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Colombia Support Network Phone: +1 (608) 257-8753 This site is the sole responsibility of the Colombia Support Network. The Colombia Support Network is the sole project of WICOLA, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. |
Editorials
The Colombia Support Network(CSN) deplores the killing of four captives, three of them members of the Colombian Police and one of the Colombian Army. These 4 men, who had been in FARC custody for 12 years or more, were shot and killed by the FARC at close range when a rescue of the men was attempted in a military operation on November 25, 2011. The men who were killed were Police Superintendent Alvaro Moreno, Police Colonel Edgar Yesid Duarte, Police Major Elkin Hernandez Rivas, and Army Sergeant Libio Jose Martinez. A fifth man, Police Sergeant Luis Alberto Erazo, escaped from the FARC and survived.
We at CSN renew our call to the FARC to release all their hostages and to end their practice of kidnapping civilians and taking hostages. These activities have outraged most Colombians. We urge the FARC and the Colombian Government to seek peace through negotiations. Murdering captives by shooting them at close range is a war crime for which those responsible should be prosecuted. It does nothing to advance the cause of peace with justice, which should be the goal of both guerrillas and government. We extend our sincere sympathies to the families of the hostages who were killed.
John I. Laun
President, CSN
The CSN Editorials page features the opinions, comments and reviews of John I. Laun, president of Colombia Support Network, on the topic of human rights and politics in Colombia and United States foreign policy toward Colombia and Latin America.
Urgent Action
Marmato Gold and Murder of Priest Jose Reinel Restrepo
We of the Colombia Support Network express our outrage at the September 1, 2011 murder of Father Jose Reinel Restrepo, parish priest in the town of Marmato in Caldas Department in west central Colombia. Father Restrepo had spoken out against a plan by the Canadian mining company Medoro Resources, which merged in July with a Colombian company, Gran Colombia Gold... [Read Full Alert]
Please write to Colombian Vice- President Angelino Garzón, the Human Rights Office of the Ministry of Interior s, Minister of Mines Carlos Rodado, and Fiscal General Vivianne Morales to urge them to see that the murder of Father Restrepo is properly investigated [Contact Info Here]
CSN News
Marmato Gold Mining and the Murder of Father Jose Reinel Restrepo
Father Restrepo spoke out publicly against the Canadian mining plan, which he noted would undermine the livelihood of Marmato's artisan miners and cause tremendous damage to the community and its residents. On August 28, 2011 a video (with English subtitles) in which he spoke out against the Medoro mining plan was placed on You Tube:
Four days later Father Restrepo was murdered as he traveled by motorcycle between Marmato to a neighboring community. [Read Full Story]
Greystar's Threat to Colombia
Gold v. Water, Part II
In the first week of March 2011 CSN President John I. Laun travelled to Bucaramanga to participate in a March 4 hearing on a mining project planned by a Canadian company, Greystar Resources, in the highlands near Bucaramaanga known as the Santurban páramo. He went in representation of four NGO's and the University of Wisconsin- Madison, Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program. His report follows. On March 18 Greystar indicated it would withdraw its permit application for an open-pit mine, but the next day it issued a statement saying it will pursue its mining project in Santurbán through underground mining. CSN, in cooperation with Colombian environmentalists and Canadian and US NGO's which supported CSN's presence at the March 4 hearing, will continue its active opposition to the Greystar project.
Read the full report on Jack Laun's trip to Santander here: http://colombiasupport.net/2011/Greystar-Santurban-Mining-report.pdf
For more background, read the January 20th, 2011 article by Cecilia Zarate-Laun, Published in CounterPunch: Read the article and follow through with the urgent action: http://www.counterpunch.org/zarate01202011.html
CSN
Special Reports:
Letter from Fr. Javier Giraldo to U.S. Ambassador Peter McKinley
Bogotá, September 20, 2011. Fr Giraldo speaks to the US Ambassador about continued attacks on communities by paramilitary groups in Colombia, with support of the US funded military. Read article... Letter-from-Father-Javier-Giraldo-S-J.pdf
Rejection of the World Wildlife Fund!s Initiative: The New Generation
Plantations Project
WWF Overlooks The social and environmental harm done by plantations. Read article: Rejection-of-WWF-Initiative.pdf
PROTECTING A WATER PRODUCING SYSTEM :
CSN 'S LETTER TO THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
Read about CSN's efforts to stop construction of a road which ignores indigenous peoples concerns. [Read CSN Letter to IADB]
CSN Report: Mining in Colombia
This link is to a very significant PowerPoint presentation by Professor Al Gedicks, prepared specially for the CSN national conference.
Professor Gedicks' analysis highlights the problems with President Santos' proposed mining engine of growth ("locomotora"). Read the Article: http://colombiasupport.net/2011/Mining-in-Colombia.pdf
Report From Eunice Gibson:
The Colombian Army: Terrorism, Thievery, Bungling And Massacres -Update
Updated September, 2010- The latest report from Colombia Support Network provides an outline of events reported officially or in the U.S. and Colombian media, describing terrorism, thievery, bungling and massacres by the armed forces of the government of Colombia. Read Full Letter...
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White House Response....
This is the official response from the White House to our concerns about the seven Colombian military bases, expressed through Representative Tammy Baldwin.
Read
Letter...
Other Document Links:
Senator Russ Feingold writes to Hillary Clinton on the issue of renewing certification to Colombia
Javier-Objecion-Translation-EG
Father-Giraldos-18-Petition-on-San-Jose
Read the CSN Newsletter ACTION on COLOMBIA
Read the Fall 2011 Issue...
Get the latest issue and back issues - Click Here
Books
offered in CSN Bookstore
The
Profits of Extermination: How U.S. Corporate Power is Destroying
Colombia
by Francisco Ramirez Cuellar
According to this study, both US military aid and human rights violations are disproportionately concentrated in Colombia's lucrative mining and energy zones, where large foreign corporations use military and paramilitary forces to secure their investments
The
Dispossessed : Chronicles of the Desterrados of Colombia
by Alfredo Molano
Here in their own words are the stories of the desterrados, or "dispossessed"-the thousands of Colombians displaced by years of war and state-backed terrorism, funded in part through US aid to the Colombian government.