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En Español
Friends,
 Fellowship of Reconciliation USA joins the International FOR and our continental partners Service for Peace and Justice (SERPAJ) in defending Nobel Peace Laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel of Argentina, co-founder and president of the SERPAJ network, against accusations of terrorism by former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe.
Add your name
Please read on for more details, and consider adding your name to a list of supporters of Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. Simply send your name -- or your organization's name -- and country to ana@juanche.net.
Last year, Pérez Esquivel and Father Javier Giraldo -- also a partner of FOR-USA -- helped a former Colombian policeman bring to public light his testimony that paramilitaries carried out murders in collusion with the then-president's brother, Santiago Uribe. Father Javier, like Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, has been a brave chronicler of human rights abuses, and represents the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó where FOR has an accompaniment team.
SERPAJ tells the story
The Peace and Justice Service of Latin America -- SERPAJ AL (Servicio Paz y Justicia en América Latina), publicly declares its refutation of the injurious accusations made by Colombia's ex- President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, against the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. On February 21st of this year, through the micro-blogging website Twitter, Uribe Vélez questioned the integrity and ethical commitment of our International President, accusing him of "having given orders to FARC", and of being a "Nobel defamer, at the service of Colombian terrorists", posing the question, "You are a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate?" These statements, in addition to others made in 2010 (when Uribe Vélez titled Laureate Esquivel the "useless idiot"), add up.
Throughout its 36-year-long path alongside the citizenry of Latin America, Peace and Justice Services has -- with non-violence at the core of its identity -- fought to create awareness of the structural causes of violence that marginalize, oppress, and exclude our fellow citizens. This unwavering commitment has remained present: the construction of peace as a fruit of justice. Adolfo Pérez Esquivel has been, and continues to be, a fundamental pillar in the search for political and social changes, bringing Peace and Justice, together as an insoluble unity, to fruition for all men and women, while making no distinction with respect to the borders and boundaries of Nation States.
We have laid witness to the pain suffered by the direct victims of what is an armed conflict. It is lasting, in spite of the representations of good will from the international community, in spite of the billions of dollars invested in military plans for the "war on drug trafficking", and in spite of the boom in the use of private security in the country and even the region. What's more, they are exporting these phenomena, as if they were somehow "good practices". We point out the statements made by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Esquivel, at the Making of Peace in Colombia (Haciendo la Paz en Colombia) meeting: "Among the factors of hardship standing in the way of advancing towards peace are the impunity for crimes against humanity, the paramilitary situation -- that still exists -- and the United States' responsibility."
Not to justify the violent barbarities committed by various actors in this conflict, even in the slight, we emphasize the vulnerability of the rights to peace, sovereignty, and self-determination that the people of Colombia have experienced for the past almost six decades. Still, the reality that the State is responsible cannot be ignored in light of its failure to uphold its obligation to protect its people's human rights. This is even more grave when considering that the government, with the purpose, if not pretext, of combating armed groups, mobilizes terribly violent campaigns that involve the Colombian police, military and politicians. It is the parapolitics that has been, without a doubt, the most critical element in the massacre, sicriato (meaning the hiring of hit men), murder and displacement of millions of Colombians, of all genders and ages.
SERPAJ Latin America regards the violent statements and defamatory declarations aimed at our leader, a person who has coherently embodied a peace-oriented discourse and practice, as a mere reinforcement of the conception of Mr. Uribe Vélez that the international community already has; his career is marked by a the collection of gross violations that were committed during his administration, be it a result of his actions and/or omissions, against his own people. Finding himself incapable of hiding, nonetheless justifying, such an atrocious brutality, he has instead opted for intimidating, criminalizing, and legally manipulating each and every person who has made his actions evident.
SERPAJ Latin America finds that antagonism in our continent, from constructing dissenters as "enemies" or "terrorists", has produced consequences that put a hardship, even today, on the democratic coexistence of our people. And the violent solutions that aim to "annihilate the adversary", while categorically failing in creating conditions that promote the construction of peace, can be explained by the interest, unmistakable by this time, of certain individuals who perpetuate this conflict for their own benefit.
We invite all the ladies and gentlemen, defenders and promoters of peace, from far and wide, from all of Latin America and the world, to join this pronouncement and urge the Colombian State to initiate, without further delay, the process of truth and justice in order to shed light on the crimes and atrocities perpetuated against its population.
Signatures of support should be sent to ana@juanche.net with your name, country and organization.
Mark C. Johnson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Fellowship of Reconciliation
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