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--- Begin Message ----Caveat Lector- ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/KlSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~->June 10, 2004 Please Distribute Widely Dear Colleague, Last February, when Narco News came alive again, we launched a multi-part series from Bolivia and Colombia (what we call our "Narco News Swarm Coverage") to break the information blockade and publish the true facts about the bizarre and reckless prosecution of Colombian human rights leader Pacho Cort�s, imprisoned, now, for 14 months in Bolivia, on flimsy accusations of "terrorism." At the time, some of you, conscious of the authoritarian "laws" approved in recent years in the United States and elsewhere under the pretext of fighting "terrorism," wrote me, worried, concerned. In the words of one reader: "Aren't you afraid that they'll come after Narco News next, for supporting an accused terrorist?" I replied: "We're journalists, and we don't allow such concerns to impede our work. Any reporter who does allow such fears to stop him from telling the truth is not an authentic journalist. Based on our investigation, Pacho Cort�s is not a terrorist. Far from it. He is evidently a longtime nonviolent civil rights leader. The 'accusations' against him are so weak that a year later the State still has not filed formal charges. The only terrorism involved in this case is that of the State, evidently, according to what we've discovered and reported, under pressure from the U.S. Embassy, abusing the passions and fears of the so-called 'War on Terrorism' to squash peaceful electoral and social movements." Ni modo, as we say down South... If we're going down for defending this man's rights and liberties, and those of other political prisoners, it seems now that many others throughout the world have stood up to be counted in defense of Pacho, too, and the ranks keep growing. This week, globally renowned French farmers leader Jos� Bov� is in Bolivia with a humanitarian mission to investigate and bring international attention to the Pacho Cort�s case. He has brought a letter signed by more than 100 members of the European parliament and leaders of social movements throughout the world. Senator Piedad C�rdova of Colombia is there, too. So are Jo�o Sergio of the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement, Colombian social leaders Gloria Flores and Bel�n T�rres, and Rafael Alegr�a, leader of the Honduran peasant farmers movements. And you are there, too, through the eyes and ears and prolific pen of Narco News South American Bureau Chief Alex Contreras, who accompanied the delegation to Pacho's prison, and has already reported two (more on the way) articles chronicling this historic visit: http://www.narconews.com/ Contreras reports: "If the Bolivian government does not free Francisco �Pacho� Cort�s and other coca-growers� leaders � imprisoned for more than a year with no evidence under charges of terrorist acts and armed revolt � there will be soon be a global campaign for their release, announced French Farmers Federation leader Jos� Bov� today... "'We are all Pacho,' said Bov�, part of an international humanitarian mission holding a series of events in Bolivia to press for the release of political prisoners. "Members of the mission met with President Carlos Mesa today, to whom they delivered a letter from social activists and organizations all over the world. They explained to Mesa their concern over the case of the accused terrorists � people who are, in reality, political prisoners. �'If Pacho Cort�s is not freed, we are going to organize a campaign at an international level, to denounce the existence of political prisoners in Boliva,' said Bov�, a well-known anti-globalization leader...." I say this is an historic visit because it is the first time since September 11, 2001, that such a distinguished, globally organized, movement of leaders and organizations have so directly stood in the path of the abuses of a false "war on terrorism" that, like the false "war on drugs" before it, has been abused by governments and Commercial Media to spread repression and fear. (In Pacho's case, it is a double-whammy: prosecutors, still without having filed a single formal charge, spread cretinous rumors linking him, without evidence, to both "terrorism" and "narco-trafficking.") As Bov� says, we are all, indeed, Pacho. What has been done to him could be done to anyone, journalist or political leader, who fights for the rights of the small against the impositions of the powerful. As I wrote, on Narco News, in the precarious month of September 2001: "It's the drug war all over again: Same script, same faceless ever-morphing 'enemy,' same lack of definable goals, same eternal shadow-boxing and same detour of resources from real human needs� Except the drug war itself hasn't gone away. To the contrary, the 'war on terrorism' is the cloned test-tube baby of the 'war on drugs.'" Our efforts, as journalists, to unravel the threads of this fabric of mass deception, have continued since then and will continue until the madness - already, evidently, slowing, at least in terms of public opinion - is stopped. Now comes international Civil Society to join in pulling the thread of the Pacho Cort�s case. And as journalists, we will be there to cover their efforts every step of the way... and soon... because truth, boldly told, can never be stopped... we will be there when Pacho Cort�s walks out of those prison gates to breathe free air again. from somewhere in a country called Am�rica, Al Giordano Publisher, Narco News President, The School of Authentic Journalism http://www.narconews.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] Narco News is supported by: The Fund for Authentic Journalism P.O. Box 71051 Madison Heights, MI 48071 USA http://www.authenticjournalism.org The Fund receives online donations at this web page: http://www.authenticjournalism.org Apply for your co-publisher's account, here: http://www.narconews.com/copublisher/application.php Subscribe for free alerts of new reports: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/narconews Suscr�bete gratis para alertas de nuevos reportajes en espa�ol: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/narconewsandes Inscreva-se para alertas gratuitos de reportagens do �ltimo minuto em portugu�s brasileiro: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/narconewsbrasil _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/narconews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! 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Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
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