>estate of Elvia Cortes near Chiquinquira in northeastern
>Colombia. The group attached a sophisticated explosive
>device to her neck, demanding $7,500 to remove it.
>
>The group fled when government forces arrived at the
>estate. But Cortes was killed when the bomb exploded as
>government forces attempted to remove it.
>
>In itself, the killing was not out of the ordinary.
>Kidnapping and extortion by criminal gangs and bandits are
>widespread in Colombia. What made the event stand out was
>the immediate effort by the armed forces and the Colombian
>press to link the attack to the FARC-EP.
>
>Details of the gruesome killing were splashed across the
>front pages of Colombian newspapers. Army General Fabio
>Bedoya and Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez publicly
>named the FARC-EP responsible. President Andres Pastrana
>unilaterally suspended an international conference
>scheduled for the end of May, claiming that "the activity
>of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia must change."
>
>Even leaders of the Catholic Church joined the hysteria.
>Bishop Hector Garcia called on Pastrana to suspend the
>talks on the basis of the killing.
>
>Not a shred of evidence linked the FARC-EP to the attack.
>No previous incident involving the FARC-EP had the same
>characteristics. The explosive device was far more
>sophisticated than anything used in a FARC-EP attack.
>
>The FARC-EP emphatically denied the attack. "I, along with
>the leadership of the FARC-EP, condemn this murder and I
>confirm that it is not one of our methods and that none of
>our people operate in this zone," said Commander Ivan Rios.
>
>"We vigorously deny that this was committed by any member
>of our organization," said FARC-EP Secretariat member Raul
>Reyes.
>
>The FARC-EP blamed "enemies of peace" for the attack. "It
>would be more serious for the government to tell the
>country it is turning its back on its policy of talks
>because of President Clinton's public demands or because
>the pressures of Colombian militarists are very strong,"
>the FARC-EP Secretariat announced in a May 17 communiqu=82.
>
>In fact, the government began to back down from its
>unfounded charges within days. On May 17, Colombia's
>Attorney General Camilo Gomez announced that evidence
>"speaks of the possibility that a different group committed
>the murder."
>
>By May 22, Gomez--who is also Pastrana's high commissioner
>for peace--announced that "every day it is more clear that
>it was not the FARC."
>
>But the accusations show clearly that there are forces in
>Colombia--undoubtedly backed by the Pentagon--who want to
>see the current talks scuttled.
>
>Why is there opposition to the current talks? Simply put:
>the FARC-EP has gained the most. The revolutionary
>insurgency has been able to show the Colombian people and
>the world that they are the ones most interested in a just
>peace, and that they have a program to carry it out.
>
>INSURGENCY ALLOWS WORKERS POLITICAL SPACE TO
>CONFRONT
>BOSSES
>
>In the zone where Pastrana withdrew government troops as a
>safe zone for the talks, crime has fallen to nearly zero.
>Killings that were routine during the government's
>influence no longer occur. FARC-EP troops have carried out
>public works programs, improving the region's
>infrastructure.
>
>The FARC-EP now transmits radio broadcasts throughout
>Colombia to inform the population about the progress of the
>talks. It has broadcast a series of laws. Law 001 on
>agrarian reform promises the expropriation of foreign
>corporations and unused land. Law 002 imposes a "peace tax"
>on foreign businesses and on Colombians with assets over $1
>million.
>
>The insurgency has announced the "Bolivarian Movement for
>a New Colombia," a political arm that will take part in the
>mass struggle in Colombia--although in a clandestine way
>until there are sufficient guarantees for the movement's
>safety.
>
>The group has been able to hold several public audiences,
>allowing the Colombian people to bring their concerns to
>the dialog table. Consider this account of one such
>audience:
>
>"On the first day of presentations the audience listened
>to union leaders criticize government and business leaders
>alike over their economic policies, but when the business
>leaders took the floor, things began to spin out of
>control.
>
>"`Twenty-two million Colombians are out of work,' union
>members yelled at Sabras Pretelt, head of the country's
>largest retailers' group.
>
>"As soon as Pretelt finished, he and his colleagues--the
>15 most important business leaders in Colombia--returned to
>a bus and left the demilitarized zone, which is
>administered by the guerrillas. The few businessmen who
>stayed heard [FARC-EP leader Ivan] Rios call on the
>government to freeze attempts to privatize state-owned
>companies, a plea that drew a standing ovation from the
>union leaders." (Washington Post, April 20)
>
>Clearly, the tide in Colombia is turning.
>
>In addition, the FARC-EP has gained international respect.
>A team from the FARC-EP and the government toured Europe in
>the beginning of the year. The conference that Pastrana has
>tried to cancel, scheduled for May 29-30 in the
>demilitarized zone, was to have taken up the issue of
>illicit coca production and strategies to confront the
>problem. Representatives from 19 countries, including the
>United States, were planning to attend.
