

 Comments can be directed to Secretary of State John Kerry.

2. Call the White House comment Line: 202-456-1111

(9am-5pm EST)

3. For congress contact the ranking members of the Foreign Operations Sub-Committee and ask them to cut all US funding of opposition groups in Venezuela from the 2014 Federal Budget.

Republican Chair Kay Granger (TX)

(202) 225-5071
email: johnnie.kaberle@mail.house.gov

Democrat ranking member Nita Lowey (NY)

202-225-6506 email: Ralph.falzone@mail.house.gov

4. Attend a Venezuela solidarity rally in your area or organize one.

5. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper countering media misrepresentation of Venezuela’s elections.

Talking Points and Background.

We call on the US government to immediately recognize the election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who was elected by majority vote in a free and fair election on April 14. We further call on the United States government to condemn post-election violence perpetrated by elements of the Venezuelan right-wing and to cut off US “democracy promotion” aid to any group calling for or perpetrating violence in the post-election period which has already taken the lives of at least seven Maduro supporters.

We note that the US government has been quick to recognize US-favored winners of other elections in the hemisphere which had far less legitimacy than the Venezuelan election, most notably the election of Porfirio Lobo in 2009 under a Honduran coup-regime run election conducted during a State of Emergency, and the 2011 election of Michel Martelly in Haiti where the largest party, Lavalas, was not allowed to run a candidate.

Former US President Jimmy Carter has called Venezuela’s electoral system “the best in the world” and there is no doubt that President Maduro won the popular vote with 50.66%. With a winning margin of over a quarter of a million votes, Maduro’s victory is far from the closest vote in the history of world elections. In the last fourteen years, the Bolivarian Revolution has won 17 of 18 elections and recognized the election outcome of the 2004 constitutional reform, which it lost by a 0.59% margin, which was much closer than the 1.59% margin in the April 14 election. President Maduro’s election has now been recognized by many countries all over the world ranging from El Salvador, China, Russia, Paraguay, Brazil including the Organization of American States (OAS).

Venezuela, unlike the US, conducts both pre and post-election audits, including 54% of voting machines, before the electoral authority, which is an independent fourth branch of government, certifies a victor. Fraud is nearly impossible under the Venezuelan system because the voting machines produce a paper receipt which is kept and compared against the machine count. All political parties participate in every step of the election audit. There is therefore no legitimate reason for the US government to withhold its congratulations to the new president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro.

We further demand that the United States government and the quasi-governmental National Endowment for Democracy, as well as the CIA, US Embassy, and other US entities cease funding opposition forces in Venezuela and cease efforts to destabilize and delegitimize the democratically elected Government of Venezuela. In 2002 the US government backed a failed coup against democratically elected former President Hugo Chavez. We find it fitting and symbolic that his successor, Nicolas Maduro, was elected president 11 years and one day after the people and army of Venezuela returned President Chavez to his elected office.

The United States government has made multiple mistakes in its relations with Venezuela. We demand that it not compound its errors by failing to recognize the results of the April 14 election and by further emboldening the violent forces within Venezuela who look to the US government for leadership.

Contact us to find out about local actions in your area or for a list of recently returned U.S election monitors and available Venezuela expert speakers.

The Alliance for Global Justice calls on the US government to immediately recognize the election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who was elected by majority vote in a free and fair election on April 14. The Alliance for Global Justice further calls on the United States government to condemn post-election violence perpetrated by elements of the Venezuelan right-wing and to cut off US “democracy promotion” aid to any group calling for or perpetrating violence in the post-election period which has already taken the lives of at least seven Maduro supporters.

The Alliance for Global Justice notes that the US government has been quick to recognize US-favored winners of other elections in the hemisphere which had far less legitimacy than the Venezuelan election, most notably the election of Porfirio Lobo in 2009 under a Honduran coup-regime run election conducted during a State of Emergency, and the 2011 election of Michel Martelly in Haiti. Former US President Jimmy Carter has called Venezuela’s electoral system “the best in the world” and there is no doubt that President Maduro won the popular vote with 50.66%. With a winning margin of over a quarter of a million votes, Maduro’s victory is far from the closest vote in the history of world elections. Venezuela, unlike the US, conducts both pre and post-election audits, including 54% of voting machines, before the electoral authority certifies a victor. Fraud is nearly impossible under the Venezuelan system because the voting machines produce a paper receipt which is kept and compared against the machine count. All political parties participate in every step of the election audit. There is therefore no legitimate reason for the US government to withhold its congratulations to the new president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro.

