Ricardo Ovidio Palmera Pineda (known as Simón Trinidad) is a professional humanist and economist. He was a university professor and bank manager in Valledupar. It was a militant of the Union Patriotica, the movement born in 1985 after the Peace Agreements of La Uribe between the government of Belisario Betancur and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - FARC.

Simón Trinidad has already been in prison for more than 15 years. He is currently held in condition of total isolation in the maximum security underground prison of ADX, Florence, Colorado, in the US.

In Colombia, the FARC and the Colombian government signed a Peace Agreement which ended the armed conflict in 2016. 

The Agreement provides for an amnesty and pardon law for guerrillas. However, Ricardo Palmera (Simon Trinidad) remains in prison and he is not allowed to benefit from the special judicial treatment provided for in the Peace Agreement.

Years ago Simon was falsely accused of being part of the ELN guerrilla. Captured and tortured inside military installations, he touched with his hand what the Colombian armed forces were capable of. For this reason, when the dirty war against the newly formed Union Patriotica began, Ricardo Palmera decided like many men and women to join the FARC to save their lives and continue to fight for his ideas.

In the FARC his political training and his knowledge were made available to the guerrillas: he was a teacher and advisor.
During the peace talks between the Pastrana government and the FARC, Simon was appointed spokesperson for the Conversation Table. His commitment earned him wide recognition and that is why military circles and the media began to falsely present him as a member of the Central Staff and National Secretariat of the FARC.

This machination allowed Alvaro Uribe's government to arrest him in Quito in 2004, deport him to Colombia and subsequently extradite him to the United States where he was brought to trial with false evidence and manipulation. Ricardo Palmera (Simon Trinidad) was sentenced to 60 years in prison for a crime he never committed.

The campaign Simón Libertad for the Repatriation and Freedom of Simón Trinidad and all political prisoners asks everyone to "record your greeting, poem, anecdote, song or any other tribute to our beloved comrade. Videos should be no more than one minute in length. Do not forget to demand his prompt repatriation and freedom and to send your greeting with the phrase "Dignity is Freedom" that will be part of the hashtags used in social networks to mark this tribute.
Help us exert international pressure for his prompt release."

Here some tips for recording the video of happy birthday for Simón Trinidad:

1. Record horizontally with your phone, this will allow you to have a much larger view field.
2. Use a tripod or something that allows the stability of the phone.
3. Record the audio with headphones or hands-free, so the audio is louder and cleaner.
4. Clean the lens before recording.
5. Do not record against the light or at night.
6. State who you are and where you are recording the video from.
7. Finish the video using the phrase "Dignity is Freedom".

8. Send your video and contribution by 24 July to the following email: 

[email protected]