The imperialist drug war policy promoted by the United States around the world is a tool for intervention and destabilization of the internal political dynamics of countries of particular geopolitical interest to the United States and its allies, and for punishing those who dare to thwart its plans.
The consequences of this policy range from the militarization of territories, the criminalization of social and resistance processes, and the poisoning of ecosystems with glyphosate, to the overthrow of legitimate governments and the persecution, disappearance, murder, and/or detention of revolutionary leaders.
In light of the recent and high-profile case of the accusation against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as a narco-terrorist, his arrest warrant, and the movement of US troops in the Caribbean Sea, we would like to highlight the case of Colombian revolutionary Juvenal Ovidio Ricardo Palmera Pineda, known as Simón Trinidad, who has been resisting with dignity in an imperial prison for more than two decades, falsely accused of being a narco-terrorist.
Simón was born in 1950 in Valledupar, Cesar Department, Colombia. He is an economist by training, graduating from the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Bogotá. His professional career began in the financial sector as an advisor to the Caja Agraria del Cesar and later as the regional manager of Banco del Comercio in Valledupar. At the same time, he served as a professor of Colombian Economic History at the Universidad Popular del Cesar, where he also served on its administrative team.
In 1979, he began his political activity within the New Liberalism movement and, along with other intellectuals, founded the Common Cause movement, which later merged with the Patriotic Union. Following the systematic extermination of thousands of that party's militants by paramilitary forces, government forces, and law enforcement agents, he joined the FARC-EP in 1987, where he took on political training and propaganda tasks. Between 1999 and 2002, he served on the FARC-EP peace commission at the Caguán Peace Talks.
In January 2004, he was captured in Quito, Ecuador, while conducting humanitarian dialogue, and was later extradited to the United States. After a flawed judicial process in which the drug trafficking charges could never be proven, he was unjustly sentenced to 60 years in prison on charges of kidnapping three American mercenaries.
He is currently serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (USP Florence ADMAX), known as ADX Florence, a maximum-security federal prison located in Florence, Colorado. There, he endures extreme and inhumane conditions: up to 23 hours a day of solitary confinement in a cell measuring approximately 2 x 3 meters, with minimal social interaction.
In November 2024, the Colombian government of Gustavo Petro submitted a formal request to the U.S. authorities for a humanitarian pardon for Simón Trinidad, as part of the Colombian transitional justice process. However, to date, there has been no favorable response.
In April 2025, Simón received amnesty from the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), a transitional justice mechanism created as part of the Peace Agreement signed between the Colombian government and the defunct FARC-EP guerrilla group in 2016.
In this context, the international collective Ven-Seremos is calling for the International Meeting for the Freedom of Simón Trinidad and Peace in Colombia, which will take place on September 12 and 13 in Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland.
This meeting will promote the establishment of an international forum in Europe that brings together organizations, individuals, and support networks to support, highlight, and monitor Simón Trinidad's situation, demanding respect for his human rights, promoting his pardon and repatriation, and ensuring his full participation in Colombia's transitional justice mechanisms.
The meeting will also address the current situation in Colombia, marked by the persistence of social, political, and armed conflict, as well as the challenges facing achieving a comprehensive, stable, and lasting peace.
This initiative is supported by the Patriotic Union (UP), the Association Urabá Global Suisse-Colombie, the JA Freytter Association (Studies on Political Violence and Public University in Colombia), the Contre-Attaque & Autonomie Collective, and the Extraterritorial Peace Association. Special attendance will include Mark Burton, Simón Trinidad's lawyer, and Jean-Pierre Gontard, a Swiss mediator with extensive experience in peace processes in Colombia and Latin America.
We Demand Repatriation and Freedom for Simón Trinidad!
