Ricardo Palmera, aka Simón Trinidad, is a Colombian peace negotiator who has been jailed for 20 years by the US government on false charges. Send Simón Home NOW!
| Register for the Free Simón Trinidad Webinar and Campaign Launch this August 29, 6pm Pacific Time, 8pm in Colombia and Central Time Join us next Thursday for a webinar and campaign launch to free U.S. political prisoner, Ricardo Palmera, aka Simón Trinidad! We will hear from Mark Burton and Gustavo Gallardo, US and Colombian lawyers for Simón Trinidad (Ricardo Palmera) as we launch a campaign for Trinidad’s repatriation to Colombia. This international effort will demand that the administrations of US President Joe Biden and Colombian President Gustavo Petro work together to return Trinidad to Colombia by the end of Biden’s term in office on January 20, 2024. Trinidad was a proponent of and negotiator for peace for the former FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army). His presence was requested for the peace negotiations in Havana between 2012 and 2016 and is needed today for the development of the Total Peace Plan. Trinidad was arrested over 20 years ago in January 2004, in Ecuador, while undertaking a United Nations approved mission for the release of FARC-EP captives. He was extradited to the US in November 2004 where he was tried four times, each ending in a hung jury or mistrial. Finally, the US prosecuted him for charges of kidnapping for cases in which he had no direct involvement. He has been held since then in solitary confinement at the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. According to the terms of the 2016 peace accords, had Palmera remained in Colombia serving his jail sentence, he would have been covered by the accords and released in order to participate in the peace process. His extradition and incarceration in the US are an obstacle to peace in Colombia. Palmera, one of the most knowledgeable persons regarding the roots of and possible solutions to social and armed conflict in Colombia has been incarcerated for 20 years, serving a 60-year sentence at a super max prison in Florence, Colorado. Up until 2018, Palmera remained in solitary confinement and to this day is barred from receiving mail. His only contacts are his lawyers. He adopted the name Simon Trinidad while a member of the FARC-EP, in charge of political education and serving as a lead negotiator in peace talks with the Colombian government from 1998 to 2002. He was captured in Ecuador and extradited to the United States on 2004 on charges of of alleged drug trafficking in one case, and with the holding of hostages in another. After four trials, drug charges were dropped, but Trinidad would be convicted of conspiring to capture three U.S. drug-war mercenaries. Simon’s political extradition and trial, and the inordinately harsh sentence is a great injustice and direct result of U.S.’s deadly interference in Colombia. Unlike how the US government would like to portray him, Trinidad is a symbol of peace for Colombia and for the world. His only crime being his commitment to defend the peace and fight for liberation in his country. That is why we must also stand up and fight for his freedom. Next week, join us in conversation with his lawyers, Gustavo Gallardo and Mark Burton, as we take action to free Simon Trinidad! |
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