>
>At the same time, the Clinton administration is working
>overtime to pass a $1.7 billion aid package, mostly
>destined for the Colombian armed forces and police.
>
>Facing widespread evidence of the Colombian military's
>connection with paramilitary death squads, the U.S.
>Congress has made some amendments to the Clinton package
>for "human rights" guarantees. However, such measures were
>also taken in the days of the civil wars in Nicaragua and
>El Salvador. They allowed liberals in Congress to
>disassociate themselves from the counter-revolutionaries
>and their bloody repression of the masses, while allowing
>arms and intelligence to flow freely.
>
>The Pentagon clearly hopes that the huge infusion of
>material, troops--under the guise of "advisers"--and
>intelligence can tilt the balance back toward the pro-
>International Monetary Fund regime in Bogot=A0. Pastrana and
>the Colombian generals hope that concessions now will buy
>them time to regroup their failing military. They have
>thrown their lot in with U.S. intervention.
>
>The process that has opened up in Colombia clearly favors
>the people's movement in that South American country. The
>National Liberation Army (ELN), another revolutionary
>insurgency, has secured an agreement to hold a National
>Convention in a demilitarized region in northern Colombia.
>This prospect, should it come about--it is already heavily
>under attack by the paramilitaries and their military
>allies--would put the government even further on the
>defensive.
>
>As the revolutionary process continues to develop, the
>prospects for a powerful movement of international
>solidarity--especially in the United States--will expand.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Thu, 25 May 2000 01:02:19 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>Content-transfer-encoding: Quoted-printable
>Subject: [WW] Feel Pride Through Vieques Struggle
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 1, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>REPRESSION INCREASES AS WASHINGTON SCHEMES TO
>KEEP VIEQUES BASE
>
>By Berta Joubert-Ceci
>
>On May 18, four riot police brutally beat Robert Rabin, a
>leader of the Committee for the Rescue and Devel op ment of
>Vieques. A convoy of U.S. Navy vehicles rammed Rabin's jeep
>outside the gates of Camp Garcia, the U.S. military
>training ground in Vieques, Puerto Rico. Immediately the
>riot cops ran to Rabin's vehicle, pulled him out of the
>jeep, clubbed him to the ground with nightsticks, and
>kicked him.
>
>While people gathered round, police buses brought more
>riot cops. They formed a line in front of Rabin, preventing
>anybody from stopping the assault. The activist had to be
>taken to the emergency room in a hospital on the Big
>Island, since there are no adequate medical facilities on
>Vieques.
>
>This violent act of repression is the Machiavellian
>articulation of the "good neighbor policy" the U.S. Navy
>vowed to implement to convince the people of Vieques that
>the Pentagon should stay there.
>
>Using their lackey, the P.R. government and police, the
>Navy and U.S. government have transformed Vieques into a
>hostage island under siege. Riot police stop residents in
>the streets and search their houses without warrants. The
>U.S. military has deployed Marines in Camp Garcia, ready to
>back up the cops.
>
>With few exceptions, Democrats and Republicans in the U.S.
>Congress rejoic ed at the May 4 eviction of people's
>encamp ments from the naval base. For more than a year
>after the death of David Sanes, protesters had prevented
>the Pentagon from dropping bombs there.
>
>President Bill Clinton's Jan. 31 directive--for a
>referendum on the terms and conditions of the Navy's
>continued occupation of Vieques--is being discussed in
>Washington. The House and Senate differ on some issues, but
>in the end, they want exactly the same thing: a permanent
>military presence in Vieques and practice with live
>ammunition.
>
>Why is Vieques so important? The Navy says there is no
>place like it. It's true there's not much commercial
>traffic in the area--but that holds true for many other
>places. Washington does not like to substitute one military
>base for another. In its imperialist greed, the military
>prefers only to add more.
>
>Vieques is part of the whole U.S. militarization of Puerto
>Rico. Thirteen percent of the arable land in P.R. is
>occupied by various branches of the U.S. military. This
>huge apparatus is part of a complex network of military
>facilities that spans the Caribbean and Atlantic.
>
>It is, in short, an essential part of the U.S. aims for
>domination of the Caribbean, Central America, and South
>America. The Pentagon presence is a constant threat to Cuba
>and progressive and revolutionary movements in the region.
>Right now the potent ROTHR military surveillance radar in
>the western part of Vieques is aimed at Colombia.
>
>Both Democrats and Republicans act as if they speak for
>the Puerto Rican masses. Clinton--in order to gain support
>from Gov. Pedro Rossell=A2 for his directive on Vieques--has
>stated that P.R. needs to define its status.
>
>The compliant Gov. Rossell=A2 stated: "The U.S. Congress is
>the only one who can determine which are the valid options
>that will be considered in a future consultation on the
>status of the island of Puerto Rico." So much for self-
>determination.