The Alliance for Global Justice further demands that the United States government and the quasi-governmental National Endowment for Democracy, as well as the CIA, US Embassy, and other US entities cease funding opposition forces in Venezuela and cease efforts to destabilize and delegitimize the democratically elected Government of Venezuela. In 2002 the US government backed a failed coup against democratically elected former President Hugo Chavez. We find it fitting and symbolic that his successor, Nicolas Maduro was elected president on the 11^th anniversary of the day that the people and army of Venezuela returned President Chavez to his elected office.

The United States government has made multiple mistakes in its relations with Venezuela. We demand that it not compound its errors by failing to recognize the results of the April 14 election and by further emboldening the violent forces within Venezuela who look to the US government for leadership.

CLICK HERE to support Peace in Colombia!

During peace talks in Havana, Cuba to reach a settlement to the war that has torn Colombia apart for almost 50 years, negotiators weren’t sure whether or not they had the backing of the people. Despite polls that have shown that more than 70% of Colombians support a negotiated settlement, there were, and are, powerful segments that want to see this process fail. These include the extreme right, led by ex-President Álvaro Uribe, components of the Colombian Armed Forces, and paramilitary goons working as hired hands for certain transnational corporations and big landowners. It was this need to in some way have tangible evidence of popular backing that led to calls for a massive peace march and rally in the capitol city of Bogotá on April 9^th.

Was the march a success? I was there with my partner, Raquel Mogollón, herself of Colombian heritage and a member of the Alliance for Global Justice Colombia working group (Colombia Watch) and President of the Pan Left Video Collective. We saw feeder marches coming from all directions, the streets in the city center shut down to automobiles and filled with people calling for an end to hostilities. According to the office of Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro, there were more than one million marchers. We can attest to the fact based on our own eye-witness observations, with marchers coming from all parts of Colombia. So, to answer the question—yes, the march was a resounding success!

The historical significance of the day gave the event a special poignancy. It was the 65^th anniversary of the assassination of the popular leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. Gaitan was a populist with an enormous following and was certain to be elected the next President of Colombia when he was killed by a gunman in the streets of Bogotá on April 9, 1948. This followed (and continued) a campaign of genocide that had been waged by the Conservative Party against the Liberal Party—Gaitan was a Liberal. His assassination lead to riots known as the “Bogotazo” that paralyzed Bogotá and left the city in shambles. Thus it is fitting that the events of April 9, 2013 should honor this great leader with an outpouring of people calling for peace, a powerful capstone to this historic day.

The day began with Pres. Juan Manuel Santos paying homage to soldiers fallen during the war and declaring that the Armed Forces were in favor of peace. Santos wore a shirt during the day’s events that said “Mi aporte es creer, yo creo en la paz”, or, “My contribution is to believe, I believe in the peace.” Granted that many victims of this war might dispute the commitment of the Armed Forces to peace, the participation of Pres. Santos was nevertheless very important. This day was not just a day of the Left demanding peace. Indeed, there were banners of the conservative Unification Party (the “U”) supporting the process, and there was a contingent of supporters of the Colombian police expressing their support. Days before the event, the streets of Bogotá were filled with fliers and signs printed by city agencies in support of the march.

While most on the Left in Colombia readily recognize Santos’ roll in the repression and oppression of the Colombian people, they also recognize that his administration is finally participating in the peace process, and they join with all supporters for a negotiated settlement in the absolute rejection of the extreme right attempts to sabotage the process. In fact, at this moment, the brunt of their attacks are directed against Pres. Santos. Former Pres. Uribe has repeatedly attacked Santos and even leaked government documents that provided safe passage to commanders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) to join negotiators in Havana during this period. There were rumors circulating that some elements of the extreme right were threatening to assassinate Pres. Santos. Fortunately, the march and rally were not marred by any acts of violence.

Pres. Santos represents the established Colombian oligarchy, but it must be recognized that he also represents a break with the record of ex-Pres. Uribe, who was little more than a thug. Uribe was at one point listed by the US Defense Intelligence Agency as one of Colombia’s top 100 narco-traffickers, and is credited by many with the creation of the notorious paramilitary organization the AUC (Colombian Auto-Defense). It is widely recognized that a Colombian peace settlement must have not only the backing of the Left, which for years has called for such a process, but also the support of the bourgeoisie.

