On December 21, 2022, more than 20 political prisoners in the High and Medium Security Prison in Palmira (Valle del Cauca, Colombia) will begin a hunger strike to demand their freedom (see their letter below).
All of them were incarcerated for their supposed participation in the 2021 National Strike. A few weeks ago, Petro indicated that hundreds of political prisoners from the strike would be able to return home before Christmas under the figure of “agents of peace” (gestores de paz). However, this has not happened. Only 7 of the accused political prisoners are currently in the process of being released, and there are hundreds more that remain incarcerated.
This hunger strike demands the creation of a negotiating table with the government to discuss the issue of political prisoners.
The political prisoners conclude their letter with the following message for social movements, organizations, and collectives that struggle for social justice:
To the workers, peasant, indigenous, Afro-Colombian, and feminist organizations, barras bravas, community action councils, and students of the public and private universities, we say:
We are not the prisoners of the cabal, which releases all the corrupt from jail. We are not the prisoners of the elite. We are not the prisoners of those who have harmed the country. We are your prisoners in the jails, and we expect nothing but political, economic, and moral solidarity and a call to mobilization for our freedom.
—
Saturday, December 17, 2022
Dr. Gustavo Petro Urrego, President of the Republic of Colombia
Peace Commissioner Danilo Rueda
Senator for Peace, Iván Cepeda
President of the Senate Roy Barreras
Senator Gustavo Bolívar
Senator María José Pizarro
Representative Alirio Uribe
Representative Alberto Tejada
Representative Alejandro Ocampo
Youth Advisor for the Presidency Gabriela Posso.
Ministers of the Current Government
Greetings from the political prisoners of the 2021 uprising (estallido social) and particularly those who write you: the prisoners of the High and Medium Security Penitentiary of Palmira.
On December 7, we sent a letter through the OAS, as well as different social and political organizations, that included a proposal that we believe will make it possible to solve the political situation regarding the release of the prisoners from the uprising along with the conditions that caused the uprising.
We also expressed in this document, which we will again attach here, that we support the project of Total Peace, but we consider that it is not possible to speak of total peace without the liberation of the political prisoners of the uprising, who today made change possible and made it possible to talk of peace in the country. Otherwise, we would be speaking of an incomplete peace or an incomplete peace process.
We propose an initial peace dialogue that would lead to negotiation with the actors who have always been excluded, marginalized, and never listened to. These are political actors who say to the national government: “Listen to us. Do not let our voice be replaced or soiled by others as they have done so far. Let us speak to the country, clarify, and propose solutions that the Colombian people desire, because we – the prisoners of the uprising – are an expression of that chapter in pause.”
We know that this is an inclusive government and that is trying to gather all voices and ideas, but in this case, the opposite is happening. The government is listening to only one voice. Since this whole process of liberation from unjust imprisonment started, we have been at the mercy of those who have brought us here through lies and deceit before the country. They only want to jail, torture, disappear, and publicly scorn for us because our conscious action made thousands of Colombians open their eyes and discover the causes of the evils that afflict Colombians.
They do not forgive us because, due to our actions, they lost part of the power that enabled their impunity in the face of so much corruption and looting of the country. They do not forgive us because they lost their seats in Congress, the presidency of the country, and – above all –we removed the blindfold that kept the population blind.
That is why they are furious. They demand our political death (muerte política), our punishment, and our murders. We know very well that to leave here [the penitentiary] is to have one foot in the cemetery due to the threats that this caste (casta) makes against us.
We ask that you do not make statements that excite our families just to disappoint them when you speak about freeing us.
When we speak of liberation, we are talking about all the political prisoners of the uprising – both accused and condemned. Not piece by piece, nor by their level of education (which most do not have). Not by how many or how few lies the Attorney General’s Office has said about them.
We are happy that the 7 comrades announced will soon be released, but we need for all of us to be released (todas y todos). An announcement regarding the release of political prisoners before Christmas is an announcement that plays with the hearts of our families that are demanding repair for injustice. Yet again we see our desires trampled on because the pre-Christmas release only includes the accused, thereby excluding the unjust trials of the condemned. It’s a bad look to seek a peaceful trust – especially now – thinking that the release of only seven of the accused would resolve things.
We welcome the proposed initiatives, but they remain limited and little able to solve the damages. We do not want impunity; on the contrary, we want people to know the truth.
That means knowing what happened to our dead. Where are the people responsible for our dead being prosecuted? We remind you that more than 80 people were killed at the hands of the police.
Where are the disappeared? More than 800 people were disappeared in the first months (more than 400 of the disappeared were recovered, 23 were found dead, and more than 300 are still to be found).
What happened with the sexual violence, used as a weapon of repression, against more than 100 women during the protest?
What happened with the more than 1,700 wounded? These numbers are incomplete, and it still is not clear that these are not just collateral damage but the result of systematic persecution by the ESMAD (Escuadrones Móviles Antidisturbios, Colombian’s equivalent to riot police) to torture.
What happened with the sincere apology by the government and the state?
What happened to the truth regarding the persecution against people returning from exile after the uprising? What happened to us?
We do not intend to let our dignity to continue to be trampled on. We will not allow our voice to be silenced. We will not continue to be intimidated, persecuted, and murdered. That is why on Wednesday, December 21, we will go on hunger strike until our minimum demand is met: a sincere peace dialogue with the political prisoners.
We hoped that the flagship policy of President Gustavo Petro’s government regarding Total Peace would not need pressures such as hunger strikes.
We call on all comrades in the country’s prisons, police stations, and wherever else they are being locked up to join the hunger strike if it is necessary. We ask for their support in this dialogue – which is their dialogue – to ask for this dialogue and demand to be there. We will not forget them. We will not let this political caste speak for us any longer. We demand freedom. We deserve our freedom.
We ask for the accompaniment of the guarantor countries of past peace agreements, such as the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Venezuela, the Republic of Mexico, the Kingdom of Spain and other countries that can accompany us, to be custodians of peace for our country. We ask the Puebla group to make a statement regarding the political prisoners of the country. To the different organizations that are in favor of the liberation of political prisoners, we ask them to be guarantors. To the UN, the OAS, and Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office, we ask them to continue accompanying us as they have done so far. To the mayors, and governors, we ask you to act. We ask the Indigenous Guard to be a guarantor and vigilant as it was during the strike (one of the women from the Minga was almost killed after responding to the call to end the massacre in Cali). We hope that you are there, as well as the international community in general.
We salute and thank the different peace dialogue tables who have proposed the liberation of political prisoners in their demands.
We ask the workers’ unions who called for the strike to pronounce their support for the release of the political prisoners.
To the workers, peasant, indigenous, Afro-Colombian, and feminist organizations, barras bravas, community action councils, and students of the public and private universities, we say:
We are not the prisoners of the cabal, which releases all the corrupt from jail. We are not the prisoners of the elite. We are not the prisoners of those who have harmed the country. We are your prisoners in the jails, and we expect nothing but political, economic, and moral solidarity and a call to mobilization for our freedom.
A strong embrace is sent to you by the 23 political prisoners of the uprising (estallido social) in the Palmira prison.
A fraternal greeting to all the political prisoners, we will not abandon you.
Sergio Pastor, Marcela Rodríguez Parra, Juliana Higuera, Karina Reyes and all the others.
We call to safeguard our lives and rights after this announcement as we continue to be persecuted.