January 2000
The Clinton Administration has just proposed a $1.3 billion aid package to Colombia. This new aid combined with funds already directed toward Colombia will amount to $1.6 billion over the next two years. The majority of aid will go to the most abusive military in the Western Hemisphere and pull the United States into an un-winnable counterinsurgency war. Act now to oppose military assistance and support funds that strengthen democracy and encourage peace.
Major components of Clinton's aid package include:
helping the Colombian government push into the coca-growing regions of southern Colombia, the very same areas where Colombia is battling the counter-insurgency war;
training new special counter-narcotics battalions to clear the Southern area of insurgency;
purchasing 30 Blackhawk and 33 Huey helicopters;
upgrading Colombian capability to aggressively interdict cocaine and cocaine traffickers as well as support radar, aircraft and airfield upgrades, and improved anti-narcotics intelligence gathering;
increasing coca crop eradication through questionable aerial fumigation tactics that have failed to reduce the amount of coca production in the past and damage the environment.
Every day, at least 250 to 300 U.S. military personnel and advisors counsel, train, and share intelligence with Colombia's security forces in ways that support counterinsurgency efforts. Our government has already funded the creation of a 950-troop counternarcotics battalion that is being trained to operate in Southern Colombia in a territory under dispute between Colombia's leftwing guerrillas and rightwing paramilitaries. Two more battalions are in the works. After many years during which the United States focused on police aid due to concerns over the Colombian army's human rights record, this marks a growing collaboration with the Colombian army.
Clinton's proposed aid increase will make the United States a major actor in Colombia's three-decade old internal conflict. The Clinton Administration claims that this aid package is directed at counter-narcotics operations and won't mean further involvement in Colombia's dirty counter-insurgency war. They claim increased assistance will only support positive investment in Colombia's economic development and future. However, if Congress and the Administration don't hear from you, the vast majority of the aid package will go to support the Colombian military and police, not economic development or peace.
Only a small portion of Clinton's aid package provides for non-military aid in an attempt to support peace, human rights, and economic assistance. The White House says it will propose $145 million over the next two years to provide economic alternatives for Colombian farmers who now grow coca and poppy plants and $93 million for new programs that will help the judicial system, crack down on money laundering and drug kingpins, increase protection of human rights, expand the rule of law, and promote the peace process. Your call to encourage policy makers to increase these positive alternatives and oppose military assistance may tip the balance between war and peace in Colombia.
Contact your representative and senators and oppose military aid to Colombia. The United States can and should help Colombians in their hour of need, with long-term, peaceful solutions to civil conflict and drug violence.
In all countries: join us by signing on to this
letter Clinton below. Numerous individuals and organizations
from several countries have already signed. A Spanish translation
also follows.
TO SIGN ON TO THE LETTER TO PRES. CLINTON:
Please send an e-mail with the following information at the TOP of
your message to: oakleyruth@igc.org
Signing as an INDIVIDUAL:
NAME:
City:
Country:
Affiliation:
e-mail address:
Signing as an ORGANIZATION:
NAME:
NAME of Organization:
City:
Country:
e-mail address:
Find out who your representative and senators are and how to contact them on the web: Locate your congressional representative at http://www.house.gov/writerep/. Locate your Senator at: http://www.senate.gov/
Call your Congressional representative and senators in three easy steps: A. Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected with your member B. once you are connected ask to speak with the foreign policy aide C. tell them to oppose military aid (see talking points below). If the aide is not there, leave a voice-mail message expressing your opinion and try back later.
Write to your members of Congress:
Name of Representative, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515
Name of Senator, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510
Colombia's military is the most abusive in the Western Hemisphere. Colombian security forces continue to passively and actively support paramilitary forces that participate in the drug trade and commit over 70% of the horrendous human rights abuses in Colombia.
The aid will further destabilize fragile peace negotiations and undermine support of a negotiated settlement.
Although there are conditions that help prevent U.S. military assistance from going directly to individual human rights abusers (the Leahy Amendment), the conditions are not sufficient to prevent aid from supporting corrupt and abusive security forces.
The package does not adequately address Colombia's massive human rights and humanitarian crisis.