The march and rally showed a wide depth and breadth of support. It is also clear that the largest numbers, in evidence everywhere, were turned out by the Patriotic March (Marcha Patriótica), and the other organizations on the Left, calling for peace with justice. The Patriotic March contingent was lead by former Senator Piedad Córdoba, who more than any one person, has dedicated herself to bringing about these negotiations. Even Pres. Santos has recognized her contributions, having turned to her to act as a  liaison between the government and the FARC-EP when the guerrillas have, again and again, unilaterally released prisoners as a sign of their commitment to the peace process. Also participating in great numbers were family and supporters of Colombia’s more than 10,000 political prisoners. It is still hoped that the Colombian government will respond to the FARC-EP’s release of its prisoners with an end to the incarceration of so many thousands due to political motives. The government of the United States bears much responsibility for this situation, having funded and restructured the Colombian prison system, leading to a large increase in the number of political prisoners.

I spoke to one Colombian union leader at length regarding the significance of the march and rally. He told me that, “Today the popular mobilizations for peace won and today the Patriotic March won. It was clear that the popular mobilizations provided the largest contingents and major motivating forces behind this mobilization, with none more active than the Patriotic March. Today all the major movements of the Left won, because their numbers were large and their messages clear. And today the Colombian oligarchy and bourgeoisie also won, because they showed their support this peace process. Today the administration of Juan Manuel Santos won, and Mayor Gustavo Petro of Bogotá won, because they actively campaigned for these events. Today the campesinos won, with affiliates of Fensuagro [Colombia's largest union of peasant farmers] turning out farming families from all over the country. Today USO, the oil workers union, and FECODE, the Colombian teacher’s union, won because they are unions committed to political struggle who understand that the rights of workers are not only limited to local, workplace struggles, but to the transformation of the country and the establishment of peace. But, today, the extreme right lost. Despite their efforts of sabotage, today was a resounding show of support for peace. The extreme right ended the day completely isolated and reproached. And today the Democratic Pole (Polo Democrático) lost, because they refused to support the event, being more focused on expelling their coalition partners who support the peace process. And today much of the union movement lost, those segments of the labor movement who focus only on particular workers’ struggles, but who reject linking these with the larger struggles of the day.”

This last statement strikes a particular chord with us in the Alliance for Global Justice. We recognize that one of the strategies of the Solidarity Center (an affiliate of the AFL-CIO that receives over 90% of its funding and direction from the US government) is to give often much-needed support to labor struggles while at the same time, trying to dissuade and divert workers from political struggle. The Solidarity Center maintains an office in Bogotá and has been pouring millions of dollars into efforts to influence the Colombian labor movement.

It is vital that we in the United States remember that we have a particular role to play in support of the peace movement in Colombia. Our government has provided $8 billion for Plan Colombia, the main vehicle of war and repression in the country. We must demand an end to such US policies toward Colombia and must call on the White House and Congress to declare their unqualified and strong support for the negotiations.

One way in which the US interferes with the peace process and violates Colombian sovereignty is its demands that Colombia extradite members of the FARC-EP and paramilitary prisoners. Colombia’s legal matters are for Colombia to resolve, not for the US positioning itself as some kind of imperialist overlord. But more importantly, the extradition of FARC-EP soldiers interferes directly with the negotiations. Extradition of paramilitary actors interferes with truth-telling and investigations into links between death squads and members of the Colombia’s Congress and executive branch. Of special concern is the case of Ricardo Palmera, one of the FARC-EP’s main negotiators. He was arrested eight years ago while on his way to participate in negotiations sponsored by the United Nations. He is being held in cruel conditions of solitary confinement (one of more than 80,000 US prisoners held under such conditions). His presence has been requested at the talks in Havana, and the US’ continued refusal to allow his participation is a sign that the US is not giving its full support to the hopes of the world for an end to this war.

You can support peace in Colombia by going to this link to send a letter to Pres. Barack Obama and the US State Department, calling for the government to take a strong stand in favor of the negotiations, to end the extraditions of Colombian citizens to the US, and to release Ricardo Palmera to participate in the peace process.

Alliance for Global Justice Photos of April 9, 2013 March and Rally in Bogotá for Peace and Justice in Colombia

School children turn out in support for the peace project. Photo by Raquel Mogollón.

Beating the drums of peace! Photo by James Jordan.

Signs like these appeared all over Bogotá for days before the march and rally. Among the most prominent were those of the Women for Peace. Photo by Raquel Mogollón.

Nowhere has the struggle for an end to the violence been stronger than among indigenous communities. Photo by James Jordan.

“From our mountains surge the water and the energy that they deny us every day.” There can be no just peace without land reform and the protection of Colombia’s natural resources utilized for the good of the people above the profits of the wealthy and the transnational corporations. Photo by James Jordan.

