S.O.S Colombia. Student Murdered during demo against FTAA in Cali.

Is our compromise to get involved!! we have to beat those injustices and help the colombian comrades!!!
hasta la victoria siempre!! reclaim the Streets! in colombia and all over the world!.

october 12th there will be a picket of the colombian embassy in london (knightsbridge, behind harrods) from 4-6pm in solidarity with colombian workers who are on general strike that day against the FTAA. also, that date is now celebrated as "day of indigenous resistance" in venezuela and hands off venezuela are having a booksigning with richard gott followed by a social at the NUJ HQ (308 gray's inn rd, kings cross), from 7pm.

tragic news about the students being attacked, more info from JFC:

On September 22nd 2005 students at the University of Valle in the city of Cali
held a peaceful protest on their campus to draw attention to the fact that the
authorities had cut-off the drinking water supply to the nearby poor
neighbourhood of Villa Gorgona. In the late afternoon Colombian riot police
moved into the campus in tanks and fired tear gas at the students in an attempt
to break up the protest. The police subsequently opened fire on the students
with live rounds and at approximately 7pm shot and killed 21-year-old chemistry
student and student union activist Jhony Silva Aranjuren. Psychology student
German Perdomo was also shot and is currently in intensive care.

This most recent crime is only the latest in a series of attacks against
Colombian students. Some examples of the many other cases include:

On September 15th the Colombian Army attacked a student protest at the
University of Tolima indiscriminately shooting at the students. Eight students
were taken away by the military and have not yet been released – their
whereabouts are unclear.

On 9th September Colombian riot police entered the University of Francisco de
Paula Santander in the city of Cucuta. The police fired tear gas and violently
beat various students including a secondary school student who was visiting the
university. During this incident the riot police also attacked the 11-year-old
son of a worker in the university cafeteria. The child was stripped naked by
the police and then brutally beaten whilst other officers filmed and
photographed the incident.

On September 7th the homes of various University of Tolima students were raided
by the Colombian police at 4am. Two of those targeted, Diana Moreno and German
Acosta, were taken away by the police and, though they have not been charged
with any crime, they remain in detention.

On August 17th members of the Colombian Navy kidnapped a leader of the student
union at the University of Cartagena. Edgar de Jesus Avendano Perez was forced
into a car that subsequently passed unhindered through various police
checkpoints before reaching the outskirts of the city of Cartagena where he was
tortured and threatened with execution.

On July 27th police officers in the city of Riohacha murdered student leader
Jahir Estrada Mendoza of the University of Riohacha. The police, who have not
been investigated or punished in any way, then dressed his corpse in military
fatigues and attempted to present him as a guerrilla killed in combat.

On May 1st riot police beat to death 15-year-old Nicolas Neira during the May
Day march in the Colombian capital Bogotá.

Please e-mail a letter of protest to the Colombian Government about the ongoing
attacks against Colombian students by the security forces. A sample letter is
below (please add in a specific mention of at least one of the above cases) and
should be e-mailed to:

Vice-President Francisco Santos on  fsantos@presidencia.gov.co and
 buzon1@presidencia.gov.co
Colombian Ambassador in the UK Alfonso Lopez Caballero on
 mail@colombianembassy.co.uk


Dear Vice-President Santos/Ambassador,

I write to you to demand that the Colombian security forces end their constant
attacks against the Colombian student movement. It is completely unacceptable
for the Colombian police to murder students engaged in peaceful protests, as
has happened on at least three occasions in recent months.

I call on you to act to ensure that those officers responsible are punished and
that these crimes are not allowed to remain in impunity as has been the case on
so many other occasions in Colombia.

I also insist that those students who are currently being held in detention
without charge are either charged with a crime (backed by credible evidence) or
released immediately.

The Colombian Government should understand that the international community
will not stay silent as you continue to regularly violate the human rights of
the Colombian people be they students, trade unionists, human rights defenders
or any other innocent civilian.

Yours sincerely,

Thanks for the detailed info, it´s a shame all this still happening in Colombia, but we mustn´t rest until we "move everithing to make justice" as said by a kind of divine msg . see you in London Pescao so we can start to work on our new agendas and with the PUNKUS.

Following the killing by police of twenty one year old Jhony Silva Aranjuren in the University of Valle in Cali, Colombia, on 22nd September, students in the University of Bristol, that were in Cali that day on a human rights delegation, carried a coffin through the Students’ Union and placed it on the steps of the Union building at the freshers fair.

Before the event today, doctoral student Geoff Norburn said “we will make certain that this will be done in a conduct appropriate and respectful to Jhony’s family and friends. I am sure that we can ensure, as people in the University of Valle on the day, that others will accord this symbolic action with the recognition it deserves”. At noon, students from the Bristol Students Colombia Solidarity Campaign carried a coffin through the Students’ Union and placed it on the steps outside, to bring this tragic incident to the attention of students at the freshers fair.

Carrying roses, two of the students wore T-shirts with the slogan ‘Justice for Jhony Silva’. Others distributed leaflets and talked to passers-by about the significance of this killing within the context of the repression of public university communities in Colombia. Lara Coleman, who leads the ‘Universidad Viva’ campaign in the UK through the Colombia Solidarity Campaign, said “In Colombia, any social criticism is met by fierce reactionary measures ranging from death threats to assassination by military and paramilitary forces”.

At approximately 7pm on the 22nd September, police were captured on video, illegally entering the University of Valle after a small protest at the University against the proposed bilateral free trade agreement between Colombia and the United States. Jhony Silva was shot with live ammunition and killed instantly, having suffered from polio as a child and being unable to run away.

A group of 13 students, academics and professionals from across the UK, including 8 from Bristol, were visiting Colombia on a human rights delegation from 16th to the 26th September. The fact-finding delegation met with university students, teachers and workers to discuss human rights abuses in Colombian universities, in conjunction with Colombia Solidarity’s ‘Para Que La Universidad Viva’ (So the university can live) Campaign. In the University of Valle in Cali on the 22nd, the members of the delegation were on location to witness the aggressive police actions that were the precursors to the killing, leaving the university less than one hour before it took place.

One student from the University of Bristol, Claire Hall, said “The fact that we there makes this whole thing so very real for us. We couldn’t have asked for any clearer picture of the situation in Colombian universities. We saw and felt the emotion of the whole university those next few days after the killing. I can’t explain how it felt. But I want people to know”.

At a forum held in a local sports stadium in Cali on the 25th September, over 8000 students, many teachers, university workers, local and national officials, some members of the international delegation and Jhony’s family attended. Speaking about the forum, Dr. Mario Novelli, a lecturer at the University of Bristol and Chair of the Colombia Solidarity Campaign, said “we made a promise to Jhony’s family that we would do everything in our power back in the UK to do what we can to make sure that this crime will not go unpunished, like so many crimes are in Colombia. We must make sure this promise is kept, by bringing international attention to it and forcing the Colombian authorities to take this investigation seriously and bring to justice those responsible”.