VivirLatino

To U.S. Bolivian Farmer=Terrorist

09:35 H | Topics: Bolivia - Politics

The "Winds of Change in the Americas" conference, taking place this Sunday in Burlington, Vermont, will be without its keynote speaker because the United States labeled her a terrorist. Leonida Zurita Vargas, a Bolivian coca farm organizer was told at the airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia that her visa was revoked because of ties to terrorists. A section of the USA-Patriot Act which bars anyone from entering the US that poses a security threat or has participated in or incited terrorist activity was cited as the reason for the visa revocation. According to Jim Shultz of the Democracy Center in Cochabamba, her visa was cancelled allegedly because:

In 2003 [Zurita] was accused of "terrorism" by the government of ousted-President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, she served a brief time in jail in Cochabamba, and was released for lack of evidence.

Conference organizers are not giving up their keynote speaker without a fight though. The US embassy in La Paz and Senate and Congress offices have been contacted in an attempt to get a new visa for Zurita. If she cannot arrive in person, she will give a speech via phone to the conference crowd.

Leonida Zurita Vargas founded The Coordinating Committee of the Six Women Peasant Federations of the Tropics, is friend and colleague of Bolivian Presidente Evo Morales, has two young sons and has worked in coca farmer unions in the Chapare, a coca producing region in Bolivia where the US sponsored war on drugs has resulted in forced eradication of crops sold for traditional use and violence against poor farmers.

Yeah she sounds like a terrorist to me. If you needed another reason to hate the USA Patriot Act, add this ridiculousness to your list.

Via / AlterNet

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