Bearing their torsos for peace! Photo by James Jordan.

Pres. Juan Manuel Santos marches with wounded soldiers wearing a shirt that says, “My contribution is to believe, I support the peace”. This is one of several photos that show the support for the peace process extends across political divisions. Photo from MSN Latino.

These people are marching in remembrance of the tens of thousands of the “disappeared”, the vast majority victims of aggressions by the Colombian Armed Forces and paramilitary death squads. Photo by James Jordan.

One of many contingents of the Patriotic March (Marcha Patriótica). People wearing shirts and identifying themselves with this leading popular mobilization for a just peace were literally everywhere, in all segments. Photo by James Jordan.

A contingent of Patriotic March High School students pose with AfGJ’s and Pan Left’s Raquel Mogollón. There banner has at its center Colombia’s hero for peace and leading member of the Patriotic March, Piedad Córdoba, pictured here with Che Guevara and Simón Bolívar–an indication of the high esteem in which she is held. Photo by James Jordan.

Supporters of the Colombian police forces march side by side with police in support of the peace process–yet more evidence of how broad support for the negotiations has become. Photo by James Jordan.

Even the right wing “La U” party founded by ex-Pres. Álvaro Uribe (who is actively trying to sabotage the peace process) and including current Pres. Santos showed its support for the negotiations. Take that Álvaro! The people want peace–ALL the people! Photo by James Jordan.

One of many contingents representing Afro-Colombians. Photo by James Jordan.

Marchers demanding freedom and justice for political prisoners were everywhere! This sign has special relevance for us in the US, demanding an end of the extraditions of Colombians–the extraditions being to US prisons and constituting a direct interference in the peace process. Photo by James Jordan.

“While there are political prisoners, there will be no peace.” Colombia has more political prisoners than any country in the Americas–more than 10,000. Most of these are concentrated in jails that have been restructured and funded by the US government. Photo by James Jordan.

A contingent of members of the CUT labor union confederation, these unionists know full well that labor rights are inextricably linked with political struggle. Workers of the world, unite to support peace and justice in Colombia! Photo by James Jordan.

This member of the Federation of University Students (FEU) remembers the victims of Chiquita Banana, which over a period of decades supported massacres and paramilitary squads in efforts to crush union organizers and intimidate workers. Photo by Raquel Mogollón.

Members of the Federation of University Students (FEU) arrive together in support the cause of peace with justice! Photo by James Jordan.

In the streets, from the bridges, and on the speakers’ stage, the Patriotic March was everywhere demanding not just peace, but peace with justice! Photo by James Jordan.

Peace and democracy in Colombia is completely linked to peace and democracy in Venezuela. This colorful arrangement was at the foot of the speakers’ stage and portrays three heroes of the struggle for peace and justice, Hugo Chávez, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan and Piedad Córdoba. Photo by James Jordan.

The reason for the season: Colombia remember Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, the great populist leader. This march for peace and justice was a fitting tribute to this man and his vision, occurring on the 65th anniversary of his assassination. Photo by James Jordan.

“To arm or to love?” It was clear the prevailing choice of the more than 1 million persons marching for peace in the streets of Bogotá. Photo by James Jordan.

I recently returned from a late March trip to North Korea [Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK)], along with 45 others, through Koryo Tours. On that tour I had the opportunity
to discuss with the Korean tour guides their views on the current situation. I only recall the DPRK view mentioned here once in the corporate media, when Dennis Rodman returned with a message from new President Kim Jong. The message to President Obama was “I don’t want war, call me.” Nobel Peace Prize winning President Obama refused to accept it, evidently preferring an escalating threat of a regional nuclear war to talking. I asked my Korean tours guides to be interviewed so I could present their views to US people.

Has the DPRK made proposals for peaceful national reunification?

Yes, now we have options: the historic option of a federal republic, and the recent option. In our history we proposed three principles for reunification: that the North and South unite the country independently of foreign forces, that we reunify peacefully, and that we work together over the years to create the unity of the whole nation.

Our historic option is a federal republic: a central government concerned only with national defense and diplomacy, and two local governments, North and South, handling all other issues.

But recently the situation on the peninsula is deteriorating. There are no signs of resolving the issue. If South Korean provocations continue, war will break out and we are prepared to fight. Because the situation has deteriorated, that is why we invalidated the 1953 ceasefire agreement. Now there is no contact between North and South. Now there are no phone lines between North and South, there is no hotline.

Now the US and South Korea plan is that the DPRK will collapse. The situation continues to deteriorate. They are playing a dangerous game.

