Marxist intellectuals support arrested FARC leader

January 17, 2005

Marxist intellectuals released a letter supporting both the arrested FARC leader Ricardo Gonzalez (also known as Rodrigo Granda) and the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Granda is the alleged adviser of the FARC.

Colombian authorities arrested Granda on Dec. 13, 2004. The FARC is accused of terrorism by the governments of the USA and Colombia. Their members are regularly searched by Colombian authorities. Worldwide, police agencies have an interest in FARC members because of their involvement in international drug trafficking.

The arrest of Granda has caused disagreement. The FARC accuses Colombian authorities of capturing Granda inside Venezuelan territory. Venezuelan President Chavez claims Colombia invaded Venezuelan territory and possibly bribed Venezuelan officers. Colombia says the arrest occurred inside Colombian territory and that Granda was moved to Colombia by Venezuelans. Colombia admitted the payment of a reward for Granda, but rebutted accusations of bribery.

Recently, the Colombian government released an official notice accusing Venezuela of accepting representatives of terrorist organizations in political events sponsored by official Venezuelan institutions.

Open letter from international intellectuals, to the international public opinion

The kidnapping of Rodrigo Granda, carried out in Venezuelan territory presumably by agents of the Colombian police, is an attempt to create difficulties between both countries in order to debilitate the Bolivarian movement. An additional effect is to reduce the international prestige of the conduct of President Hugo Chávez creating doubts about a possible Venezuelan implication in said kidnapping. All intended to cause a possible armed intervention of the United States as a result of the conflict.

In view of this stratagem, the undersigned, artists, writers, intellectuals of Our America and the world declare our unrestricted support to the process of social change initiated in Venezuela and declare our adhesion and solidarity to the Bolivarian movement and the diaphanous conduct of its leader President Hugo Chávez Frías.

Ernesto Cardenal (Nicaragua)

Alfonso Sastre  (Spain)

Atilio Borón (Argentina)

Emir Sader (Brazil,professor)

Lisandro Otero (Cuba)

Theotonio Dos Santos (Brazil)

Fernando Morais (Brazil, writer, journalist)

Georges Labica (France)

Saul Landau (USA)

Hernando Calvo Ospina (Colombia, writer, journalist)

Pascual Serrano (Spain)

Domenico Losurdo (Italy)

Gilberto Lopez y Rivas

Ramon Chao (Spain, musician, writer, journalist)

James D. Cockcroft

Santiago Alba Rico

Alex Cox

Stella Calloni (Argentina,  writer, journalist)

Carlo Frabetti (Italy, journalist, writer)

Carlos Fazio (Mexico, journalist, writer)

Miguel D'Escoto (Nicaragua, priest)

Miguel Urbano (Portugal, journalist)

Juan Brom

Luis Hernández Navarro (Mexico, journalist)

Andrés Sorel (Spanish, writer)

John Gerassi (USA, Professor)

Marcos Roitman Rosenmann (Spain, Professor)

David L. Raby

Manuel Cabieses (Chile, journalist)

Eva Forest

Rev. Raúl Suárez(Cuba)

Francisco Jarauta

Eva Sastre Forest

General Vasco Gonçalves

Héctor Díaz-Polanco

Manuel Talens (Spanish, writer)

Alejandro Moreano (Equador, journalist)

Pablo Armando Fernández (Cuba,writer)

Keith Ellis

Dick Emanuelsson (Colombia, journalist)

Carlos Fernández Liria (Venezuela, writer)

Horacio A. López

Angeles Maestro

Víctor Ríos

Danielle Bleitrach

Alcira Argumedo

Quintin Cabrera

Mark Rosenzweig

Arturo Corchera

Cuauhtémoc Amezcua Dromundo

Tubal Páez

Irene Amador

Roger Grevoul

Julie Ruben

Anamaría Díaz

Carlos Alberto de Almeida

Alberto Lecchi

Rosa Miriam Elizalde

François Duteil

Humberto Tumini

Carlos Tena

Elizabeth Martinez

Juan Carlos Monedero

Solange R. Echeverria

Vicente Romano

Jane de la Selva

César Fernández

Norma Núñez Montoto

Marcela Cornejo Z.

Laurindo Leal Filho

Nayar López Castellanos

Julio C. Gambina

Octavio Mercado González

Olivia Vidal López

Miguel Ángel Buenrostro

Juan Carlos Volnovich

Berta Joubert-Ceci

Jorge Ceballos

Isaac Rudnik

Hildebrando Pèrez Grande

Manuel Ortega Hegg

Hélio Doyle

Dr. Rubén Cantú Chapa

Corina Mestre

Manuel Sa Marques

Oscar-René Vargas

Henri Alleg

Roberto Mastroianni

Daniel Chavarría

Elías Letelier-Ruz

Pedro Pablo Rodríguez

Beatriz Rajland

Victor Casaus

Luciana Castellina

Jorge Raúl Rodríguez

Adalberto Santana

Rolando Rodríguez

Lourdes González

Rita Terranova

Alicia Castellanos

Rolando González Patricio

Paulina Fernandez

Vicente Feliú

Rafael Cuevas Molina

Carlos A. Lozano Guillén

Raúl Villegas Dávalos

Sergio Guerra

Enrique Ubieta

Fernando López D´Alejandro

Ana Daglio

Oscar González

Jorge Timossi

Carlos Oliva

Ana María Vera Smith

Salvador López Arnal

José Dos Santos

Humberto Arenal

Iris Galindo

Jaime Mühlrad Zimmermann

Pedro de la Hoz

Maritza Capote

Enrique Cirules

Carlos Alzugaray Treto

Toty Flores, Argentina.

Daniel Rodríguez

Alberto Faya

Marilyn Bobes

Miguel Alvarez

Carlos Roberto

Alberto Luis Tabares

Daniel De Santis Mesa

Manuel Henríquez Lagarde

María Toledano

Manuel Fernández-Cuesta

Rafael Hernández

Manuel López Oliva

Santiago Pujol

Aurelio Alonso Tejada

Alberto Guerra Naranjo

Felix Contreras

Magaly Sánchez Ochoa

Marina Norma Rodriguez Lopez

Lino Arturo Neira Betancourt

José Luis Fariñas

Juana García Abás

Virtudes Feliú

Gioia Minuti