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Journey to Colombia reveals unjust detainment
Erin Cardone / Sunday 30 August 2009
 
Kevin Neisch returned recently from a trip to Colombia, where he met with political prisoners and trade union activists. Erin Cardone/News staff

The prison guards dismantled his shoes, sicced a drug-sniffing dog on him and poked holes in his fried chicken.

But finally Kevin Neisch was allowed into the all-women detention centre for political prisoners in the Colombian capital of Bogotá. There, he met with Liliany Obando, a Colombian trade union activist and filmmaker who was arrested a year ago.

Last Thursday, she faced trial, charged with rebellion and raising funds for terrorism. She shared a 2x3-metre cell with two other political prisoners.

Neisch, a member of Victoria’s Central America Support Committee, or CASC, first met Obando in 2006 when she stayed at his home while speaking in support of trade unions and raised funds for her cause in Victoria.

"We talked a lot about the prison conditions, a lot about the other people in the prison," Neisch said. The purpose of his CASC-sponsored trip from Aug. 10-18 was to show solidarity with Obando.

Obando, CASC and other trade union supporters are trying to put a kibosh on the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

"It’s not going to help until the human rights situation is figured out," Neisch said of the legislation, which is awaiting implementation. "(The activists) were quite adamant it should be shot down."

While he was in Colombia, Neisch met with a group of union leaders. However, one was missing. Alirio Garcia was stopped by officers at a roadblock and arrested for rebellion.

Neisch also met with student groups and peasant farmers, and developed connections to local activist groups.

"I’m feeling kind of helpless," Neisch said from his livingroom couch. "(This issue) doesn’t get a lot of media coverage but down there it’s life and death. I’ve come back here and I don’t know what to do – wait and see what happens at the trial I guess."

CASC meets monthly, except during the summer, and its almost 300 unofficial members donate money for political journeys such as Neisch’s. The group’s webpage is www.victoriacasc.org.