PEACE WITH SOCIAL JUSTICE, DIGNITY AND SOVEREIGNTY IN COLOMBIA, LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN Plan Colombia means death! Our Plan means life! Final Declaration of the First International Gathering of Solidarity and for Peace in Colombia and Latin America. The efforts of a great variety of social movements, political forces, solidarity and human rights organizations, progressive personalities and outstanding intellectuals from all continents have come together in this beautiful and fruitful First Gathering of Solidarity and for Peace in Colombia, Latin America and the Caribbean, held July 20, 21 and 22, 2001, with the participation of 35 countries, 50 organizations, 320 international delegates and more than 100 from El Salvador. We underline that this First Gathering has been an outstanding expression of international unity and solidarity, of the Americas and the world, in the face of the continual imperialist aggressions against the peoples that are fighting against neo-liberalism for liberation, social justice, participatory democracy and for the sovereignty of the peoples. Plan Colombia is a project of interventionist war by the United States against the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, for the purpose of crushing the diverse and growing expressions of struggle, rebellion, popular and patriotic victories, and impeding the appearance and consolidation of participatory democracies contrary to the hegemonic plans of that imperial power and its aim of imposing the so-called Free Trade Agreement (FTAA). Closely tied to Plan Colombia and the FTAA are the ominous processes of Dollarization, concretely manifest in El Salvador and Ecuador, and the installation of various American military bases, concrete cases being in Aruba, Curazao, El Salvador (Comalapa) and Manta in Ecuador. The turning back of these imperialistic and recolonizing initiatives is an unavoidable duty. It is as unavoidable as is the rejection of the onerous payments of the external debt. With all this, and the culmination of the privatizations extended to ports, airports, water, electricity, scientific reserves, forests, coasts, etc., the United States is trying to make the recolonization of the continent irreversible. The pretext with which the justification of this new military escalation in the continent of America is being attempted, is the so-called "war on the narcotics traffic". In this framework, the United States not only includes the guerrilla movements, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), but also the other forms of struggle and popular and democratic expression that openly confront imperialism. This plan underway forms part of a global strategy of economic, political and military recolonization by U.S. imperialism, for the purpose of dominating the peoples and nations of our sub-continent in an absolute and permanent manner. It will also have ominous consequences for our countries since it aims to impede processes toward real democracies; that is, participatory democracies with social justice and national sovereignty. As well, it is blocking the reconstruction of their economies devastated as much by the economic crisis as by natural disasters, diverting efforts and resources to feed an absurd war that gravely compromises the security and sovereignty of our nations and is creating great centres of military tensions. These generate an uncontainable arms race from which the big arms producing and trafficking enterprises are making profits. Plan Colombia and its chemical warfare component would destroy the Amazonian forest, resulting in the disappearance of the planet's main lungs and the world's largest reserve of fresh water. The aerial spraying and the official violence practiced by the interventionist, local and paramilitary forces, which are one in the same, are aggravating the problem. For these reasons, we condemn Plan Colombia - the Andean Initiative. We demand that it be annulled for the sake of continuing the pursuit of a political solution to the social and armed conflict Colombia is experiencing, by means of the paths of dialogue at the Table of Dialogues. The struggle against the plague of the narcotics traffic must be fundamentally directed to prevent the growth of demand in the countries of principal consumption, to punish and expropriate the big chiefs of the international mafias who move around freely with their capital in the world of finance and investment, to control the flow of the chemicals required by this sinister industry, to destine more resources to the medical recovery of the sick; to substitute illicit crops by manual, voluntary irradication arranged with the poor peasants and workers who carry on this activity as a means of subsistence. It requires policies that guarantee to raise the standard of living of the rural inhabitants. In this way it would be totally unnecessary to use military means to confront a problem with profound social and economic roots. To persist with Plan Colombia is equal to escalating the war and involving more of the continent's governments in support of this destructive policy that immediately targets the heroic Colombian insurgency and is opposed to the Bolivarian revolution headed by President Hugo Chavez and the significant growth of the popular and patriotic struggles in other countries of the continent. All of this falls within the United States' pretension to exercise perpetual and universal domination over the planet. In today's reality, this constitutes a dangerous threat against humanity and is generating a crisis of civilization and of survival for the immense majority of the earth's inhabitants. Nevertheless, since the causes that determined the great revolutionary changes in world history have not disappeared and instead have