(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Special to PV

     Tarnished by new revelations of close ties between politicians and Colombia's murderous paramilitary groups, the regime of President Alvaro Uribe has announced intentions to bring charges against left-wing activists, including prominent leaders of the broad-based Polo Democratico (PD) coalition.

     One of the first targets is a Colombian academic, film-maker, unionist, and women's rights advocate well-known to many Canadians. On August 8, Liliana Patricia Obando Villota was arrested by a special wing of the Anti-Terrorism Unit of the Colombian National Police and the Criminal Investigation Directorate (DINJIN) under the direction of the National Prosecutors Office. Charged with "rebellion" and "managing resources related to terrorist activities," there are fears that Liliana may be facing torture in a Bogota prison. No evidence has been presented to support these charges.

     Solidarity activists warn that the Colombian state has completely twisted the facts in this case. Over the past several years, Liliana has visited Canada to speak with development agencies, members of faith communities and religious organizations, unionists, and university students on the systemic abuse of labour and human rights in Colombia. During this period she worked for the international relations commission of FENSUAGRO, Colombia's largest rural-based trade union. Since its formation, over 500 persons within FENSUAGRO have been assassinated or disappeared by right-wing paramilitaries or state forces, while 5,000 have experienced some form of state-based abuse or human rights violation. In 2007, twenty percent of all known unionists murdered in Colombia belonged to FENSUAGRO, which has an estimated membership of over 80,000.

     As negotiations continue towards a bilateral Canada-Colombia free-trade agreement, the Uribe administration wants to divert attention from its links with paramilitarism by going after those who reveal the truth.

     Preparations for cross-Canada and international campaigns against this new repression will be reported in our next issue.