Ricardo Palmera

Following a State Department request, the U.S. prosecutor asked that all drug charges against Colombian revolutionary Ricardo Palmera be dropped. This follows two mistrials where American juries failed to convict Colombian rebel, Palmera. The Bush Administration spent millions of taxpayer dollars on two lengthy trials where the deck was stacked against Palmera. Professor Palmera is an important negotiator for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

By Mick Kelly, Fight Back News

Washington, D.C. - In stunning defeat for the Bush administration, the attempt to frame Colombian rebel Ricardo Palmera on drug trafficking charges ended with a hung jury in Federal Court here, April 21. With the jurors unable to agree, Judge Royce Lambert declared a mistrial.

Ricardo PalmeraDear Colombia Action Network supporters,

Many members of the Colombia Action Network have been part of a solidarity campaign in support of Ricardo Palmera, a Colombian revolutionary on trial in the U.S. under "terrorism" laws. We protested and picketed outside the courtroom many times, and sat in on the proceedings, showing our support for Palmera.

Yesterday Ricardo Palmera was sentenced to serve 60 years in jail in a U.S. maximum security prison under "special administrative measures". Palmera's trial is a political one, part of the broader Bush strategy of criminalizing any and all national liberation movements. Social revolution equals terrorism; while self defense against the terror of the Colombian oligarchy becomes a crime.

The CAN is circulating the following statement from the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera, and urges all who are able to protest Ricardo Palmera's sentencing on January 28 in Washington DC.

We demand freedom for Colombian revolutionary Ricardo Palmera. The U.S. imprisonment and trials of Ricardo Palmera are a violation of the sovereignty of Colombia. Palmera has done nothing wrong. To the contrary, he is a freedom fighter in the service of the people of Colombia. Palmera fights against the corruption and terror imposed on his country by President Bush and those dreaming of U.S. empire.

The National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera, along with students and other activists from around the country protested here Dec. 3 against the sentencing of Colombian revolutionary Ricardo Palmera. Ricardo Palmera was convinced of 'conspiracy to kidnap' in July. The other false charges the government attempted to pin on him met with a hung jury.