Despite a 17-fold increase in US drug war spending since 1980, illicit drugs are cheaper, more potent and more easily available than two decades ago. The drug war at home and abroad not only has harmful side effects: it doesn't work. In the United States, we should focus on reducing demand through treatment and prevention programs.
oppose aid to the Colombian army due to human rights concerns, especially army links at a regional and local level to brutal paramilitary forces.
support a substantial positive aid package for Colombia, including: humanitarian relief for people displaced by violence; crop substitution programs for small farmers to switch from coca to legal crops; economic assistance; programs to strengthen Colombian government investigations into human rights violations and drug trafficking; aid for civil society efforts for human rights and peace.
increase funding for drug treatment and prevention programs at home.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Latin America Working Group
110 Maryland Avenue NE Box 15
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 546-7010
lawg@lawg.org
The letter below has already been endorsed by U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, and by the economist John Kenneth Galbraith, as well as human rights organizations and individuals from around the world. Please consider signing on, and distributing to friends and organizations. A Spanish translation follows.
January 24, 2000
William J. Clinton
President of the United States of America
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
Our concern for the tragic situation facing the people of Colombia causes us to write to you. As citizens of many countries with a variety of political opinions, we are united in urging you to change your Colombian policy from a predominantly military strategy to an approach that supports the needs and hopes of the Colombian people.
While it is impossible to summarize in one letter all the dramatic circumstances affecting Colombia, we want to highlight the points that seem most alarming to us:
Reports from a number of sources, including the U.S. State Department, have documented the continuing collaboration between members and units of the Colombian armed forces and paramilitary groups. This collaboration has included several cases of open alliances. The paramilitaries, according to these reports, are responsible for 75% to 80% of the cases of assassination, kidnapping, torture, and massacre of civilian non-combatants, while the guerrilla groups and the armed forces commit the rest of these abuses. Only a few implicated officials and soldiers have been investigated and punished, while collaboration between the armed forces and the paramilitaries continues to this day. The U.S. contributes to the deterioration of this disturbing human rights situation by continuing to provide military aid, training, and sales, despite these well-documented reports of collaboration.
The armed conflict has forced as many as 1.6 million internal refugees to seek protection for their lives and well-being, according to the United Nations. The number of families who have fled their homes in Colombia exceeds the forced expulsions that the world witnessed with horror in both Kosovo and East Timor. The U.S. is doing little to help care for the refugees that U.S. military aid is helping to create.
Further military aid will undermine the fragile peace process that has been initiated by President Pastrana. Civilians in Colombia have overwhelmingly voted for peace and marched in favor of peace. Massive infusions of military aid will not only increase the number of deaths and massacres carried out by all the armed groups, but will also strengthen hard-liners in Colombia who oppose the peace process. Recent murders of academics, human rights defenders, trade unionists and even entertainers who worked to support the peace process illustrate the difficulty of working for peace in Colombia.
The U.S. Drug War strategy has been an expensive failure and more of this same strategy will not combat drugs. This strategy has not reduced coca cultivation in Colombia, the flow of cocaine or heroin to the U.S from Colombia, or the profits of the drug traffickers. Instead it has caused untold environmental and human destruction. It has also strengthened the guerrillas as more landless peasants join their ranks. Military aid will not address the reasons why Colombians choose to cultivate drugs in the first place. The problems that have led to increased drug cultivation include state neglect of rural areas, a nonexistent rule of law, and the lack of economic infrastructure and opportunity. These problems can only be resolved through support for efforts to strengthen the peace process and to enhance the lives of the poor.
We respectfully make the following requests of your administration:
Given the Colombian armed forces' continuing collaboration with the paramilitaries, such as in the massacre at Barrancabermeja in 1998, and their continuing impunity from prosecution for that collaboration, we ask that you send no further U.S. aid to the Colombian armed forces. You eloquently told the people of Guatemala in May of 1999:
"For the United States, it is important that I state clearly that support for military forces or intelligence units which engaged in violence and widespread repression of the kind described in the report was wrong. The United States must not repeat that mistake."
Colombia already receives the greatest amount of U.S. military aid in the Americas and the third most in the world. Please do not make the problem worse by giving any more money to the partners of the paramilitaries.