Japan is also very hostile. The present government is very rightwing. It is trying to build a strong military using “dangerous” DPRK as a pretext to justify turning its self-defense force into a regular army. Not only the DPRK, but many Asian countries are concerned with this right-wing Japanese resurgence.

The American people should ask the US government to change its hostile policy. Make America aware of the real situation in the Korean peninsula. Ask the American government to sign a peace treaty and push for diplomatic ties with the DPRK.

Why did the DPRK feel the need to develop a nuclear bomb?

Koreans had to deal with the reality of nuclear weapons twice before. Many thousands of Koreans were used as slave labor by the Japanese in World War II, and many of these were forced labor workers in Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb.

Later, in the U.S. war in Korea, U.S. General MacArthur wanted to drop 50-70 atomic bombs along the China-Korea border to create a belt of land people cannot live on or cross.

Later in the Pueblo incident in 1968, when the DPRK captured a U.S. spy ship in our waters, President Johnson sent aircraft carriers with nuclear weapons to Korea. And in 1969 when the U.S. E-C spy plane was shot down over our territory, the U.S. again threatened us with a nuclear attack.

The “Team Spirit” US-South Korea war exercises from the 1970s to the 1990s practiced with using nuclear bombs.

The DPRK joined the International Atomic Energy Agency and became a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty member in 1985. We wanted to develop cooperation in the field of nuclear energy. Our purpose for joining was to be safe from nuclear attack. But the threat has continued.

In 1994 with our agreement with the US, we froze our nuclear program. In exchange, President Clinton and the US promised to supply us with a light water reactor. As we now know, Clinton only made those promises because the US thought the DPRK would collapse, and so did not need to honor the agreement. We allowed nuclear inspections until 1999, to show that our nuclear power was only for peaceful purposes. The US broke the agreement in 2002 under Bush, and we resumed using our nuclear power plant.

The Yugoslav war showed us that we need to defend ourselves. We learned from the US that the US has no justice, no fairness. The US respects only power. So the DPRK developed nuclear weapons to have power.

The DPRK needs to allocate resources to meet people’s needs but must spend money on nuclear weapons to protect and defend our country. We learned the lesson in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan: be strong.

The DPRK negotiated with the U.S., but the U.S. broke agreements, and increased sanctions five times. When the DPRK would agree to some terms, the U.S. would raise the ante. The U.S. had said we cannot have nuclear power, because we could use it for bombs. We cannot have satellites because the missiles we send them into space with can be used as military missiles. These they these things can have dual purpose, one civilian, one military. They deny us food because they say it can be used to feed the military. If we kept going along with this, they would say we cannot have kitchen knives because we could use them for fighting.

There are slave states and noble states. Noble states develop their own technological infrastructure, GPS, weather reporting, etc., so need satellites. These days satellites are used for many things. If your country doesn’t have your own technology, you end up a slave state, dependent on other countries. Noble countries are in control of their own development and have a future.

Maybe without nuclear weapons we could already have been attacked by the US in a war. Now our people can live more peacefully. The people of the DPRK are proud we have nuclear weapons, they are a guarantee of peace. Only we on our own can safeguard the peace.

The US has over 1000 nuclear weapons in South Korea – nuclear artillery, nuclear missiles, nuclear bombs, nuclear landmines.

The DPRK has called for a nuclear free Korean peninsula, but this call has been ignored. Now that we saw no choice but to develop nuclear weapons to defend ourselves, we are sanctioned. This is a double standard insulting to our people.

What do the people of the DPRK think of the US/UN sanctions? How do these sanctions affect the people here?

We have been used to coping with U.S. sanctions since 1945. Our people think the sanctions are a clear example of a double standard and a misuse of the UN Security Council. There is no justification for them. Sanctions were applied because of our nuclear bomb tests and satellite launches.

Since World War II there have been 9000 missile/satellite launches. Four were by the DPRK. There have been 2000 nuclear tests, 3 by the DPRK. But the UN never made a resolution or imposed sanctions against any country for doing that, only the DPRK.

This is a double standard by the UN. It is a misuse of the UN Security Council by the US. Other countries are like US puppets to go along with this.

The sanctions affect every household, every individual in the DPRK. There are power cuts, a heating and energy shortage, a food problem. Even you visiting tourists are affected by the sanctions, as you see with your hotels. [in Pyongyang water and lights were only on certain hours of the day; in other towns it was even less]. There is a lack of oil and spare parts for machinery.

The sanctions threaten any country that trades with the DPRK, so that they must choose who they want to trade with, the DPRK or other countries. Our trade now is really only with China.

