SOA WATCH NEW AND UPDATES

BACKGROUND

Many may be aware of these facts:

• Colombia has traditionally sent the most officers of any of the Latin American countries for training at the U.S.Army training center known as the SOA/WHINSEC at Ft. Benning, Georgia, . 
• That training was implemented in Colombia mainly in the "war on drugs" which in 2002 became a "war on terrorism" against the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and other smaller "revolutionary" groups working for indigenous rights.
• The FARC was formed in 1964 as a Marxist group to defend the rights of landless peasants.
• A disarmament process as part of the peace agreement reached in November 2016 between the Colombian government and the FARCwas concluded in June, 2017.
• The rebels handed all its 7,000 registered weapons to the United Nations mission in Colombia and more than 7,000 rebels in total have been granted amnesty or released from prison as part of their reintegration into Colombian society.
• They agreed to give up their weapons and join the legal political process, after more than five decades of conflict. 
• In addition, that agreement includes a number of points: the rebel group will become a political party and it will take part in 2018 general election; the new party will have a number of guaranteed seats in Congress after the first election in which they take part.
• Some 1,200 delegates from the recently demobilized group attended the congress in Bogotá in August 2017
• President Juan Manuel Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to reach a peace deal with the FARC.

The forwarded email from SOA WATCH indicates what is being seen as a systematic attack on the principles of the peace agreement that threatens to undo the fragile peace accord by flagrantly violent and fatal acts negating the rights granted under the peace agreement.

Your communication of this information expands the work for justice and peace financed by your reform organization and carried out by your representatives in the PCC. Some would call this an invitation to "put your mouth where your money is."

A nation-wide response of action by organization members by contacting legislators would give impetus to this message for justice and peace.

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Thank you for your collaboration. ~ jack

We are deeply concerned by the report published by Cumbre Agraria (Agrarian Summit), informing of the murder of 202 social leaders and Human Rights defenders between 2017 and 2018. In addition, 47 former members of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and 13 of their family members were assassinated. These individuals were re-integrating into sociely as part of the Colombia Peace Process.  According to the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE), since December 11, 2017, when candidate registration closed and election campaigning began, there have been 62 cases of Violence against political, social and community leaders. The breakdown of these attacks is 32 human rights defenders murdered, including 16 campesino, indigenous and Afro- descendant leaders; eleven attempted attacks and 20 people receiving death threats. The level of violence in Colombia is also reflected in that over 139,000 were internally displaced in 2017 and 3,200 in 2018 so far.  The above figures, demonstrates the inability of the Colombian State to guarantee the life and safety of social leaders and human rights defenders, as well as the lives of former guerrillas who have demobilized in compliance with the Peace Agreements.  For this reason, we call on the Colombian State to take concrete and effctive measures to guarantee and ensure the lives of social leaders, human rights advocates, and former guerrillas.  We call on the International Community and Human Rights activists to monitor and generate actions of support and solidarity with their colleagues in Colombia, who continue to suffer violence by the State and paramilitary groups.  We call on the countries who support the Peace Accord to demand more protective measures for former guerrillas who have demobilized andwho are participating in the Colombian elections.  In solidarity, SOA Watch  Join AfGJ’s Accompaniment Delegation to Colombia May 19 – 29, 2018, for the first round of presidential elections. The delegation will be co-lead by Human and Labor Rights Lawyer Dan Kovalikand AfGJ’s James Jordan. Send an email for more information to DELEGATIONS@AFGJ.ORG or call 520-540-8336, extension 3  SOA Watch       We appreciate your interest! You are subscribed to the SOA Watch list as jackwentland@gmail.com. Click here if you'd like to unsubscribe from these messages, or change your email address. The movement to close the SOA is a community, and all ideas are welcome. SOA Watch, PO box 43523. Washington, DC 20010 If you like the work of SOA Watch, you can donate here: http://SOAW.org/donate