The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

FCNL: PETITION CALLS FOR A NEW COLOMBIA POLICY (5/18/04)

The following action items from the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) focus on federal policy issues currently before Congress or the Administration.

(To learn more about the FCNL INFO LINE, please see the end of this message.)

The Latin America Working Group (LAWG), in which FCNL participates, has created an online petition for a new Colombia policy. The petition calls for a departure from the militarized policy that the U.S. currently employs. Instead, it urges a policy focused on addressing the lack of adequate drug treatment programs in the U.S. and the lack of economic opportunity for poor farmers in Colombia.

The petition will be delivered to the presidential candidates and members of Congress just before the Colombia aid debate this year.

View the petition and consider adding your signature: (https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=19319)


BACKGROUND:
Colombia is caught in a complex web of violence resulting in the most severe humanitarian crisis in the hemisphere. Colombia's insurgency is rooted in decades of extreme inequality and political exclusion. All parties to the conflict have become more violent and intransigent over time. Political violence forces more than 300,000 people to flee their homes each year.

Two leftist guerrilla groups, the FARC and the ELN, are responsible for kidnappings for profit, killings of civilians by assassination, and indiscriminate use of weapons such as gas cylinder bombs. Right-wing paramilitary groups are responsible for massive human rights violations in Colombia, including massacres and assassinations. Rural community leaders and trade unionists are especially at risk.

The U.S. has provided massive amounts of military and security assistance to Colombia and the Andean region in an effort to reduce the supply of illegal drugs that arrive in the U.S. Between 1999 and 2002, the United States gave Colombia $2.04 billion, of which 83% has gone to Colombia's military and police. However, this has made little, if any, impact on the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S. Meanwhile, the failed policy has serious human cost to Colombians who suffer under these policies.

Human rights observers have documented strong links between the Colombia military and security forces and the right-wing paramilitary groups. Trained Colombian military personnel are actively recruited by the paramilitaries, and military and security forces have often looked the other way, allowing paramilitary groups to commit atrocities with impunity. The U.S.-sponsored cocaine fumigation campaign has left people ill, food and alternative cash crops wilted, drinking water supplies contaminated, and aquatic life destroyed. Millions have been driven from their homes by the violence, fumigation campaign, and resulting poverty.

More weapons and military training are not what the people of Colombia and the Andean region need today. A more humane and more effectively policy would focus on U.S. assistance to the region for sustainable, community-based, economic development and for developing effective democratic and civil society institutions. Further, serious attempts to address the problem of domestic drug abuse should focus on reducing demand in the U.S. through expanded prevention and treatment programs and through programs that increase economic and educational opportunities in U.S. communities beset by drug addiction and drug-related violence and crimes.
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SUBSCRIBE to FCNL's listserves (https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=19320)

To order "WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER" bumper stickers free of charge
*Go to the Bumper Sticker web order form: (https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=19323) or
* Phone: Call 800-630-1330, ext. 142. Leave a message with mailing information and number of stickers requested.

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The FCNL INFOLINE provides announcements and information from the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). These messages (1) focus on legislative work, but do not have a legislative action component, (2) provide updates on FCNL's work, and/or (3) inform you about resources available from FCNL. These messages are intended as a supplement to the Legislative Action Message and other FCNL materials. For more information please contact

Friends Committee on National Legislation
Mail: 245 Second St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-5795
Email: fcnl@fcnl.org
Phone: (202) 547-6000
Fax: (202) 547-6019
Toll Free: (800) 630-1330
Web: (https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=19328)
Congressional Information: (https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/Link.asp?link=19329)
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We seek a world free of war and the threat of war
We seek a society with equity and justice for all
We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled
We seek an earth restored