Due to the grave crisis in which Colombian People find themselves in under the government of Alvaro Uribe Velez, a 3-day National Popular and Agrarian Mobilization will begin throughout Columbia on October 10.
Organized by campesinos, workers and grassroots organizations, they will be seeking to raise awareness about the current reality of Columbia-a reality that’s nowhere near the image of prosperity and advancement we find in the mainstream media.
A central point in the crisis, as explained in a communique from the National Commission of Communications for the Agrarian and Popular Mobilization, is the illegitimate government of Alvaro Uribe Velex; illegitimate "because he won the elections through the pressure of the paramilitaries and electoral and electronic fraud; illegitimate, because his projects and actions represent the interest of a minority of this country that attempt openly against the well-being of the majority of the Colombian people."
As noted in another communique, "his policies have been completely against the needs of the people and poverty has increased to a subhuman level, reflected in massive displacement from the countryside to the city (more than 4 million people), and in a repressive plan called "Democratic Security" which affects all popular sectors. This plan only assures that the property of the rich is maintained and increased, while the military and paramilitaries (who never demobilized) continue to violate the people’s rights through selective assassinations, massacres, disappearances, forced displacement and threats against communities.
The Colombian state, far from protecting the people’s interests, is in charge of guaranteeing the exploitation of natural resources through the control over land and concessions to big transnational companies "
While the government justifies its actions "and tactics such as food and sanitary blockades, constant fumigations and the militarization of the country," Colombian campesinos-expected to remain docile and complicit-live in fear of the constant presence of the military and paramilitaries.
A Tonne of Prevention
To prevent the mobilization, the government has lately been committed to a brutal campaign of its own. Following the detention of four leaders of the ACVC (Asociación Campesina del Valle del río Cimitarra, or Peasant Association of the Cimitarra River Valley) and a campaign of black propaganda against the mobilization and the organizations that motivate it, the local communal leader of Miranda (Cauca) Carlos Alberto Urbano, and Yovanny Pillimue of the Association of Coffee Producers of East Caucano, were both recently murdered.
"The military at this very moment is being directed by mercenaries who are supported by the Para-political system of the State that is annihilating the Colombian people by different means."
Despite this, the People remain committed to carrying out this mobilization. They are calling upon "the national and international community to support and participate in this mobilization, uniting our bodies and hearts in these actions that will take place in different cities around the world, by spreading information, and voicing your protest to the Casa de Nariño (presidential residence), press agencies, inter-government organizations, the Congress of the USA, the European Parliament and the offices of the transnational corporations with interests in Colombia. The Colombian embassies and the central offices of the transnational corporations committed to the Colombian crisis should understand the repudiation that humanity feels for their action against the Colombian people. Let it be known!"
PLEASE SEND A COPY OF YOUR LETTERS AND COMUNIQUES AS WELL AS INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR ACTIONS TO THE COORDINACION NACIONAL DE LA MOBILIZACION.
campesino2007@gmail.com