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</font><h1><font size=4><b>Colombia -
</b></font></h1><font size=4><b>Piedad Córdoba and Her Fight for
Peace<br><br>
</b></font><font size=3>October 1, 2010 <br><br>
By <b>Fidel Castro</b> <br>
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<a href="http://www.solvision.co.cu/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1495:piedad-cordoba-and-her-fight-for-peace&catid=34:portada&Itemid=171" eudora="autourl">
http://www.solvision.co.cu/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1495:piedad-cordoba-and-her-fight-for-peace&catid=34:portada&Itemid=171</a>
</font><font size=3> <br><br>
Three days ago, there was news printed that the Attorney General of
Colombia, Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado had removed the prestigious
Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba from her post and disqualified her from
carrying out political office for 18 years, because of her alleged
promoting and collaborating with the FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia). Faced with such an unusual and drastic measure taken
against an elected post in the highest legislative body of state, Piedad
has no alternative other than appealing to the very Attorney General who
produced the measures.<br><br>
It was logical that such arbitrariness would cause a mighty rejection,
expressed by a wide range of political personalities, among them former
prisoners of the FARC and relatives of those who had been liberated,
thanks to the senator, former presidential candidates, persons who had
held that high office, others who were or still are senators or members
of the legislative power.<br><br>
Piedad Córdoba is an intelligent and brave person, a brilliant speaker,
with well-articulated thoughts. A few weeks ago she visited us in
the company of other distinguished personalities, among which was a
remarkably honest Jesuit priest. They came spurred on by a profound
desire to seek peace for their country and they were requesting Cuba’s
collaboration, remembering that for years, and at the instance of the
government of Colombia itself, we lent our territory and our
collaboration for the meetings that took place in our capital between
representatives of the Colombian government and the National Liberation
Army.<br><br>
However, I am not surprised by the decision taken by the Attorney General
who obeys the official policy of that country which is virtually occupied
by Yankee troops.<br><br>
<br><br>
I don’t like hedging my words, and I shall say what I am thinking. Just
one week ago, the general debate of the 65th Session of the United
Nations General Assembly was about to begin. For three days they
had been discussing the embarrassing Millennium Development Goals and on
Thursday September 23rd the General Assembly was commencing with the
participation of the heads of State or senior officials of each country.
The first to take the podium would be, as is customary, the UN Secretary
General and immediately afterwards, the President of the United States,
host country of the Organization and the presumed master of the world.
The session was beginning at 9 am. Logically, I was interested in
hearing what the illustrious Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize laureate,
would have to say as soon as Ban Ki-moon had concluded. I naively thought
that CNN in Spanish or in English would be broadcasting Obama’s speech,
generally a brief one. It was on that channel that I heard the
presidential candidates debating in the city of Las Vegas two years
earlier.<br><br>
The time came, minutes went by and CNN was running the apparently
spectacular news about the death of a Colombian guerrilla leader. That
was important, but not particularly transcendental. I stayed interested
in finding out what Obama would say about the extremely serious problems
besetting the world.<br><br>
Could it be that the state of the planet is such that both of them are
fooling around and making the Assembly wait? I asked that the other
TV be turned on to CNN in English and there too, not one word about the
Assembly. So, what was CNN talking about? It was broadcasting
news and I was waiting for the news from Colombia to end. But 10,
20, 30 minutes went by, and there was more of the same. They were
talking about incidents in a huge combat that was taking place, or had
taken place, in Colombia, that the fate of the continent would depend on
that, as the words and broadcasting style of the reporter were having us
believe. Photos and full-color film were being shown about the
death of Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas, alias Jorge Briceño Suárez or “Mono
Jojoy”. The reporter was saying that this was the most severe blow
for the FARC, surpassing both the deaths of Manuel Marulanda and Raúl
Reyes together. A devastating action, he was affirming. It
was presumed to have been a spectacular battle, with 30 bombers, 27
helicopters and complete battalions of elite troops taking part in the
fierce fighting.<br><br>
Really, it was something greater than the battles of Carabobo, Pichincha
and Ayacucho all rolled into one. With old experience about these
conflicts, I couldn’t imagine such a battle in the wooded and remote
region of Colombia. The mighty action was spiced up with pictures of all
kinds, both old and new, showing the rebel commander. For the CNN
news editor, Marulanda’s successor Alfonso Cano was a university
intellectual who had no backing from his troops; the real chief had
died. The FARC would have to surrender.<br><br>
Let’s be frank. The news referring to the famous battle where the FARC
commander died (the FARC is a Colombian revolutionary movement that came
into being more than 50 years ago, after the death of Jorge Eliécer
Gaitán who was assassinated by the oligarchy) and the removal of Piedad
Córdoba are very far from bringing peace to Colombia; quite the opposite.