How is the food situation now and what role is the US playing?

The food situation is still not satisfactory, and we are still trying to cover our basic food needs with the help of food imports and foreign aid. Repeated US sanctions have stopped food aid. The sanctions have made the food situation worse.

At present US NGOs [Non-governmental organizations] give only some, limited, token medical aid and no food aid. For a period of 7-8 years there was no food aid from the US. The US sanctions are interfering with solving the food situation. It has cut its food aid, and even interferes with other countries providing food aid.

What is the main emphasis in the DPRK’s economic plan now [for the last several years the country had a military first policy]?

The DPRK now emphasizes two points: agricultural production and light industry. Light industry is what you call textiles, food processing, toys, furniture, shoes, and so on. We want to invest and develop more these two areas. We want to improve the living standard of people. We focus on these two even if the situation is dangerous. Even if war is coming, we will focus on agriculture and light industry until war starts. We must work harder on developing agriculture and light industry.

Now with the nuclear bomb, the DPRK is a little safer and can turn from self-defense spending to light industry and consumer goods investment. You saw in Pyongyang a big conference of 10,000 delegates from light industries all over the country. They are here to discuss and exchange ideas about how to improve light industry, what has worked in their factories, what has
problems, and how to solve them.

How are relations with South Korea since the Sunshine Policy? [started by South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and continued by President Roh Moo-hyun, from the years 1998-2008. In this period of less chilly relations between North and South, the heads of state of the two countries met in 2000 and again in 2007. Cooperative business developments began and several thousand South Korean tourists visited the North. Kaesong Industrial Park in the DPRK was opened.]

Since 2008 South Korea has shown only confrontation. There has been no cooperation. South Korea has broken all agreements we have made during the Sunshine policy. There is no more cooperation, no tourism from the South, no engagement. Now relations are only negative, there are no positive signs. This is because of both US pressure and a South Korean decision. South Korea President Lee Myung-bak is a right-wing businessman, who changed the situation, just like Bush reversed Clinton’s even moderate degree of cooperation.

The present South Korea president is Park Geun-hye, daughter of South Korean military dictator Park Chung-hee , who was an officer in the Japanese Imperial Army. Cooperation has changed to confrontation. South Korea thinks military pressure on the North, combined with sanctions, will make the DPRK collapse.

stansfieldsmith@yahoo.com

Written by Chuck Kaufman, Monday, 25 February 2013 13:06
In June 2011 when Tanya Kerssen and I led a delegation of human rights accompaniers to the Aguan Valley of Honduras, we did not know that we would, ourselves, play a cameo role in the life and death struggle for land in the Aguan. On July 1, 2011, our delegation of US and Canadian residents stood between 40 heavily armed police and the people of Rigores who they intended to illegally evict. The week before, the police had burned and bulldozed the homes, school, and two churches of this seven year old peasant cooperative. The police had returned to drive the people off their land so that their absence would weaken their legal claim. For 3.5 hours we were locked in a tense stand-off before the police finally received instructions to withdraw. When I returned to the community a year later, all but three families had rebuilt their homes, replanted their corn and beans, and replaced some of their animals.

Kerssen, the Research Coordinator at Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy, doesn’t write about that incident in her book Grabbing Power: The New Struggles for Land, Food and Democracy in Northern Honduras (Food First Books 2013), nor should she have. We, after all, returned to our privileged lives in the North. The Mestizo peasants and their Afro-Indigenous neighbors don’t get to leave. They are home; the only home most of them have ever known. Every day they risk their lives and the lives of their families because, as we were told by a Garifuna leader, “Our backs are to the wall. We have nowhere else to go.” It is their story that Kerssen tells in Grabbing Power, and a powerful story it is.

Honduras is a country that few in the US knew anything about prior to the June 28, 2009 coup that ousted democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya. Hundreds of thousands of US solidarity activists have visited or know a lot about Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, all of which border Honduras, but for many Honduras has been a blank slate. I remember in the 1980s we on the staff of the Nicaragua Network used to call it the USS Honduras for its US domination and its use as a safe haven and training center for the US-funded Contra terrorists.

But even then Honduras peasant cooperatives in the fertile Aguan Valley were organized and struggling for their rights to own the land that they had cleared and cultivated. Kerssen takes us through their compelling story beginning when the military dictatorship of the 1960s and 1970s opened up the virgin rainforest of the Aguan Valley to be cleared and put into agricultural production, specifically African oil palm, by cooperatives.  The dictatorship didn’t do this because they cared about peasants, but rather to avert a social explosion by landless peasants shut out of access to land because most of the tillable land in Honduras was controlled by United Fruit (now Chiquita) and Standard Fruit (now Dole).