We ask that you recognize the biased nature of the war on drugs, which is mainly being fought against landless peasants and unarmed civilians, leaving many real drug traffickers, including the paramilitaries, untouched. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, some of the paramilitary leaders such as Carlos Castaño are major drug traffickers. Consequently, we object to using the war against drugs as even a partial pretext for increased military aid.
We ask that the U.S. play a key role in supporting initiatives for international mediation in Colombia, with possible mediators including the European Parliament, the Secretary General of the UN, the UN High Commission for Refugees, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. This peace effort must include Colombia's civil society. On October 24th, 1999 the world witnessed marches for peace that mobilized more than nine million Colombians of all ages and social positions. Colombian civil society has courageously demanded and actively worked for peace and deserves to be heard. The U.S. should honor these efforts by providing Colombia with humanitarian and economic support, not the tools of war.
Respectfully,
(Signers follow)
Congressional Endorsers from the United States
Cynthia A. McKinney, Ranking Democrat, Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights
Organizational Endorsers from the United States
Action for Community & Ecology in the Rainforests of Central America (ACERCA), Burlington, VT
Boston Colombia Support Network
Bread and Roses Local of the War Resisters League
California Peace Action
Chicago Colombia Committee
Colombia Human Rights Committee, Washington DC
Colombia Media Project, New York
Colombia Support Network
Colombia Vive (Boston)
Colombian Labor Monitor
New Hampshire Peace Action
Northwest Veterans for Peace
Peace Action of Washington
Philadelphia Colombia Support Network
Seattle CISPES
Seattle Colombia Committee
SOA Watch
Student Activist Union at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
Tacoma Catholic Worker Community, Guadalupe House of Hospitality
University of Iowa Amnesty International
Individual Endorsers from the United States
Byron Adams, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Gilbert Allen, Travelers Rest, SC
Javier Amaya
Greta Anderson, Iowa City, Iowa
Janis Bandelin, Greenville, SC
Polly Barten, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Veneta Bartlett, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
John Batson, Easley SC
Rubye Baumgardner, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Jeffrey Benner, Journalist, Mother Jones Magazine
Ned Bertz, International Alliance for People's Movements, Iowa City, Iowa
Kevin Bensel, Seattle WA
Duane Bensel, Seattle WA
Trim Bissell, national coordinator, Campaign for Labor Rights, Washington, DC
Jeff Vincent, Bloomington, IN
Hans W. Bodlaender , Convener for the Gray Panthers of Seattle
Peter Bohmer, Faculty in Political Economy, Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
Patrick Bonner, Colombia Action Project, Los Angeles, CA
Scott Bonner
Charles Boyer, Greenville, SC
Faith Brightbill, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Christina Buckley, Furman U, Greenville, SC
Saundra Morris, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
Thomas O. Buford, Louis G. Forgione Professor of Philosophy, Furman University, Greenville, SC
Lynette Carpenter, Delaware, OH
Janice Cate, President Washington/Northern Idaho Church Women United
Mrs. Loretta Chapman of Gardiner, MT
Beth A. Christensen, Furman University, Greenville, SC
Michelle Ciarrocca, Research Associate, World Policy Institute, New York
Dr. Elsa M. Chaney, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IOWA
Marjorie Childress, Seattle Colombia Committee
Gordon S. Clark, Executive Director, Peace Action
Carrol B. Cox, Illinois State Univ. (retired), Bloomington, Illinois
Rev. Dr. Davida Foy Crabtree, Conference Minister, Connecticut Conference, United Church of Christ
Sylvia Crook, President, AFSCME Local 1185, Des Moines, Iowa
Laura Crossley, Iowa City, IA
Carolyn Davis, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Gladys Cuellar, Seattle WA
Claricia Cummings, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Ed Cushman, Seattle, WA
Julia Delacour, United Transportation Union, Seattle WA
Justin Delacour, Seattle Colombia Committee
David Diamond, Dover, New Hampshire
Lucille Dickinson, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Amy Dugan, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Floyd Dugan, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Tris M. Dunn
Martin Eder, San Diego, CA
Linda J. Egan, Registered Democrat, North Olmsted, OH
Cristina Espinel, Co-chair, Colombia Human Rights Committee, Washington D.C.
