“No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.” (1)
– Nelson Mandela, July 18, 1918 — December 5, 2013
Translator’s Note: The original version of Liliany Obando’s article in Spanish appears here.
At the time of her arrest on August 8, 2008, Liliany Obando was the human rights director for Fensuagro, Colombia’s largest agricultural workers’ union. She’s a sociologist, documentary film maker, and single mother of two children. Prosecutors accused her of terrorism and belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). A week before her arrest she had issued a report documenting the murders of 1500 Fensuagro union members over 32 years. Colombia has 10,000 political prisoners.
Obando left prison after 43 months on March 1st 2012. Because she had yet to be convicted or sentenced, she remained under court jurisdiction. The following year, almost five years after her arrest, a judge convicted her of “rebellion” on a charge of serving on the FARC’s International Commission. She received a sentence of five years, eight months of house arrest and must pay a fine of 707 million pesos, equivalent to $368,347 (USD). The judge acquitted Obando on the charge of handling “resources relating to terrorist activities.” She is currently under court jurisdiction waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on her appeal. The government’s case against Obando and other prisoners rests on discredited material taken from the computers of FARC leader Raul Reyes, seized after his murder. Since her release from prison, Obando and her family have had to endure police surveillance, harassments, and media slander.
Introducing her article, Liliany Obando writes: “We regard as political prisoners all those who are deprived of the liberty because of political reasons, more particularly because of their opposition to and/or criticism of the status quo. They may be unionists or not, convicted prisoners or not, either prisoners of conscience or prisoners of war. Many face charges of rebellion and such like.”
Obando makes use of Nelson Mandela’s commentary on his own imprisonment appearing in Spanish as: Nelson Mandela, “Conversaciones Conmigo Mismo,” Editorial Planeta S.A., Colombia, 2010. Mandela’s reflections appearing below are taken from an English language edition of that book: “Conversations with Myself,” Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York, 2010
— W. T. Whitney Jr.
Mandela, Symbol of Dignity
Nelson Mandela, one more of those indispensible individuals giving up his physical existence, leaves his legacy to those of us who dream of and struggle for a world in peace, one with social justice and without discrimination and exclusion.
His life was notable for his struggle against apartheid, for civil and human rights, and for national liberation for his people. Activism led to persecution and prison. His first detention occurred in 1956 on a charge of conspiracy against the regime. He went free shortly thereafter.
His tireless resistance and the political circumstances of his country during the 1960’s put him on the path of armed struggle and underground existence. He was commander in chief of the armed wing of the African National Congress, known as “Umkhonto we Sizwe,” or “spear of the nation.” The government viewed it as a terrorist group.
“The means which are used by the oppressed to advance their struggle are determined by the oppressor himself. Where the oppressor uses peaceful methods, the oppressed will also use peaceful methods, but if the oppressor uses forces, the oppressed will also retaliate with forces.” (2)
He was arrested again in 1964 and accused of sabotage and conspiracy against the South African government. Mandela was sentenced to life in prison and locked up on Robben Island. Carrying identification number 466/64, he spent the first 18 years of his incarceration there, his most difficult time, Mandela himself says. He was forced to break rocks and most of the time could only look out at the bars of his cell windows. Visitors were not allowed. Reacting to strong pressure, the government transferred him and six other political prisoners to Pollsmoor Prison. To counter heavy criticism of his government, South African President Pieter Willem Botha in 1985 offered to free him in exchange for Mandela’s giving up what Botha called his violent struggle. Mandela rejected the offer, saying, “What freedom am I offered while the organisation of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into a contract.”
Stricken with tuberculosis, Mandela was transferred to the Victor Verster prison in 1988. From there he would continue the now ongoing process of talks with the South African government. On February 11, 1990, at 72 years of age and having by then spent 27 years of his life in prison — more than 13,000 days — Nelson Mandela was finally free. After negotiations, President Willem de Klerk subsequently lifted all charges against him and against other members of the liberation movements.