Honduras was the original “Banana Republic” and was also an important US military platform. In fact, Kerssen explains that for much of the Twentieth Century its government didn’t change hands because of Honduran political actors, but because the US banana companies and the US military competed for control of the government. Their competition was “arbitrated by the US Department of State.” The fact that agrarian reform came under a military dictatorship and the land was stolen from them under a “democracy,” is why doubts about democracy are pretty deep-seated among the peasantry, according to Kerssen.

If Honduras is now a failed state, it was hardly even a functioning state in the first place in terms of its citizens seeing themselves as actors in a national project. That makes all the more remarkable the convergence of diverse social movements, labor, teachers, LGBT activists, indigenous, artists, and perhaps most importantly, the peasant cooperative unions, in the wake of the 2009 coup. Over three years later they remain united under the banner of the National Front for Popular Resistance (FNRP). There is not, however, total unity over the FNRP’s decision to compete electorally in the 2013 general election under the banner of the new Liberation and Refoundation Party known as LIBRE. Zelaya’s wife, Xiomara Castro, a resistance leader in her own right, is LIBRE’s presidential candidate and leads in public opinion polling. However, despite the fact that all the organizations that comprise the FNRP are not part of LIBRE, there remains a high level of unity around the demand to “refound the State.”

Kerssen does a good job of describing the several peasant unions in the Aguan and the divisions caused by their different histories and experiences based on varying levels of land titles and the levels of violence and repression on them. However, they do unite in opposition to the coup and against the coordinated violence of the police, military, and the paramilitary thugs of the big landowners, while also forming a pillar of strength within the FNRP.

In contrast to the life and death struggles of most of the cooperatives in the Aguan, Kerssen tells about the few cooperatives which never lost their land, such as Salama where today every family lives in dignified housing with internet, and Prieta where every student’s education is paid for through college and where not a single young person has migrated to the United States, “an extreme rarity for rural Honduras.” These cooperatives are prosperous enough to invest some of their land in food production with the goal of achieving food sovereignty. These cooperatives have also been an important source of money and food for the struggling land occupations. They stand as an example of what peasant cooperatives could be without the violence and rapacity of Miguel Facusse, owner of the Dinant Corporation, and his fellow land grabbers in Honduras’ oligarchy.

Kerssen is an expert on food sovereignty and peasant agriculture. She detests the monoculture industrial plantation export-driven model demanded of countries like Honduras by neoliberal economic orthodoxy. Ye,t she does so without being judgmental about the decisions peasants must make. She writes:

Aguan movements may not have rejected oil palm production or fully embraced agroecology, but they are engaged in an ongoing discussion about food sovereignty among themselves and with transnational movements like Via Campesina. But in the Aguan (and indeed everywhere), food sovereignty has to be pragmatic. It has to work now if imperfectly, in the embattled context in which peasants find themselves.

Grabbing Power is very readable and accessible book that does not require a high level of knowledge about Honduras, peasant agriculture, or the food sovereignty movement in order to be a valuable source of knowledge and understanding of this troubled country where acts of incredible courage and determination are taking place daily outside the notice of even most of us who would describe ourselves as Latin America solidarity activists. Grabbing Power helps fill in the formerly blank slate for us.

Read the Introduction of Grabbing Power HERE

Chuck Kaufman is national co-coordinator of the Alliance for Global Justice, active in the Honduras Solidarity Network (US), and has led several delegations to Honduras.

TELL WASHINGTON & THE VENEZUELAN ELITE: NO TO DESTABILIZATION EFFORTS IN VENEZUELA,

A day of Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution: Thursday APRIL 11, 2013

After the tragic death of our beloved president Chavez, the imperialist nations of the world are preparing to attack the Bolivarian Revolution. Venezuela is getting prepared for a new presidential election and the imperialists are intent to intervene and sabotage the election.

President Nicolas Maduro has claimed that elements of the U.S. State Department are hiring mercenaries to attack Venezuela in the days of the presidential election. The United States wants to create chaos in Venezuela to justify a military intervention. Let them know that we are here to denounce them.

NO US INTERVENTION IN VENEZUELA ELECTION

The solidarity movement in the United States right now faces a critical challenge with regards to Venezuela as well as the revolutionary process in Latin America. The tragic death of our comrade President Hugo Chavez has many believing that the important process for progress in Venezuela, Latin America and the world, has been dealt a crippling blow but we know that the Venezuelan people and the region will never go backward. And our solidarity will continue as they move forward in their struggles for self-determination, sovereignty, integration and social justice.

