Movement News: Solidarity with the Popular Movements of Colombia

This is the August 6, 2018 statement by the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases

The Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases declares our solidarity with the popular movements of Colombia who are currently the targets of a systematic operation of extermination and intimidation. On August 7, 2018, the right-wing candidate Iván Duque will take possession of the office of the presidency of Colombia, backed by every business and political interest, and every paramilitary organization that wants to undermine the country’s peace.

We denounce this right-wing violence and the efforts, whether legal or illegal, to break the peace and nullify accords that have ended more than 52 years of war between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army). As a result of this war, more than 220,000 persons have lost their lives, more than 92,000 persons have been disappeared, and more than 7.7 million have been forcibly displaced. From the beginning, the most impacted communities have been the Afro-Colombian, indigenous, and rural peoples. Also, from the beginning, the root of this conflict has been the greed of global capitalism for lands and resources that are abundant in their territories. Neither the big landowners, large agribusinesses, narco-traffickers, extractivist and transnational companies, nor the death squads who serve them, nor the militaries, business people, nor politicians linked with them, want peace. They do not want to return the displaced to their homes and farms. They do not want land reforms, nor reserves that protect oppressed communities and their access to land. They do not want peace – they want total domination and the dispossession of whatever community presents an obstacle to their excessive profits.  

The June 17, 2018 election of Iván Duque as President of Colombia was a victory for the enemies of peace. He won the vote in an electoral season marked by irregularities and a climate of threats and violent assaults against the Left and the Center-Left and their candidates. The situation was already deplorable before his election. Between January 1, 2016 and May 14, 2018, the Marcha Patriótica, a social movement for a just peace, had counted 385 victims of political violence. They were all members of popular and Left movements, ex-insurgents and ex-political prisoners and their families, unionists, human rights defenders, students, and/or ecological activists. The majority of the murders were committed by paramilitaries and other illegal groups. Many of the paramilitaries operate with impunity in places where there are located Colombian Armed Forces troops. The Armed Forces have also directly attacked popular movements and protests, and are being investigated for 14 murders of social leaders.

Of the 385 victims between January 1, 2016 and May 14, 2018, 161 came from the Marcha Patriótica and 62% were killed in rural zones. Of these, 33 belonged to just one labor organization, FENSUAGRO (the National Unified Federation of Agricultural Workers Unions). More than a third of the victims, 33.2% were indigenous (48, or almost 18%) or Afro-Colombian (41, o a little more than 15%). Since the election of Duque in June, the situation has gotten even worse, with leaders and members of social movements and ex insurgents and their families being killed at a rate of more than one person per day.

War and repression in Colombia are direct results of the policies of the United States and transnational capitalism. In 1962, the Pentagon’s Yarborough Commission pushed Colombia to unleash military and paramilitary “terror” against rural Colombians in order to achieve territorial control for national and international capitalism. Since 2000, the US has invested $11 billion through Plan Colombia. At least 70% of that funding has gone toward the Colombian Armed Forces, and  most the rest toward “security” apparatus and programs that benefit overall strategies of war and repression.

In exchange, the US military has been granted a presence on seven Colombian military bases. Colombia has not only given the US access to its military bases, it has converted into an important partner in US/NATO imperialism. Colombia has sent troops to Afghanistan and Yemen, and has patrolled Central American and West African coasts with the US military. Colombia has also given international training to more than 30,000 military, police, penitentiary, and court personnel. In an act of geographical discordance, Colombia has joined NATO, giving it a permanent presence in Latin America.

Thus, we of the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases not only denounce the political violence in Colombia. We denounce that the Colombian state has become an agent of Empire that threatens its own people, the region, and the planet. We recognize that what happens in Colombia has global repercussions. We stand with Colombia’s popular movements and say with them that: The Peace of Colombia is the Peace of the World!

Banner photo: Twitter/TelloJhonatan

Movement News: U.S. Secret Wars in Africa Rage On

By Nick Turse

01 Aug 2018

“There is no evidence yet of massive cuts, gradual reductions, or any downsizing whatsoever.”

Last October, four U.S. soldiers -- including two commandos -- were killed in an ambush in Niger. Since then, talk of U.S. special operations in Africa has centered on missions being curtailed and troop levels cut.

Press accounts have suggested that the number of special operators on the front lines has been reduced, with the head of U.S. Special Operations forces in Africa directing his troops to take fewer risks. At the same time, a “sweeping Pentagon review” of special ops missions on the continent may result in drastic cuts in the number of commandos operating there. U.S. Africa Command has apparently been asked to consider the impact on counterterrorism operations of cutting the number of Green Berets, Navy SEALs, and other commandos by 25 percent over 18 months and 50 percent over three years.

