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PLEASE FORWARD FAR AND WIDE.
----- Original Message -----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2001 12:17 PM
Subject: NEW YEARS MESSAGE FARC-EP THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMED FORCES OF COLOMBIA – PEOPLE’S ARMY FARC-EP SECRETARIAT OF THE CENTRAL GENERAL STAFF NEW YEARS MESSAGE We greet the Colombian people in the midst of the paralysis of the Dialogue and Negotiation Process caused by the conditions imposed by the President in his October 7th statement on the occasion of the extension of the demilitarized zone, two days after the signing of the San Francisco de la Sombra Accord. The results produced after three years of joint efforts are not what the immense majority of Colombian hoped for, fundamentally due to the regime’s lack of political will to undertake the structural changes Colombia requires for solution of the social and armed conflict. On the contrary, through the information media the enemies of peace are mounting a morbid campaign, the aim of which is to disparage the FARC-EP making use of the drama of a sick child whose father would have returned home if the government had accepted our proposal of a humanitarian exchange for the guerrilla prisoner Ignacio Gonzalez Perdomo, who suffers from a painful illness. On the other hand they say nothing about the situation of state abandonment of 300,000 Colombian children suffering grave illnesses. Paramilitarism, the expression of state terrorism against the people continues dominating cities and areas of the countryside, leaving in its wake a toll of cadavers, hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and the economic ruin of the regions, in the midst of total impunity. Meanwhile, the intellectual, material and financial authors of this form of dirty war are in power and in the bases of the armed forces of the state. The economic crisis is sharpening due to the impositions of the International Monetary Fund, which are keeping the country in its most severe recession of recent decades. As a consequence of this, three and one half million Colombians do not have work; five and one half million more subsist on the informal economy and gleaning; we, the poor of Colombia, now number twenty five million. Of these, eight million live in absolute poverty. The circumstances in Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Bolivia and Brazil present a similar panorama, countries that do not have guerrilla movements to be blamed for every evil in order to hide the real causes of the crisis generated by the economic system. Argentina is the most recent example where the people have now risen up in rebellion against their rulers, causing the fall of President Fernando de la Rua. Due to the imposition of U.S. interests, the Colombian state is carrying on a chemical and biological war against the plantings of coca and opium poppies, ignoring the socio-economic problems of the campesino cultivators. A real agrarian reform that involves manual eradication together with social investment, in agreement with the communities and not via repression, is the path to the solution of the problem of the illegal crops, as was stated in the Accord of Los Pozos signed by President Pastrana and Commandant Marulanda. The so-called "Plan Colombia" is the military instrument of the imperialist economic annexation scheme known as the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas). Our attention is drawn by the silence of the presidential candidates who, in the face of the large and profound economic, social and political problems affecting Colombians, present themselves bereft of proposals and programmes that go to the root causes of this grave situation. Likewise, the electoral campaign is proceeding without guarantees of rights for the democratic opposition and alternative movements. Before the Colombian people the FARC-EP affirm their will to continue contributing initiatives to free the Dialogues of obstacles. The proposed meeting next January 15 with the presidents of the three powers of state and other representatives of the establishment so they explain what it is they are ready to negotiate in favour of peace with social justice and sovereignty, is such an initiative. On the occasion of the New Year, we call upon the Colombian people to organize and fight in co-ordination to win decent conditions of life and work and achieve the objective of a Government of National Reconciliation and Reconstruction that would implement the Ten Point Programme of Government contained in the Political Platform of the FARC-EP. CENTRAL GENERAL STAFF REVOLUTIONARY ARMED FORCES OF COLOMBIA – PEOPLE’S ARMY FARC-EP Mountains of Colombia, December 27, 2001 The Latin American Solidarity Conference website can be found at www.americas.org/LASC The following are instructions on using the Latin American Solidarity listserv: 1. If you need to unsubscribe at any time, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2.To invite someone to join, tell them to send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] from the address that is being subscribed. (Doing it from another account won't work.) 3.To post a message to the list, send email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 4. Do not reply to the list-serve. If you need to reply to a message that comes over the list-serve, make sure that you reply to the sender. 5. All messages should be focused on Latin America Solidarity work. Please do not send news articles. 6. All messages should be national in focus. No local mobilizations or events, please. ====^================================================================ |
