The following article by Conn Hallinan is from Alternet:
August 5, 2010 | If you want to understand what’s behind the recent tension between Colombia and Venezuela, think “smokescreen,” and then go back several months to some sick children in the Department of Meta, just south of Bogota. The children fell ill after drinking from a local stream, a stream contaminated by the bodies of more than 2,000 people, secretly buried by the Colombian military.
The following article from VoltaireNet is by James Petras:
With just a 30 percent turnout, the election of new Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was celebrated as a “victory for democracy” by major western media outlets. However, they blithely omitted to report on Santos’ role in the killings of over two thousand people presumably by the security forces while he was Defence Minister and his close involvement with death squads and narco traffickers. As one of Washington’s staunchest allies in Latin America and enthusiastic free-market champion, Colombia’s appalling human rights record and model of brutal political and social repression is news that doesn’t make the news.
The following article is from Fight Back! News:
Minneapolis, MN – More than 200 people gathered here, June 1, at the office of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, to protest the Israeli murders of pro-Palestine activists who were bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Speaking to the crowd, Meredith Aby of the Anti-War Committee said, “We are here today to protest the outrageous acts of the Israeli military on Monday, May 31 to the Freedom Flotilla which was trying to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. Israeli commandos boarded the ships in international waters and killed at least ten people for the ‘crime’ of trying to bring humanitarian aid to Palestinians.”
Posted in Anti-War / Anti-Intervention, Israel, Palestine
Tagged Amy Klobuchar, Antiwar Committee, Coalition of Palestinian Rights, Fight Back!, Freedom Flotilla, Gaza, Hanin Zoabi, human rights, humanitarian aid, International Jewish anti-Zionist Network, Meredith Aby, Mihalis Grigoropoulos, Minnesota Break the Bonds, Miva Marmara, Teachers Against Occupation, war crimes, Women Against Military Madness
The following statement is from the website of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine:
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine condemns the latest Israeli massacre on the high seas, in international waters, the brutal assault on the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza on May 31, 2010. The Israeli state terror pirates, said the Front, attacked the humanitarian aid and international solidarity ships with firearms and commandos; the Front said that this is the latest crime against humanity committed by the occupation state, illustrating its blatant disregard for international law.
Afghan police and onlookers gather around a bus which was fired upon by foreign forces in Kandahar April 12, 2010. Foreign forces opened fire on a passenger bus in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing four civilians and wounding 18 others, a provincial official said. (REUTERS/Ahmad Nadeem)
The following article by Kosta Harlan is from Fight Back! News:
Kandahar, Afghanistan – In the early morning hours of April 12, U.S. troops fired on a bus in Kandahar, Afghanistan, killing five civilians and wounding 18 more. The driver of the bus, Esmate, said, “They opened fire at us and I fell unconscious. The people who were killed were sitting in the seats just behind me.”
Another witness, Gul Mohammad, stated that the U.S. troops “opened fire for no reason.” A woman and a child were among those killed, according to local authorities.
The men try to cover as the first rounds of shots hit them from the Apache helicopter. (WikiLeaks.org)
The following article is from Fight Back! News:
Leaked video shows U.S. military murdering over one dozen Iraqis
Reuters journalists and children among the dead and wounded
By Kosta Harlan | April 5, 2010
The organization WikiLeaks released a leaked video today showing footage of U.S. soldiers indiscriminately gunning down Iraqis from an Apache helicopter gunship. In the video, U.S. soldiers are heard laughing while shooting down over a dozen Iraqis, including two Reuters journalists. After the initial shootings, a van stops by to pick up one of the survivors who is crawling away. As Iraqis load the wounded man into the van, the U.S. soldiers open fire again, killing more Iraqis and wounding two young children who were inside the vehicle.
Posted in Anti-War / Anti-Intervention, Imperialism, Iraq
Tagged Fight Back!, Iraq, Kosta Harlan, war crimes, wikileaks
The following is from CounterPunch. For more on the Chiquita paramilitary case, see the documentary, Chiquita: Between Life and Law, as well as the material collected on the website of the Colombia Action Network:
Super Criminals
Chiquita Lauded for Human Rights Abuses
By DAN KOVALIK
In its most recent edition, the magazine, “Super Lawyers,” gave its cover story to the General Counsel of Chiquita Brands International, praising him for navigating the complex and difficult waters of Colombia. What it failed to mention is the trail of tears in Latin America left behind by Chiquita (formerly United Fruit, the architect of the 1954 coup in Guatemala as well as the 1928 massacre of striking banana workers in Cienaga, Colombia memorialized in One Hundred Years of Solitude). The following letter, by union labor lawyer, Dan Kovalik highlights the contradictions in the applause given to Chiquita. We note that, just after this letter was written, Chiquita also received (quite ironically) a “sustainability award” for its business abroad.
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