They could accelerate the revolutionary changes in that country.<br><br>
<br><br>
I would think that quite a few Colombian military are embarrassed by the
grotesque versions of the supposed battle where Commander Jorge Briceño
Suárez died. In the first place, there was no battle at all. It was
a gross and embarrassing murder. <br><br>
Perhaps hampered by the part of the war with which the official
authorities had released the news and other obscure versions, Admiral
Edgar Cely stated that “Jorge Briceño, alias ‘Mono Jojoy’, died
‘squashed’ when [...] the building in which he was hiding in the jungle
toppled over on him.” “‘We know that he died crushed, his
bunker falling down on top of him’, […] ‘it’s not true that he had been
shot in the head’.” So read the statement by Caracol Radio station
according to the American AP news agency.<br><br>
They baptized the operation with the Biblical name of Sodom, one of the
cities punished for its sins, victim of a rain of hell-fire and
sulphur.<br><br>
What is more serious is what we haven't said, which by now even the cat
knows about, because the Yankees themselves have printed it.<br><br>
The US government provided its ally with more than 30 smart bombs. There
was a GPS installed inside the guerrilla chief’s boots. Guided by that
device, the programmed bombs blew up in the encampment where Jorge
Briceño was located.<br><br>
Why not tell the world the truth? Why are they alluding to a battle that
never took place?<br><br>
I observed other embarrassing things on TV. The president of the United
States warmly received Uribe in Washington and encouraged him to give
classes on “democracy” at an American university.<br><br>
Uribe was one of the principal creators of the paramilitary, whose
members are responsible for the boom in drug trafficking and the deaths
of tens of thousands of people. It was Barack Obama with whom Uribe
signed the handing over of seven military bases and virtually of any part
of Colombian territory, for the installation of Yankee armed forces men
and equipment. The country is full of clandestine cemeteries. Through Ban
Ki-moon, Obama granted Uribe immunity, appointing him, no less, as deputy
chairman of the commission investigating the attack of the fleet taking
aid to Palestinians besieged in Gaza.<br><br>
In the final days of his presidency, Uribe had already organized the
operation using the GPS in the new boots needed by the Colombian
guerrilla leader.<br><br>
When the new Colombian president traveled to the US to speak at the
General Assembly, he knew that the operation was underway, and when Obama
learned of the news of the murder of the guerrilla, he warmly hugged
Santos.<br><br>
I wonder whether on that occasion they said anything at all about
respecting the decision made by the Colombian Senate declaring Uribe’s
authorization to establish Yankee military bases to be illegal. The crude
murder was backed up by these bases.<br><br>
I have criticized the FARC. In a Reflection I publicly expressed my
disagreement with the holding of prisoners of war and the sacrifices
meant for them by the tough conditions of life in the jungle. I explained
the reasons and the experience we acquired in our
struggle. <br><br>
I was critical of the strategic concepts of the Colombian guerrilla
movement. But I never denied the revolutionary nature of the
FARC.<br><br>
I believed, and I believe, that Marulanda was one of the most
distinguished of the Colombian and Latin American guerrilla
fighters. When many of the names of the mediocre politicians are
forgotten, Marulanda will be acknowledged as one of the most honorable
and firm fighters for the well-being of peasants, workers and the poor of
Latin America.<br><br>
The prestige and moral authority of Piedad Córdoba has
multiplied.<br><br>
Fidel Castro Ruz<i> <br>
<hr>
</i>From: Z Net - The Spirit Of Resistance Lives <br>
URL:
<a href="http://www.zcommunications.org/support-the-democratic-movement-in-colombia-by-fidel-castro">
http://www.zcommunications.org/support-the-democratic-movement-in-colombia-by-fidel-castro</a>
<br><br>
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