The people of Venezuela will honor the last will of President Chavez by overwhelmingly voting this coming April 14 for Nicolas Maduro for President. The Venezuelan people clearly remain committed to the process of fundamental change in their country, no matter what. We are confident that the roots of the Bolivarian Revolution will remain strong and grow.

But the death of our dear President Hugo Chavez will be used by US imperialism and the elite oligarchy in Venezuela to carry out aggressive plans to destabilize the revolutionary process in Venezuela. We must send a strong message to Washington right away: we are organizing our voices of solidarity with the Venezuelan people and demand no intervention during this coming election in Venezuela.

Why April 11? The Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 was a failed coup d’état on 11 April 2002, that saw late President Hugo Chavez ousted from office for 47 hours, being restored by a combination of military loyalists and massive public support for his government. Chavez was initially detained by members of the military and of pro-business elites represented by Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Fedecámaras) president Pedro Carmona, who was declared as the interim president. Carmona’s brief rule saw the Venezuelan National Assembly and the Supreme Court both dissolved, and the country’s 1999 Constitution declared void.

In New York City, we will gather at Times Square @ 4PM to express our love and solidarity with the legacy of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and then we will march to the U.S. Mission to tell President Barack Obama: We do not want U.S. intervention in Venezuela.

If you are in a city where no action is taking place, call, fax, email the White House and voice your opposition to intervention. Or better yet, organize a local action!

Please contact us and let us know how your organization can support this national day for the Bolivarian Revolution.
cbalbertolovera(at)gmail.com, 718-510-5523 or 347-251-6301 or 646-533-6081.

Partial list of endorsers: Answer Coalition, Pastor For Peace, AFGJ, IFCO, International Action Center, MAY1 Coalition, International Concerned Family and Frieds of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, The Committees of Correspondence for Democracy & Socialism (CCDS), FMLN NYC, Cuba Solidarity NY, Haiti Liberte, Peña del Bronx, Alianza Pais (Ecuador), Hand off Venezuela, Existence is Resistance, Pro Libertad.

Chavez Vive,La Lucha Sigue!
Chavez por siempre, Maduro Presidente

Venezuela delegation – April 10-16, 2013

Sponsored by TASK FORCE ON THE AMERICAS AND SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS WATCH

Meet with grassroots organizations and possibly government officials to learn about the legacy of Hugo Chavez during this crucial time in Venezuela, and how they plan on preserving it into the future.

Delegation leader Lisa Sullivan is Latin America Liaison for the School of the Americas (SOA) Watch and was instrumental in meeting with President Chavez and convincing him to have Venezuela withdraw from the SOA. She has lived in Venezuela for over 20 years, raised a family there, and has been actively involved in organizing the poor and other social movements as a Maryknoll lay missioner.

Our international delegation will be in Venezuela to express solidarity with the social justice movements there during a historically important time. April 11-13 are the dates of the US-backed and SOA graduate-led coup in 2002. We will be there for the anniversary celebration of the successful overturning of the coup when Hugo Chavez returned to the presidential palace on the 13th of April.

Then on April 14, there will be presidential elections, where we will switch gears and serve as international, nonpartisan election observers. The polls have indicated overwhelming popular support for Chavez’s vice president and successor Nicolas Maduro, so the US-backed opposition will be trying to cast aspersions on the electoral process.

The Venezuelans have defeated the 1% before. Come reflect and remember with them. And then observe while they do it again.

Please join us. The $750 delegation fee includes room, at least 2 meals per day, and in-country travel. It does not cover transportation to and from Venezuela.

This delegation is sponsored by the Task Force on the Americas and SOA Watch. For more information please contact Dale Sorensen, geodale1@earthlink.net, 415/924-3227.

The Alliance for Global Justice has full faith that the Bolivarian Revolution will continue through the strength of the Venezuelan people who chanted on what should have been the inauguration of his new term in office, “We are all Chavez.” AfGJ has equal faith that the forces of imperialism and savage capitalism will do everything in their power to disrupt a peaceful transition and to sow discord and confusion, rumors and lies, as Venezuela moves forward. We call on revolutionary and progressive forces in the United States to stand vigilant to defend the right of the Venezuelan people to sovereignty and self determination. We call on all people to work tirelessly toward Bolivar and Chavez’ dream of a united Latin America.

Long Live the Bolivarian Revolution! Hugo Chavez, presente, presente, presente.

Alliance for Global Justice