by W. T. WHITNEY JR.
“Mr. President [Santos]: I would like to have you tell me to my face that I am a guerrilla. None of us are. We are workers, peasants who try to live as we can. It’s not easy to live here. Our crops produce only losses. We have to sell very cheap and can’t buy things. . . . I would like to show you how we live, how the schools are, with children eating on the ground. . . . All they care about here is oil. . . .” — “Open Letter to the President” signed by Margarita on strike in Catatumbo, Colombia
Peasants in Catatumbo, in Norte de Santander department, launched demonstrations and highway blockades on June 11, which have continued. Some 15,000 peasants have taken part. They were responding to a Colombian government decision to destroy coca plants they grow for the sake of economic survival. Massed soldiers and anti-riot police carried out violent repression. The government claims the peasants are associated with leftist insurgents, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Talks between government representatives and the peasant organization Ascamcat began on June 19 in Tibu municipality. They quickly ended when Ascamcat leaders and 200 Ascamcat observers walked out because Army and police generals were present. For three days, 7,000 demonstrators enduring tear gas and rubber bullets tried to block troops, police, and military supplies from leaving the airport in Ocaña. Then on June 22 anti-riot police there shot and killed two peasants and wounded dozens. They killed two more on June 25.
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