Rene Espinosa
Marci Esquerra, Michigan
Demerie Faitler, Greenville, SC
Evan Fales, Amnesty International, Iowa City
Kevin Fansler, Havre de Grace, MD
Verna M. Fausey, Nashville, TN
Peter Ferenbach, Executive Director, California Peace Action, Berkeley
Roberto Forns-Broggi, Denver , CO
John Fournelle, Madison, WI
James K. Galbraith, Chair, Economists Allied for Arms Reduction
Olga L. Garces, Seattle, WA
Barbara Gerlach, Co-chair, Colombia Human Rights Committee, Washington D.C.
Jessica Gerlach-Mack, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC, USA
Peter Gerlach-Mack, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Alison Giffen, Washington DC
Ross S. Gillespie, Houston, TX
Joyce Glynn, San Francisco, CA
Patricia M. Goodman, CPA, Huntington Beach, CA
Margaret Grannis, Latin America Committee, Arizona Institute for Peace, Education, and Research
Dennis Grammenos, Professor, Northeastern Illinois University
Thomas Guthrie, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Angie Gutierrez , Greenville, SC
Alan Haber, Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Yadviga D. Halsey, PhD., Seattle, WA
MaryEllen Hamblin, Washington State
Kim Hanna, November Coalition, Drug Policy Forum of Texas (DPFT)
John R. Hanson, Spartanburg, SC
John Hart, Ph.D, Chair, Department of Theology, Carroll College, Helena, MT
Barbara Hayes, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Spencer Hays, Aptos, CA
Scott Henderson, Greenville, South Carolina
Gloria Herman, Monroe. WA
Mike Herman, Monroe, WA
Cynthia Hobbs, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Maria Hope, Amnesty International, Iowa City, Iowa
Hop Hopkins, Seattle, WA
Geoffrey Radford Hope, Iowa City, Iowa
Kathleen Horner, Greenville, SC
Gwyneth Howden, Aberdeen, WA
Stephen Hudson, Greenville, SC
Odile Hugonot-Haber, Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Eric Huff, Dubuque, Iowa
Walter N.Huli Jr., Member of ILWU local 13, San Pedro, California
John M. Jackson, Redondo Beach, CA
Erin Jeziorski, Seattle WA
Linda Julian, Furman University, Greenville, SC
Drew Kearns, Greenville, SC
Sofía Kearns, Greenville, SC
Jerome Kelly
Arthur Keys, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Yasna Keys, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Joan King, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Mary King, Associate Professor of Economics, Portland State University, Portland, OR
Andy Klatt, Tufts University
John Krumm, Saint Paul, MN
Charles M. Kukla, Organized Labor Liaison, Indiana University College Democrats
Brandon Kuykendall, Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, OH
Livia Yah-Sye Lam, Workers' Voices Coalition, Seattle Young People's Project
Orin Langelle, Executive Director, ACERCA, Burlington, VT
Jack Laun, President of Colombia Support Network
Larry Lauro, SOA-Watch, San Jose
Clifford Lehman, Writer, Portland OR
Aaron G. Lehmer, Graduate Student, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
Sandy Leon, Bolinas, CA
Jay Lintner, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Richard Lochner, Portland, OR
R. Juanita Loison
Eve Lowery, Seattle, WA
John Mack, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Meg Maguire, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Sandra Mardigian, Palo Alto, CA
Terry Martin, Cleveland, OH
Toty Martin, Cleveland, OH
Rosalinda Martinez, Woodland, CA
W. Duncan McArthur, Jr., Greenville, SC
Tom McCann, Westminster, CO
Nancy McConnell, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Mary Ann McEvoy, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
John Meinken, Cincinnati, OH
Ralph Metzner, Ph.D., Green Earth Foundation, El Verano, CA
Arthur R. Mink, Member Executive Board, Leschi Community Council, Seattle, WA
Lynn Mink, Member Executive Board, Leschi Community Council, Seattle, WA
Stefano Monti, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
James Moore, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Robert Naiman, 50 Years is Enough Network, Steering Committee
Lee T. Neidow, Kentwood, Michigan
Jane Noll, World Education, Amherst, Massachusetts
Amy Ostrander, Iowa City, Iowa
Dale Ostrander, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Guy Ottewell, Author and Publisher, Universal Workshop, Furman University, Greenville, SC
Joan Para, Chicago Colombia Committee
Robert E. Parent, Marlborough, MA
Gustavo Perico, Detroit, MI
Gigi Peterson, PhD., University of Washington, Seattle WA
Sophia Pierroutsakos, Greenville, SC
Maria Posada, Seattle
Aghaghia Rahimzadeh, Arcata, california
Scott Remillard, Seattle WA
Carol Richardson, co-director, SOA Watch
Kimberly D. Root, Westminster, CA
Richard L. Root, Westminster, CA
Katy Rose, Montana Community Labor Alliance/Jobs with Justice, Helena, MT
Robert D. Roughton, Belgrade, MT
Erika Ruber, Portland
Susan Shaer, Executive Director, Women's Action for New Directions (WAND), Washington D.C.
