On March 20, Colombia's Committee-Foundation for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (FCSPP) informed the press that 500 prisoners in several of the country's facilities had initiated an indefinite hunger strike. The strikers are mostly imprisoned FARC guerillas who undertook their action to demand that they be recognized as "political prisoners of war and conscience," and to protest the government's denial of a request by the group Colimbians for Peace (CCP), led by ex-senator Piedad Córdoba, to visit the prisoners and verify "the actual conditions of human rights that they face." The strike started at El Barne prison in Cómbita (Boyacá department), and quickly spread to other facilities. Some have decided to lift their strike since the announcement, but at last report 417 were still refusing all food. The strike follows the FARC's recent pledge to release hostages and abandon abductions. (Antifa Bogotá, Adital, Radio Nederland Internacional, March 22; EFE, March 21; Semana, AVN, March 20)

See our last posts on Colombia's guerillas and citizen peace initiatives.

We depend on our readers. Please support our work: