Polo Democratico demands that FARC respect social processes

IN THE FACE OF THREATS TO THEIR LEADERS AND THEIR GOVERNMENT

Polo Democratico Alternativo demands that the FARC respect social processes in Catatumbo
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, a CSN translator)

Thursday, November 2, 2006

The Democratic Alternative Polo (PDA) today expressed solidarity with the people of Catatumbo and their local administrations in the face of recent threats that mayors, council members and community leaders have received on the part of the FARC.

The following is the communication sent and signed by the President and Secretary General of the Party, Carlos Gaviria Diaz and Antonio Navarro Wolff, respectively:

The PDA, as a social and political force fighting for the democratization of the lives of Colombians, expresses its solidarity with the communities and the municipal administrations in the Catatumbo region.  These communities are facing a crisis of governance because of the threats that the mayors, council members and community leaders have received from the FARC, pressuring them to resign.

The resistance that these communities have exercised during these last six years against the paramilitary groups who have brutally violated their rights, and which have begun to develop  processes of social and political participation since 2005, now is facing new aggressions, which are destroying the reconstruction of the fabric of the communities.

We recognize in the organizational capacity of the towns of Catatumbo a basis for the democratic reconstruction of the region, the power to be watchful over local administrations.  Only the direct exercise of popular sovereignty by the Colombian people will permit the country to advance down the sustainable path toward peace and justice with dignity.

That is the reason why we demand once again that the FARC respect the autonomy of the social and political processes that are going forward in the Catatumbo.  They will maintain democratic governance in the municipalities of Convencion, San Calixto, Teorema, Hacari and El Tarra.

Carlos Gaviria Diaz, President

Antonio Navarro Wolff, Secretary General