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Today we are launching an international campaign to pressure the US and Colombian governments to return US political prisoner and former FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army) negotiator, Ricardo Palmero, to his home country so that he can help develop the Total Peace Plan. Palmero is also known as Simón Trinidad, the name he adopted when he joined the FARC-EP. This campaign has been initiated by the Coordinadora Americana por los Derechos de los Pueblos – CADP (Americas Coordination for the People’s Rights) and will last until the final day of US President Joe Biden’s term on January 20th, 2025. The Alliance for Global Justice is a founding member of the CADP.
There are two actions you can take to support this campaign
TEXT OF THE OPEN LETTER
Repatriation for Ricardo Palmera / Simón Trinidad
If the governments of the United States and Colombia truly want peace in Colombia, with all that that means for the world, then they must work together to return Ricardo Palmera, also known as Simón Trinidad, to his home country to lend his much-needed skills to the Total Peace Plan.
For many reasons we say that “The peace of Colombia is the peace of the world.” First among them is because of the role Colombia plays politically and militarily in Latin America and throughout the planet.
Colombia is home to numerous US military bases. It has partnered extensively with the US in providing training to tens and twenties of thousands of military, police, and prison personnel throughout the Americas. Colombia is NATO’s only Latin American Global Partner and the only South American country to send troops to war in Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen. The impact of Colombia is far reaching. When Colombia descends into political violence and war, it affects all of us; and when Colombia ascends into peace with justice, it lights a path for the nations.
During the negotiations that resulted in the 2016 peace accords between the Colombian government and the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army, the delegation of the FARC-EP always included an empty chair for Ricardo Palmera, or, by his nom de guerre, Simón Trinidad. Palmera was and is one of the most knowledgeable persons regarding the roots of and possible solutions to social and armed conflict in Colombia. He is an intellectual and an economist who has led various missions of conflict resolution, including participation in the peace process between 1998 and 2002 under the administration of President Andres Pastrana.
Palmera joined the FARC-EP in 1989 after experiencing grave threats to his participation in the Patriotic Union. The Patriotic Union is a Leftist party that saw more than 4,000 of its members assassinated over a ten-year period, including one vice presidential and two presidential candidates. Palmera was an original member of “The Independents,” a group of academics who supported the Patriotic Union. After all its other members were either killed or forced into exile, Palmera made the decision to enlist in the FARC-EP.
Palmera’s presence was requested for the peace negotiations in Havana between 2012 and 2016. Why was his chair empty?
Palmera was arrested over 20 years ago in January 2004, in Ecuador, while undertaking a United Nations approved mission to arrange for the release of FARC-EP captives. He was extradited to the US in November 2004 where he went through a series of hung juries and mistrials. The prosecution was ultimately only able to get a conviction by the jury of “conspiracy to kidnap” based on Palmera’s membership in the FARC-EP which the U.S. government defined as part of a criminal conspiracy.
He has been held since in solitary confinement at the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, United States of America. According to the terms of the 2016 peace accords, had Palmera remained in Colombia serving his jail sentence, he would have been covered by those accords and released from incarceration as part of the peace process.
The US government has used the extradition process to interfere with Colombia’s sovereignty, as well as its peace process and efforts for truth telling and reconciliation. For instance, the extradition of Colombian paramilitaries has impeded efforts within the country to investigate death squad connections with Colombia’s business, military, and political leaders. However, recently, the US has cooperated with the repatriation of paramilitary leaders like Salvatore Mancuso, who has been named by the Colombian government as a special Peace Coordinator for the development of the Total Peace Plan proposed by President Gustavo Petro.
However, even though the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) gave amnesty to Palmera for his charges in Colombia, Pres. Petro has so far made no request for Palmera’s repatriation. That request needs to be made, and the administration of US President Joe Biden must grant it.
Throughout the Americas and around the world, we all have an interest in supporting peace in Colombia as part of our quest for “peace for the world.” We, the undersigned, therefore, make the following appeals to both the Colombian and U.S. governments and to Presidents Gustavo Petro and Joe Biden:
1. That the administrations of Colombian President Gustavo Petro and U.S. President Joe Biden take the relevant and necessary legal steps to repatriate Ricardo Palmera to Colombia as soon as possible so that he can participate in the development of the Total Peace Plan;
2. That until Palmero is repatriated to Colombia, that he be allowed to participate in virtual sessions with the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP).
Signatories:
Coordinadora Americana por los Derechos de los Pueblos y Victimas de la Prisión Política (International)
Observatorio de los Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos (International)
Roger Waters, Musician and Human Rights Activist (British)
Gerald Horne, Historian and Author (US)
Vanessa Ramos, President of the Asociación Internacional de Juristas (International)
Red Condor Collective (International organization of Colombians in diaspora)
International League of Peoples’ Struggle – ILPS (International)
Fundación Lazos de Dignidad (Colombia)
Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (Colombia)
Sindicato Memoria Viva (Colombia)
Centro de Derechos Humanos del Pacífico (Colombia)
Alliance for Global Justice (US)
National Lawyers Guild – Americas Committee (US)
Freedom Road Socialist Organization (US)
Party for Socialism and Liberation (US)
Anticonquista (US)
ANSWER – Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (US)
Task Force on the Americas (US)
Black Alliance for Peace – Haiti/Americas Team. (US)
Communist Workers’ Platform USA – CWPUSA (US)
Anti War Action Network – AWAN (US)
United National Anti-War Coalition (US)
Marxism-Leninism Today (US)
Popular Resistance (US)
Soldepaz Pachakuti (Asturias, Spain)
Comunistes de Catalunya (Catalunya)
Comité de Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer – CODEM (Mexico)
Frente Comunicacional Anti-Imperialista de Nuestra América (Bolivia)
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