• Submitted by: manso
• international
• 08 / 10 / 2010

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Over 120 U.S. intellectuals, progressive organizations, and activists urged incoming Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to establish “a constructive regional dialogue around the internal conflict in Colombia and its impact on neighboring countries” in a letter which will be delivered to the Colombian head of state on August 7, 2010, the day of his inauguration. The content of the letter was made public in a press release from the Alliance for Global Justice.

Amongst the letter’s signatories are famed intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and  Cornel West, noted journalist and filmmaker Saul Landau, former California State Senator and civil rights activist Tom Hayden, and Dan Kovalik, an organizer and leader of the United Steelworkers.

The letter calls on President-elect Santos “to open a new chapter in Colombian history, its relationship with its citizens, and with its neighbors.” It also criticizes the Uribe government’s focus “on a policy of increased militarization that has claimed an enormous human and material toll, especially for Colombia’s Afro-descendant and indigenous communities.”

“In the final days of his government, President Uribe once again chose to provoke a neighbor" in this case Venezuela" rather than engage in much needed dialogue,” says the letter.

“With his government’s decision to make unsubstantiated accusations before the OAS against the Chavez government at a
crucial moment of transition that should offer a unique opportunity for putting relations with Venezuela on a new path, Uribe once again demonstrated his preference for conflict over dialogue,” it stated.

Members of important U.S.-based think tanks also signed the letter, including Mark Weisbrot, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR),as well as key figures in the U.S. Latino community, such as Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Willie Velasquez Institute.

Copies of the letter are being delivered to former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, who heads the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the regional organization that is assisting in mediating the crisis in relations between Colombia and Venezuela caused by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in his last weeks in office.

OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza and the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, will receive the letter on  the same day.

Source: //venezuela-us.org/