Analysts have already stepped forward to question or criticize the proposed cuts. “Anybody that knows me knows that I would disagree with any downsizing in Africa,” Donald Bolduc, a former chief of U.S. commandos on the continent, told Voice of America.

“The number of commandos operating on the continent has barely budged since 2017.”

While the review was reportedly ordered this spring and troop reductions may be coming, there is no evidence yet of massive cuts, gradual reductions, or any downsizing whatsoever. In fact, the number of commandos operating on the continent has barely budged since 2017. Nearly 10 months after the debacle in Niger, the tally of special operators in Africa remains essentially unchanged.

According to figures provided to The Interceptby U.S. Special Operations Command, 16.5 percent of commandos overseas are deployed in Africa. This is about the same percentage of special operators sent to the continent in 2017 and represents a major increase over deployments during the first decade of the post-9/11 war on terror. In 2006, for example, just 1 percent of all U.S. commandos deployed overseas were in Africa -- fewer than in the Middle East, the Pacific, Europe, or Latin America. By 2010, the number had risen only slightly, to 3 percent.

Today, more U.S. commandos are deployed to Africa than to any other region of the world except the Middle East. Back in 2006, there were only 70 special operators deployed across Africa. Just four years ago, there were still just 700 elite troops on the continent. Given that an average of 8,300 commandos are deployed overseas in any given week, according to SOCOM spokesperson Ken McGraw, we can surmise that roughly 1,370 Green Berets, Navy SEALs, or other elite forces are currently operating in Africa.

“More U.S. commandos are deployed to Africa than to any other region of the world except the Middle East.”

The Pentagon won’t say how many commandos are still deployed in Niger, but the total number of troops operating there is roughly the same as in October 2017 when two Green Berets and two fellow soldiers were killed by Islamic State militants. There are 800 Defense Department personnel currently deployed to the West African nation, according to Maj. Sheryll Klinkel, a Pentagon spokesperson. “I can’t give a breakdown of SOF there, but it’s a fraction of the overall force,” she told The Intercept. There are now also 500 American military personnel – including Special Operations forces — in Somalia. At the beginning of last year, AFRICOM told Stars and Stripes, there were only 100.

“None of these special operations forces are intended to be engaged in direct combat operations,” said Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Robert S. Karem, while speaking about current troop levels in Niger during a May Pentagon press briefing on the investigation into the deadly October ambush. Despite this official policy, despite the deaths in Niger, and despite the supposed curbs on special operations in Africa, U.S. commandos there keep finding themselves in situations that are indistinguishable from combat.

In December, for example, Green Berets fighting alongside local forces in Niger reportedly killed 11 ISIS militants in a firefight. And last month in Somalia, a member of the Special Operations forces, Staff Sgt. Alexander Conrad, was killed and four other Americans were wounded in an attack by members of the Islamist militant group Shabaab. Conrad’s was the second death of a U.S. special operator in Somalia in 13 months. Last May, a Navy SEAL, Senior Chief Petty Officer Kyle Milliken, was killed, and two other American troops were wounded while carrying out a mission there with local forces.

“U.S. commandos in Africa keep finding themselves in situations that are indistinguishable from combat.”

Between 2015 and 2017, there were also at least 10 previously unreported attacks on American troops in West Africa, the New York Times revealed in March. Meanwhile, Politico recently reported that, for at least five years, Green Berets, Navy SEALs, and other commandos — operating under a little-understood budgetary authority known as Section 127e that funds classified programs — have been involved in reconnaissance and “direct action” combat raids with local forces in Cameroon, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Somalia, and Tunisia. Indeed, in a 2015 briefing obtained by The Intercept, Bolduc, then the special ops chief in Africa, noted that America’s commandos were not only conducting “surrogate” and “combined” “counter violent extremist operations,” but also “unilateral” missions.

While media reports have focused on the possibility of imminent reductions, the number of commandos deployed in Africa is nonetheless up 96 percent since 2014 and remains fundamentally unchanged since the deadly 2017 ambush in Niger. And as the June death of Conrad in Somalia indicates, commandos are still operating in hazardous areas. Indeed, at the May Pentagon briefing, Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the chief of U.S. Africa Command, drew attention to special operators’ “high-risk missions” under “extreme conditions” in Africa. America’s commandos, he said, “are doing a fantastic job across the continent.”

Nick Turse is a contributing writer for The Intercept, reporting on national security and foreign policy. He is the author, most recently, of "Next Time They’ll Come to Count the Dead: War and Survival in South Sudan," as well as "Tomorrow's Battlefield: U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa," and "Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietna. Turse is a fellow at The Nation Institute and the managing editor of TomDispatch.com

This article previously appeared in The Intercept.  

Photo credit: U.S. Army

Movement News: Invoke the Leahy Amendment in Mexico!

Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio

Human Rights Commission
PO Box 24009 Phoenix, AZ 85074

TONATIERRA

June 26, 2018

President Donald Trump

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
 
It is with great humanitarian concern and in absolute denunciation of the complicity and collusion of the of the US government with the pogrom of violence and impunity in Mexico that we now call once again for the US State Department and Department of Defense to immediately withhold all military assistance to the government of the Republic of Mexico as a consequence of the systematic and ongoing violations human rights, collusion and impunity which is prohibited by the Section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (Leahy Amendment) as follows:

(a) IN GENERAL. – No assistance shall be furnished under this Act or the Arms Export Control Act to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible information that such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights.

Particulars: 

On November 20, 2014 the Human Rights Commission of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio delivered a petition to US Congressman Matt Salmon at his offices in Gilbert, Arizona requesting that Congressman Salmon provide the names and particulars of the 5 individuals trained by the US military involved in the Massacre of Tlatlaya, Mexico on June 30 where 22 youth were executed by the armed forces of the state of Mexico.  Congressman Salomon is Deputy Chief of the Western Hemisphere Sub Committee within the Foreign Relations Committee in the US Congress.  To date we have received no response.

On December 19, 2014 the Human Rights Commission of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio hand delivered a communiqué to the office of the US Attorney John S. Leonardo, District of Arizona in Phoenix, AZ calling for appropriate investigation to corroborate the now public information which details how the federal government of Mexico, from the offices of the President to the Attorney General have criminally conspired and colluded to target the 43 disappeared students of Ayotzinapa under a regime of terror financed under the US Plan Merida and the so-called War on Drugs.

In our letter to US Attorney Leonardo, we specifically call for clarification of the issues of Human Rights violations being committed by of the State of Mexico with impunity and deliberate obstruction before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.  We now restate this fundamental demand for respect of the Rule of Law and comprehensive transparent investigation of the events leading up to the attack on the Ayotzinapa students on September 26th, as well as subsequent actions by agents of the state and their networks of accomplices.

We have become informed that on November 18th, 2014 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights entered into agreement with the Government of Mexico and representatives of the 43 Disappeared Students of Ayotzinapa which will allow for an Interdisciplinary Group of technical experts to work collaboratively towards the locating of the disappeared students, punishment for the responsible parties, and assistance for their families. Our understanding is that the essential aim of the agreement is to resolve the underlying structural problems in Mexico regarding forced disappearances, which are not limited to students of Iguala.

For this reason we have submitted a formal Petition for Review before the Interdisciplinary Group that the issue of Complicity and Collusion by the US government's policies, training and funding of the operatives of the narco-state in Mexico be brought to light comprehensively, and the cause of justice be served.

We call upon the US Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor to take immediate and appropriate steps to confront the COMPLICITY and COLLUSION of the US government in the ongoing Crimes against Humanity by the State of Mexico in violation of fundamental Human Rights established under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which the United States is a signatory.

We call for the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) to review, evaluate and denounce the blatant collusion among the US and Mexican government as here presented for being an egregious systemic violation of Human Rights that merits specific consideration at the next appropriate session of the CERD in periodic review of the policies and practices of the US and Mexican governments.

We demand an end to the impunity afforded to the state of Mexico by US State Department policies and an embargo of the armaments originating from US for the bloodbath that has resulted in over 26,000 disappeared and 100,000 deaths across Mexico under the guise of the US funded War on Drugs.

Attentively,
Tupac Enrique Acosta
Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio
Human Rights Commission, Secretariat
TONATIERRA

CC.  Claudia Franco Hijuelos, Consul General Phoenix
Arizona Congresswoman, Kyrsten Sinema
Arizona Congressman Raulm Grijalva
Arizona Senator John McCain
Arizona Senator Jeff FlakeElizabeth A. Strange, Acting U. S. Attorney - District of Arizona

Secretary of State, Rex Tillerman
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Link to original statement: http://cdb-tonatierra.blogspot.com/2018/06/ayotzinapa-2018-invoke-leahy-amendment.html

The Caracas Declaration

Between March 5 and March 7, hundreds of representatives from trade unions, grassroots peoples' organizations, youth organizations, Indigenous and African descendant organizations, women’s groups and political parties from over 100 nations gathered in Caracas, Venezuela, to express solidarity with the Venezuelan people and to support their right to self-determination and the integrity of their political process. The Black Alliance for Peace attended, represented by Ajamu Baraka, BAP’s National Organizer.

The “Caracas Declaration” was one of the products of that gathering.

Caracas Declaration: On the 5th anniversary of the Death of Hugo Chavez

We, citizens from distinct countries, social movements and organizations, political parties, women, youths, workers, creators and intellectuals, peasants, and religious leaders, gathered here in Caracas on the 5, 6 and 7th March 2018, reaffirm our solidarity and militant support of the Venezuelan people, the Bolivarian Revolution and its popular government, which is headed by Nicolas Maduro Moros.

We energetically reject the grave escalation of aggressions against Venezuela’s democracy and
sovereignty by the war-like government of Donald Trump, global corporate powers, and the
American imperialist military-industrial apparatus, which looks to overthrow the legitimate
government of Venezuela, destroy the project of Bolivarian democracy and expropriate the natural resources of the Venezuelan nation.

We denounce that this operation against Venezuela forms part of a global strategy of neo-
colonialization in Latin America and the Caribbean which seeks to impose a new era of servitude and looting through the resurrection of the shameful Monroe Doctrine, a plan which has already begun in numerous countries across the continent.

We reject the threat of Donald Trump of a potential military intervention in Venezuela and we alert that such declarations by him are not mere charlatanism. The military option against the Bolivarian Revolution forms part of the strategic and geopolitical doctrine of the U.S. for the 21st Century. The world must know that a military aggression against Venezuela would provoke a crisis in the region of historic dimensions and uncountable and unpredictable human, economic, and ecological impact.

We warn imperialism and their elites lackeys that play this game: the peoples of Latin America, the Caribbean and the world will never allow that Venezuela be touched by the ambitions of the American military boot! If, in their crazy obsession, the hawks of Washington dare attack Venezuela, the homeland of Simon Bolívar, as it was more than 200 years ago, will again be the tomb of an empire.

We denounce the blatant pressure of U.S. imperialism on the region's governments to involve them in political, diplomatic, and even military operations against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

With these actions, they seek to destroy regional integration and bring about the de-facto abolition of the principle of the founding charter of the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States, which declares the region as a zone of peace.

We reject the shameful and historical opposed attitude of governments in the region that have caved in to Washington’s politics through the creation of illegal and spurious organisms such as the so-called Group of Lima. The shameful regional elites who today lead the plundering of their peoples, hand over their sovereignty to the transnational corporations, and increase poverty, inequality and violate human rights, lack any moral and political authority to question Venezuelan democracy.

We reject the unilateral and illegal sanctions of the US Government and the European Union against the Venezuelan people, which seek to destroy its economy and break their democratic will.

Blockades and sanctions are crimes against humanity carried out by the international capitalist
system, and are severely hurting the Venezuelan people by sabotaging their productive, commercial and financial processes, preventing access to food, medicines and essential goods.

We reject the perverse U.S. sabotage of the process of dialogue developed in the Dominican
Republic and reiterate that only the absolute respect for the sovereignty of Venezuela, non-
interference in their internal affairs, sincere dialogue and electoral processes based on Venezuelan legislation can define the path to recover the political coexistence between Venezuelans. In this regard, we welcome the call for presidential, regional legislators and councilor elections for May 20, a result of a political agreement with a sector of the Venezuelan opposition.

In these absolutely constitutional and legitimate elections, the Venezuelan people in a transparent and sovereign way will decide the course of their homeland. We alert the peoples of the world to the counterproductive intentions of international governments and organizations that are directly involved in the war against Venezuela to not recognize the results of the elections on May 20, and accelerate attacks after what - no doubt - will be a real democratic expression of the Venezuelan people.

We welcome and support the declaration of the presidential summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America ALBA-TCP that categorically rejects the exclusion of Venezuela from the next Summit of the Americas, to be held in the city of Lima, Peru. Similarly, we support all diplomatic and political actions that governments, countries and peoples take to defend plurality and political diversity in the continent and to safeguard the sovereignty and self-determination of peoples.

We recognize the heroic resistance of the people of Venezuela when confronted by the ravages of economic aggression, the financial blockade and all the forms of sabotage that Venezuela is
suffering from, and support the economic, financial, political and diplomatic strategy that the
Bolivarian Government and President Nicolas Maduro are carrying out to overcome the problems and construct the humanist model of Bolivarian socialism.

We are committed to continue the battle for the truth, peace and the sovereignty of Venezuela, to expand the ties of friendship, solidarity and revolutionary commitment to the Venezuelan people.

The peoples of the world, the consciousness of all those who struggle for the just cause of mankind, accompanies at this time and always the Bolivarian revolution, its leadership and its people. We are convinced that Venezuela will be able to – through dialogue, respect for the Constitution, and the indefatigable democratic will of his people—overcome the problems that besets it, and that the Bolivarian revolution will remain a beacon of hope for the peoples of the world who search for a worthy and just destination for humanity.

In commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the physical passing of Commander Hugo Chávez,
historical leader of the Venezuelan people, from Caracas we say to the world: Venezuela is not
alone, we are all with her!

We are all Venezuela!
We will win! Caracas, March 7, 2018