by: PASC, CDHAL & RAJ-Sherbrooke

(Montreal, February 1st, 2008) The government of Alvaro Uribe has rallied Colombians to take part in a large march on Monday, February 4th under the slogan “No more kidnappings, no more lies, no more deaths, no more FARC". With groups in Montreal and elsewhere responding to this call, we must manifest before the public our indignation at this manipulation of public
opinion which distances any negotiation attempts that would permit an end to this armed conflict. The Colombian government seeks to obscure the true face of the conflict: 75% of human rights violations in Colombia are committed by the Uribe administration and the paramilitary forces which are linked to the state.
(Source: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch)

This call to mobilization against the FARC discredits the will of the guerrillas to negotiate a political solution to the current conflict since it comes at a moment when the spokespeople of the guerrillas, under the lead of Venezuelan Hugo Chavez, has permitted the liberation of two important hostages, Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez. Instead of getting
involved in the negotiations, the Uribe government manipulates the pain of the hostages’ families to nourish a vengeful hatred which reduces the possibilities of a negotiated end to the conflict and negates the responsibility of the state for crimes against humanity.

For if it is true that the FARC violate International Human Rights by holding civilians hostage, the Uribe administration maintains a regime of terror against any political opposition, not only against guerrilla groups, but also the civilian population, specifically targeting union organizations (Colombia has the highest rate of assassinations of
unionists in the world), student organizations, peasants, indigenous, etc. These groups are victims of massacres, displacements and forced exile (3.5 million displaced in Colombia), disappearances, extra-judicial executions, arbitrary detentions and torture committed by paramilitary troops, national Army and the police.

This Monday, February 4th, in Montreal and in Sherbrooke, Quebecois and Colombians will be out to counter this war tactic of the Colombian government. “A military solution to the conflict and show of force have demonstrated their incapacity to put an end to the war that has existed for more than 40 years", explains Antonio Suarez, Colombian refugee in
Quebec. “Instead of promoting hostilities, the government must begin to recognize the existence of the political conflict and not negate it’s reality by reducing it to terrorist acts. We need a negotiated political solution to the conflict, because without it the circle of violence will continue beheading our lives and our hopes for peace."

NO MORE FORCED DISPLACEMENTS,
EXTRA-JUDICIAL EXECUTIONS,
TORTURE, DISAPPEARANCES,
STATE TERRORISM,

NO TO “PARA-POLITICS"

YES TO A NEGOTIATED
POLITICAL SOLUTION TO THE
SOCIAL ARMED CONFLICT

Project Accompaniment and Solidarity Colombia, PASC, Montreal
www.pasc.ca

Committee for Human Rights in Latin America, CDHAL, Montreal
www.cdhal.org

Committee of Solidarity with the Colombian Student Movement of the
Autonomous Youth Group, RAJ, Sherbrooke

Complementary Information:

Newsweek
Blacklist to the A List: Once deemed a bad guy, Uribe is now a top ally.
www.newsweek.com/id/54793

Human Rights Watch
Colombia’s Checkbook Impunity – a Briefing Paper
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/americas/checkbook-impunity.htm

Colombia: The power of paramilitary chiefs threatens democracy
http://hrw.org/french/docs/2007/05/02/colomb15835.htm

Amnesty International
President Uribe must reaffirm his obligations in favour of human rights
www.amnestyinternational.be/doc/article4193.html

National Security Archive, George Washington University
Links of Alvaro Uribe with the Medellin cartel: declassified document
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB131/index.htm
www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB131/index.htm

The New Observer
Colombia: Amnesty International responds to accusations of Alvaro Uribe