March 6: Support the Colombian people
The International Action Center urges everyone to support
the Colombian people at this critical moment. Over the past weekend, relations
between Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador became very tense when the Colombian
government with the complicity of the U.S. crossed illegally into Ecuador and
invaded this neighboring country. The Colombian government rained many bombs
and cowardly executed a group of insurgent forces from the FARC-EP, including
Raul Reyes, Chancellor in charge of International Relations.
On March 6 there will be actions around the U.S. and
around the world in solidarity with the Colombian people. Information about the
New York event follows including statements from Noam Chomsky and Howard
Zinn.
No matter where you stand with regards to the armed
players in Colombia, the need to call for peace in Colombia and an end to state
terrorism is urgently needed.
For those Disappeared, Displaced,
Massacred, & Executed
There are 3,855,000 displaced persons.
31,000 persons have disappeared since 1990. There are 10,000 presently in 3,000
common graves.
1,771 union members have been murdered in the last decade.
The paramilitaries assassinate 800 persons per year on average.
Since the Uribe administration took office in 2002 and began its so called
policy of "democratic security" 955 persons have been executed
extra-judicially and 7,500 persons have been arbitrarily detained. 486
Colombians were assassinated by the state in the year 2007.
March 6, join us to accompany the victims of the
Paramilitaries, the Parapoliticians & Agents of the
state!
No more Common Graves. No more Forced Displacement. No more
Paramilitaries. No more Parapoliticians. No more crimes by the State. No
More US military aid to Colombia.
March 6, 2008 - 4 pm - Come Join our Vigil
140 East 57th Street & Lexington Avenue - New York, N.Y.
In front of The Mission of Colombia to the United Nations
Noam Chomsky's statement supporting the vigil on March
6, 2008
For far too long, Colombians have suffered torture,
displacement, disappearance, and general misery under the dark shadow of
paramilitary and military terror, constantly taking new and more menacing
forms. To our everlasting shame, citizens of the United States have unwittingly
made a decisive contribution to these horrors for close to half a century. The
vigil on March 6 is a courageous stand by the victims and their supporters, in
Colombia and around the world, a passionate plea for this savagery to be
brought to a final end. Please join them in any way you can, and help to bring
to this wonderful country the justice and peace that its people richly
deserve.
Noam Chomsky,
February 14,2008
Howard Zinn's statement supporting the vigil
Dear friends:
I am pleased to invite those who receive this message to
support the march and vigils plan for March 6, 2008 in support of the victims
of paramilitary violence and of abuses by the Colombian Army and Police.
Paramilitary violence, often supported by agents of the Colombian state, has
taken thousands of lives and left millions of rural Colombians displaced in
recent years. While a series of public demonstrations in Colombia and elsewhere
on February 4th called attention to the human rights violations of the FARC
guerrillas--- including massacres, selective killings and kidnapping--- the
suffering of the victims of paramilitary violence and of abuses by the
Colombian state security forces have not received the same broad public
attention.
Now , however the Movements of Crimes of the State (
MOVICE) and other social and human rights organizations in Colombia are
planning to bring the plight of the victims of the paramilitaries and the
Colombian state to public attention in Colombia and abroad through a series of
events in remembrance of them. These events are being promoted by the Colombia
Support Network (CSN), to whose Advisory Council I belong. Please contact CSN
for more details.
Sincerely
Howard Zinn,
February 10, 2008