Eddie Salazar, Seattle CISPES
Tim Scherer, San Francisco, California
Katheryn H. Seiders, Pittsburgh, PA
John C. Shelley, Greenville, SC
Ruth Shinn, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington DC
Brian Siegel, Greenville, SC
Marvin Simmons, Secretary, Northwest Veterans for Peace, Portland, OR
Alice Slater, Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE), New York, NY
Audra Slocum, President University of Iowa Amnesty International, Iowa City, IA
Nancy Small, National Coordinator, Pax Christi
Sandra Sorensen, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington DC
R. Olof Sorensen, Greenville, SC
Cecilia Soto, Renton WA
Roberto Soto, Renton WA
Fredda Sparks, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington DC
Diana Spencer, Seattle, Washington
Tyler Steward, Amnesty International, Iowa City, Iowa
Alisa Tanaka, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Richard Tarnas, Ph.D., California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA
Fran Teplitz, Policy Director, Peace Action Education Fund
Izumi Tokunaga, Greenville, SC
Bruce Triggs, Tacoma
Margaret Tuthill, Seattle WA
Benjamin Vogel, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Alice Waco, Board member, Sonoma county Peace and Justice Center, California
Kevin A. Sherper Walker, Master's Student in City/Regional Planning, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Kris Weber, Seattle, WA
Mark Weimer, Church of God, Richland, Washington
Jeffrey J. Weiss, Professor, Des Moines Area Community College
Howard Wilbur, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, DC
Billy Woodall, Seattle
Ana Zambrano
Barbara Zilles, Amnesty International
Mike Zmolek, Iowa City, Iowa, Amnesty International
Organizational Endorsers from Canada
Executive Board of American Federation of Musicians Local #553, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Individual Endorsers from Canada
Julia Nielsen, Edmonton, Alberta
Kathleen DeWitt Newell, Calgary, Alberta
Individual Endorsers from Colombia
Darío González Posso, Director del Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Paz - INDEPAZ, Bogotá
Roberto Gutiérrez, Ph.D., Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá
Emilio José Chaves, Pasto
Individual Endorsers from El Salvador
Vilma Alvarenga, San Salvador
Dr. C. Brannon Andersen, Furman University, Greenville, SC
Miguel Castro, San Salvador
Cristy de Cruz, SITRASALUD, San Salvador
Gloria Flores, San Salvador
Julio Flores, SOICSCES, San Salvador
Adalberto Galdamez, SITRASALUD, San Salvador
Andres Garcia, SITINPROVA, San Salvador
Marina Gonzalez, San Salvador
Alex Hernandez
Ismael Hernandez, SOICSCES, San Salvador
Felix Lopez, San Salvador
Carlos Maravilla, SETAG, San Salvador
Bartolome Navarrete, CTD, San Salvador
Fausto Payes, San Salvador
L. Alonso Ramirez, San Salvador
Ricardo Ramirez, San Salvador
Gilberto Rivera, SITINPROVA, San Salvador
Ana Maria Sanchez, SITRASALUD, San Salvador
Evelyn Zelaya, San Salvador
Individual Endorsers from Germany
Wolfgang Fuss
Angelo Lucifer, Erfurt, Gewerkschaft HBV
Mary E. Kelley-Bibra, Sekretaerin, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fuer Sozialforschung, Berlin
Burkhard Schröder, Journalist und Schriftsteller, Berlin
Manfred Wolter, Augsburg, Germany
Individual Endorsers from Greece
Nikos Raptis, Author, Athens, Greece
Aris Terzis
Individual Endorsers from Norway
Helge Hasselgreen
Ragnar Kleiven, Oslo, Norway
Knut Rognes, Stavenger, Norway, Stavanger University College
Organizational Endorsers from Spain
Acció Social. CGT. Generalitat de Catalunya
Comitè Català de Solidaritat amb Colòmbia. Barcelona
Comite de Solidaridad Internacionalista de Zaragoza, Aragon
Entrepobles. Barcelona
Entrepueblos-Colombia, La Rioja
