Peasant-Farmer Activists Imprisoned in Colombia

Dear Colleagues,

Editor Dan Feder reports in The Narco News Bulletin on a new wave of repression from the Colombian government against the social movements from below fighting for justice in that country. On Saturday night, secret police and soldiers raided the offices of the powerful Peasant-Farmer Association of the Cimitarra River Valley and imprisoned three of its leaders.

Feder reports:

"The Colombian state's intimidation machine was in full effect for this huge 'security' operation. The Administrative Security Department (DAS, Colombia's equivalent to the FBI ...) carried out the raid and arrests. According to a communique last night from the ACVC, around 50 soldiers accompanied the DAS agents for their raid on the 10-person, downtown office. Facing objections when they arrived to arrest the three leaders in El Cagüí, 'the agents fired into the air.'

"...Left-wing rural leaders in Colombia are frequently targeted for arrest under charges of either terrorism or rebellion. The charges rarely stick, but when such an arrest comes with an 'order of capture' warrant signed by the country's justice department, it can often lead to years in jail while the case makes its way through the legal system and is resolved."

Feder's report can be read in full online at Narco News:

http://www.narconews.com/Issue46/article2791.html

Also new at Narco News, Bill Conroy reports on the continuing slaughter of Colombia's labor leaders, Brenda Norrell writes of indigenous struggles against the destruction wrought by mining companies from Guatemala to Peru, and the latest stories by Al Giordano on the campaign trail North of the Border.

http://www.narconews.com

From somewhere in a country called America,
David B. Briones
Webmaster
The Narco News Bulletin
http://www.narconews.com

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