>
>But the Puerto Rican masses will not decide their future
>when and how Washington wants them to. They will decide
>their status when and how they see fit.
>
>An enormous jump in political consciousness has been
>developing in P.R. over the last few years. The high cost
>of living, unemployment, the impact of privatization, and
>neoliberal measures and political repression have impacted
>the people in many ways. So many contradictions exist in so
>many areas that they have become an unstoppable motor in
>the process of generating new political consciousness. A
>greater sense of nationhood has flourished.
>
>This upsurge of nationalism was the subject of a recent
>poll taken by the well-known U.S. firm Standard and Poors.
>It reported that "there is an emerging nationalism within
>the Puerto Rican population that could turn into a source
>of instability and political risk in the future."
>
>This sense of nationhood translates into suffering in one
>area being felt by the majority all over P.R. When
>telephone workers were confronted with privatization of the
>national phone company, this insult was felt as a personal
>injury by the masses. The cruel incarceration of the pro-
>independence political prisoners was an affront to all
>Puerto Ricans.
>
>The struggle of Vieques is no different. It has further
>united all sectors of society.
>
>As Ismael Guadalupe of the Committee for the Rescue and
>Development of Vieques remarked on a recent visit to New
>York: "Just as Albizu Campos said in the 1940s when the
>U.S. was appropriating Vieques's lands, Vieques is a
>national demand and its struggle is one of self-
>determination. Vieques is part of our Puerto Rican land."
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Thu, 25 May 2000 01:02:17 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Subject: [WW] Two Great Contributions of Malcom X
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 1, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>TWO GREAT CONTRIBUTIONS OF MALCOM X
>
>By Monica Moorehead
>
>[Adapted from a talk given at a May 19 Workers World Party
>forum.]
>
>
>
>Malcolm X was the subject of a "60 Minutes" report May 14.
>The segment showed the current leader of the Nation of
>Islam, Louis Farrakhan, apologizing face to face to
>Malcolm's oldest daughter for the role his public attacks
>against Malcolm may have played in the assassination of her
>father.
>
>Farrakhan made a very interesting comment. He said that no
>matter who pulled the trigger that ended the short life of
>this great revolutionary, the bottom line is that the U.S.
>government is ultimately responsible for his death. And we
>agree with that position.
>
>This U.S. government murdered Malcolm X just as it
>murdered Martin Luther King, George Jackson, Medgar Evers,
>many key leaders of the Black Panthers, and so many
>dedicated and influential activists who were seeking social
>change and the total liberation of Black people. The U.S.
>government and all of its capitalist institutions,
>including the media, created the repressive atmosphere for
>these assassinations, incarcerations, and all of the
>misinformation which led to the isolation of the Black
>liberation movement from the working class as a whole
>during that period of relative capitalist stability.
>
>Many of the hundreds of political prisoners today are the
>heroic survivors of COINTELPRO. The government's tactics
>may have changed, but the end results are the same: locking
>away left-wing political dissenters and throwing away the
>key. We only have to mention a few like Mumia, Sundiata
>Acoli, Assata Shakur who was forced into exile, Leonard
>Peltier, and now Brother Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly
>known as H. Rap Brown, who could be facing the death
>penalty in Georgia.
>
>It's so important to continue the struggle to free all
>these political prisoners, including the remaining Puerto
>Rican prisoners of war, from the dungeons. Many of these
>heroic sisters and brothers have been in jail since the
>late 1960s and early 1970s.
>
>But because today would have marked Malcolm's 75th
>birthday, we want to pay special tribute to his
>contributions to the anti-racist struggle. There is so much
>to say about Malcolm and how he inspired so many of us into
>struggle back in the 1960s. Even in death, he helped to
>ignite our political consciousness and continues to inspire
>new generations of revolutionaries and activists. I want to
>highlight two important contributions that distinguished
>him.
>
>`THE BALLOT OR THE BULLET'
>
>The first contribution was his advocacy of the right to
>self-defense. The Black Panthers gave an organizational
>expression to the right of Black and other oppressed
>peoples to defend themselves, especially against the state-
>sanctioned violence of the police and other racist,
>repressive institutions at home and abroad. But it was
>Malcolm who first popularized it. His phrase "freedom by
>any means necessary" alluded to this right along with so
>many of his speeches. One that stood out in my mind was
>entitled "The Ballot or the Bullet."
>
>In this speech, which was aimed mainly towards a Black
>audience, he asked how Black soldiers could turn their guns
>on the Korean people fighting against U.S. military
>aggression and not turn their guns against the KKK who were
>free to lynch and terrorize Black people in the South.
>
>In other words, shouldn't Black people have the right to
>defend themselves when being confronted by racist violence
>
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