Colombia: FARC-EP refutes leaflet threatening Sucre officials

September 13, 2019

Statement of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP)

Concerning the leaflet dated in the current month of September, in which, in the name of the FARC-EP, the mayors of the municipalities of the department are declared “permanent targets,” accusing them of “treason to the people,” of “corruption” or of “selling out to corrupt oligarchs,” we say:

1. Such a note is fictional; its preparation and publication is not the work of any structure of the FARC-EP (The Second Marquetalia). The political-military line of our organization is outlined clearly, publicly and unequivocally in the Manifesto “A New Stage of Struggle for the Awakening of Consciences” and in the “Political Declaration” of August of this year, and does not consist of declaring war indiscriminately against those who, in one way or another, have a duty to ensure the welfare of communities. 

2. We have stated that “We are going to join strongly with you in the fight against corruption, impunity, against the thieves of the State who, like leeches, are sucking the blood and even the soul of the people.” And we added, among other reflections, “The State has been kidnapped by outlaws and the mafia of corruption and impunity”; but we have also pointed out that “its rescue and liberation is in the hands of the mobilization of consciences, of the masses of the nation, of the united people. That is the force that can do it.” In this way that no one who boasts of using force and violence can take part or speak on behalf of our insurgent Marulandist and Bolivarian organization.

3. As far as the FARC-EP is concerned, we reject the use of our name to cover up the murders that state terrorism advances against the popular leadership. And we clarify that there is no authorized intermediate to the Directorate in the Montes de María to speak for the movement, which flows through this single means of communication and information, precisely to prevent impersonations and abuses by those who want to discredit us with pronouncements and action, removed from the revolutionary conception that inspires us. 

4. It is noteworthy that the false document in question appears precisely at a time when the proceedings in one of the many accusations linking [former Colombian President] Alvaro Uribe Vélez with State paramilitarism is at its peak, especially if we remember “Community Council Number 17” of February 2013, held in Corozal, presided over by this shady character, in which the courageous mayor of El Roble, Eudaldo Díaz, while denouncing serious cases of corruption and paramilitarism spurred by the political leadership of Sucre, warned that he would be killed.

5. Uribe’s main pupils were involved in the macabre plan to which the slain Eudaldo “Tito” Díaz referred; that is why he, directly referring to those who accompanied the butcher of Salgar that day, mentioned the Governor of that time Salvador Arana, the attorney Tatiana Moreno (the most unreachable in dirty institutional negotiations), Jairo Merlano, Erick Morris and El Gordo Garcia. Mayor Diaz Salgado also denounced the secret police and the political class, in a region where paramilitaries had already committed more than 3,000 murders, including the Chengue massacre ordered by Carlos Castaño on January 17, 2001, in which they slaughtered 24 locals.

6. Let’s not forget that Mr. Alvaro Uribe’s response [to Tito Diaz], apart from political persecution and stigmatization, was to take away his bodyguards in March. Then, on April 5, Tito Díaz went missing. On the 10th of the same month he was found murdered, with signs of torture, in Boca del Zorro.

7. In this grim history, in which the nation was found responsible and condemned for not protecting this unforgettable compatriot, Alvaro Uribe is also remembered for having sent former Governor Arana as ambassador to Chile, to protect him from the investigations that were unleashed by the crime in which he was evidently involved.

8. Apart from the no less than five witnesses killed in this case, and the permanent death threats against Dr. Juan David Díaz Chamorro, son of Tito Díaz, and his family, the rest of the story is more or less known, despite the cover of impunity that shelters the universe of misdeeds of the “Unnamed” Head of the Democratic Center.

9. In tribute to this heroic martyr and representative of the people of Sucre, we call on the mayors and honorable officials to continue their struggle from the social bases, consulting their constituents, against corruption and against impunity, to be accountable, striving to solve their problems and not ceasing the investigation to fully clarify the abominable crime.

FARC-EP Directorate 

Source

Translated by Greg Butterfield