Piedad Cordoba Leads Hostage Liberation in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Mar 31 Piedad Cordoba Leads Hostage Liberation in Colombia
Colombians for peace, Latin America, Militarisation Add comments
By Eva Golinger
Correo del Orinoco International


The Colombian Senator, herself and her daughter once hostages of right-wing paramilitary forces, has been leading peace efforts in the country for years. Despite sabotage by the Colombian government, Cordoba and her group, Colombians For Peace, were able to free two more hostages this week. The world kept up with the emotional developments via Twitter

UPDATE: BY THE TIME OF THIS POSTING, PABLO EMILIO MONCAYO HAS BEEN RELEASED TO FREEDOM AFTER 12 YEARS OF CAPTIVITY!

“They closed the helicopter doors, it’s still really loud, Colombia, give peace a chance!”, read one of Piedad Cordoba’s tweets early Sunday (@piedadcordoba) , as she boarded the helicopter that just hours later, brought Josue Calvo home. The Colombian Senator has been leading peace efforts for several years in her country, which has been plagued with a 60-year old civil war between right and left forces.

Colombia erupted in national violence after Jorge Gaitan’s assassination in 1948, which many believe was attributed to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Gaitan was a charismatic leader, a leftist and a revolutionary, who was set to win the presidential elections before his assassination, during a time when Washington was overly eager to stop the spread of communism in the region. Ten years of non-stop violence followed in Colombia, later transforming into a civil war that has never ceased.

Though the armed leftist groups are classified as “terrorist” by Washington and the current Colombian government, the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), are still the remnants of the organizations that struggled against the imposition of the right-wing elite that has ruled the country since Gaitan’s death. Paramilitary groups – linked to the current Uribe government – were formed to combat the FARC and the ELN, and subsequently became involved in Colombia’s mass drug trade.

As the years and decades passed, kidnappings became a major tactic used by both sides to impose a state of fear and terror over civilian populations, and extort the other side for money and political and territorial gains.

More:
http://colombiasolidarity.net/2010/03/piedad-cordoba-leads-hostage-liberation-in-colombia/#more-351

[rabs]

1. Piedad's efforts to continue

After the release of Moncayo last week, she said she had been invited to France, Switzerland, Sweden and Spain to campaign on behalf of the FARC-EP's 22 military and police hostages and the 500-plus guerrilla prisoners held by the uribista government.

FARC-EP inserted the United States into the equation by saying that "Sonia" and "Joaquin" would have to be freed and returned to Colombia in any deal with the uribe government.

Under pressure, uribe last week mentioned a "humanitarian accord," with the condition that any released guerrilla not return to the FARC. But it's doubtful any such accord will take place before uribe leaves office in August.

Btw, don't know if the gringo media mentioned it but there was an interesting sidebar to the Moncayo release; he came out of the jungle after 12 years in the hands of the FARC-EP and one of the first things he said was that he was NOT a victim of the "Stockholm Syndrome."

I saw that live on Telesur TV and thought, "Whoa, how does he know about the syndrome if he has been in the jungle for 12 years with no radio, no TV, no newspapers?"

So in his first statement to the media he thanked Presidents Correa, Chavez and Lula da Silva for their efforts in his release.

Moncayo did NOT thank or even mention uribe.

That has led to anger among uribistas and some have gone so far as to call Moncayo a traitor. It would be so ironic for Moncayo to survive captivity only to fall victim in freedom.

Moncayo's father said couple of days ago that the family was considering leaving Colombia. So there must be threats.

[Judi Lynn]

2. That's got to be a first, perhaps: out of the jungle, and onto the hit list of the death squads.

All because he didn't praise the Colombian government and damn the FARCs.

Of course, we haven't heard this in OUR "news" media. WE probably won't hear it in the future, as well. It's just our job to give the government our hard-earned tax dollars, and never question what they want us to believe. If we're supposed to hear anything, they give the stories to the media. Slick operation, isn't it?

Remember Donald Rumsfeld made the public statement that they would be putting out propaganda stories, and they would be given to media in other countries, and we couldn't help it if our own media might pick up those stories and run them here? I don't think many people really thought about what that really means, or they'd be P.O.'d. He publicly stated we can expect to ocassionally get stories that won't be true, and that's the way it is.

If Moncayo's family is getting threats now, they shouldn't wait around. They need to leave, in a hurry. The people who make those threats usually follow up, don't they?

Thanks, rabs.