sharpened, the resistances and struggles of the peoples at this beginning of the 21st century are confirming the relevance of the revolutionary ideals and the necessity of an alternative world to the system in force, one that guarantees development, justice, human dignity, democratic participation and peace for the peoples. And therefore, we, the organizations, entities, persons and movements participating in this gathering, declare before the Americas and the world our resolute solidarity with revolutionary Cuba and with the struggle against the criminal blockade imposed on it by the United States, our solidarity with Bolivarian Venezuela, with the Zapatista rebellion and the democratic forces of Mexico, with the heroic insurgency and all the progressive sectors of Colombia, with the Puertorican patriots who are fighting to remove the yankee troops from Vieques and achieve the independence of Puerto Rico, with the struggle of the aboriginal peoples for their inalienable rights, with the beautiful rebellion of the women and of all the sectors subject to discrimination, with the fighting social and political movements in Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and other countries, with the patriotic and popular struggles of the left and progressive political forces of the continent, with the anti-globalization and anti-neoliberal movements impacting on Europe and the U.S. and with the efforts of the political parties and movements working for change who are achieving new advances and electoral victories. At the same time, we condemn the shameless interference of the government of the United States of America in the Nicaraguan electoral process in favour of the Liberal Party and likewise, we reject similar although more discrete interventions put in motion in other countries where the left and progressive forces are advancing toward new electoral triumphs. Consequently, we demand that the United States cease its policy of blackmail in the face of the possible Sandinista victory in Nicaragua and we demand the sovereign right of the peoples of the continent to elect their governments freely, without pressures and interference. We demand liberty for all the political prisoners, beginning with Mumia Abu Jamal and the five Cuban patriots in the United States, the Argentines of the Tablada, headed by Roberto Felicetti and already sentenced Emilio Ali and the 2,500 social fighters who have been tried and are threatened with aberrant sentences. We demand liberty for the Peruvian, Puertorican and Colombian political prisoners. Our solidarizing will today stands with all the just causes in the world, among which the heroic struggle of the Palestinian people against Israeli- imperialist genocide has unique stature. At the same time, we reject all the imperialist aggressions and blockades such as the ones the United States persistently exercises against Libya, Iran and Iraq. Likewise, we stand in solidarity with the struggles of the peoples of Africa, Asia and Oceania. We take up as a whole the legacy of the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, and of the heroes and heroines of our first independence and we commit to make their aims and dreams reality. We express our sincere gratitude for the hospitality and affection displayed by the Salvadoran people and organizations that sustained this event. We salute their effort for the success of this First International Gathering of Solidarity and for Peace in Colombia and Latin America, carried out in difficult conditions in view of the destructive results of the recent earthquakes which significantly affected the economy and conditions of life, and in the face of the persistent obstacles created by the embassy of the United States in its stubborn desire to impede this fruitful gathering. All this increases the value of this gesture of internationalist solidarity generously unfolded by the Salvadoran brothers and sisters. We express our sincere recognition to all those who have made this success possible. July 22, 2001, San Salvador.   SPECIAL RESOLUTION CONCERNING THE CONTINUATION OF THIS EFFORT OF SOLIDARITY We, the participants in this First Gathering of Solidarity and for Peace in Colombia and Latin America, commit to put into practice its agreements, contained in its final declaration as well as in the specific resolutions of the various work commissions, which we undertake fully. As well, we promise to carry forward the convocation, organization and realization of the Second International Gathering of Solidarity and for Peace in Colombia and Latin America, for which we undertake the following commitments: 1. Maintain the offices of Eventopaz in Mexico and El Salvador in operation as means for permanent contact, exchange and distribution of materials. 2. Reproduce this final declaration, circulate it, collect signatures of endorsements for it; send it to governments, parliaments, media and social and political organizations. 3. Form preparative committees for the Second Gathering in each country, which would denounce Plan Colombia and carry forward all the activities that would guarantee the Gathering's success. 4. The choice of the country for this Second Gathering will be made by means of consultation with the present participants and sponsoring committees, in a democratic form. This will begin four months before the event. Tentatively, we are marking the month of March 2002 for this event. 5. For the purpose of making use of the work already done and experience accumulated, the same organizations that originally organized the First Gathering shall act as organizations responsible for international coordination of the Second Gathering, while encouraging the inclusion and assistance of other forces that wish to contribute to its rising development. San Salvador, July 22, 2001.