Sign a petition against intimidation of Colombia peace activists

FOR has worked with and accompanied the courageous anti-militarism youth group, Red Juvenil de Medellín (Medellin Youth Network) since 2003. Red leaders and supporters were recently subject to a death threat from the newly emerged "Black Eagles" paramilitary group. We urge readers to respond to the Red’s appeal in the face of this threat.

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Below is a letter from our friends at Red Juvenil:

We wish to inform human rights organizations and other official entities that our organization has been the subject of a death threat from the paramilitaries known as the Black Eagles.

Facts:

1. Thursday and Friday May 29 and 30, the Red Juvenil (Youth Network) received an email from the address redesnegras@hotmail.com with the following message:

"Death to anarchists disguised as pacifists, no more drug concerts or communists, this is the last warning." Those threatened were eight people: members and close friends of the Red Juvenil. It was signed by the group Black Eagles.

2. The people whose names appear in the list are and have been activists in our organization: Gloria Castaño, Martín Rodríguez, Paula Galeano, Eduardo Castrillon, Alexandra Castrillon, Patricia Llano, Diego Agredo and Claudia Montoya.

3. On Thursday May 15, when we arrived at the organization’s office in the morning, we found that the cables connecting our building to electrical power had been stolen. We immediately associated this with a neighborhood fine that is demanded to provide "security" for the Network of Agro-ecology Roots shop, which is located in our building. We refuse to pay this fine.

4. As is publicly known, on May 17, the Red Juvenil hosted the 14th Anti-Militarism Concert, commemorating ten years of its existence, in Parque Obrero in the neighborhood known as "Boston."

Our event was jeopardized because the previous agreement between the Democratic Corporation and the General Secretary of the City of Medellín, was not fulfilled. The Democratic Corporation promised to finish their event with displaced mothers at 11:30am, but by 2pm, they had still not concluded their activity.

Despite the fact that they didn’t uphold their commitments on the agreed upon schedule; and that the stage was only made available to us after 7pm, which was an act of sabotage carried out by the Democratic Corporation, the concert was a success with over 5,000 young people in attendance. We were able to meet our objectives, mobilizing young people who share the vision of a society different from the status quo and who seek resistance to all forms of oppression and militarism. Therefore:

1. If in Medellin, as the mayor has proclaimed, the paramilitary structures have been disbanded, excused by a demobilization process that has benefited only the perpetrators, then why do death threats continue against expressions of a just society, expressions which use artistic, cultural and nonviolent media, such as those developed by the Red Juvenil?

2. The justification to eliminate people through expressions like "death to anarchists disguised as pacifists, no more drug concerts nor communists" is related to practices which intend to homogenize our society, where we are all supposed to be identical, without permitting us to think about how to construct a different kind of humanity. Based in our beliefs of nonviolence, the Red Juvenil reclaims the defense of life and does not justify the elimination of any human being because of his/her beliefs or ideals.

3. We reiterate our commitment to continue a popular, nonviolent struggle by generating proposals for life, that include happiness, respect and dignity for the human condition and which uphold as valuable, exceptional and unique, elements of that condition such as: art, music, nonviolent direct action, physical expressions on the streets and the mobilization of other proposals similar to ours.

For these reasons:

1. We denounce and reject the threats that paramilitary groups still operating in this city have made against members and close friends of our organization.
2. We hold the Colombian state responsible for any harm to the physical integrity of our partners from the Red Juvenil and its close friends.

We make this difficult situation known to all of you so that you will be able to accompany us, support us and move forward with the actions that are at your disposal to preserve the well being of the organization and the lives of those who have been threatened.