Gallopinto Revista del Comité de Solidaridad Internacionalista, Zaragoza
Grupo de apoyo a las Comunidades de Paz de Urabá, Zaragoza
Verneda Solidària. Barcelona
Individual Endorsers from Spain
Laura Agirretxea Martinez, Bilbao, Euskal Herria
Juan Carlos Burillo Garcia, Villamayor-Zaragoza
Rafael Lozano G., Sevilla
Pablo Mora Garcia, Sevilla
Organizational Endorsers from the United Kingdom
National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC)
Individual Endorsers from the United Kingdom
Marion Couldrey, Co-Editor of Forced Migration Review
Tim Morris, Co-Editor of Forced Migration Review
Nick Rose, Peace Brigades International (British Section)
Julie Tucker, Peace Brigades International (British Section)
Enero 24 de 2000
William J. Clinton
Presidente de los Estados Unidos de América
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC 20500
Señor Presidente:
Nuestra preocupación por la trágica situación que enfrenta el pueblo de Colombia nos motiva a escribirle. Como ciudadanos de varios países del mundo con diversas opiniones políticas nos unimos para urgirle que cambie su política en Colombia de una estrategia predominantemente militar a una vía que apoye las necesidades y esperanzas del pueblo de ese país.
Toda vez que resulta imposible resumir en una carta todos los detalles de la dramática situación de Colombia, queremos destacar los puntos que nos parecen mas alarmantes:
1. Reportes de varias fuentes incluyendo el Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos siguen documentando la continua colaboración entre miembros y unidades de las fuerzas militares y los grupos paramilitares. Esta colaboración ha incluido en muchas ocasiones alianzas abiertas. Los paramilitares de acuerdo a estos reportes son responsables por el 75% al 80% de los casos de asesinatos, secuestros, torturas y masacres contra civiles no combatientes, mientras los grupos guerrilleros y las fuerzas armadas cometen los casos restantes de abusos. Solamente algunos oficiales y soldados han sido investigados y castigados mientras la colaboración entre las fuerzas armadas y paramilitares continúa hasta la fecha. Los Estados Unidos contribuyen al deterioro de esta situación aberrante de derechos humanos al seguir la ayuda militar, entrenamiento y ventas, a pesar de estos casos bien documentados de colaboración.
2. El conflicto armado ha forzado a por lo menos 1.6 millones de refugiados internos a buscar protección a las vidas y seguridad, según las Naciones Unidas. La cifra de familias que han abandonado sus hogares es superior a los éxodos que el mundo ha presenciado con horror en Kosovo y las Islas de Timor Oriental. Los Estados Unidos hacen muy poco por ayudar los refugiados que la misma ayuda militar estadounidense ha contribuido a crear.
3. Mas ayuda militar solo debilitará el frágil proceso de paz que fue iniciado por el presidente Andrés Pastrana. Los civiles en Colombia han votado de forma abrumadora por la paz y han marchado en apoyo a la paz. Cuantiosas inversiones de ayuda militar no solo aumentarían el número de muertos y masacres llevadas a cabo por todos los grupos armados, sino que además fortalecerían a los extremistas en Colombia que se oponen a un proceso de paz. Los recientes asesinatos de académicos, defensores de los derechos humanos, sindicalistas e incluso actores que trabajaban en apoyo al proceso de paz, ilustran las dificultades de trabajar en esa vía en Colombia.
4. La estrategia de los Estados Unidos de la guerra contra las drogas ha sido una costoso fracaso y seguir con esta estrategia en realidad no combatirá las drogas. Esta "guerra" no ha disminuido el cultivo de coca en Colombia, el flujo de cocaína o heroína hacia los Estados Unidos desde Colombia o las ganancias de los traficantes de droga. Al contrario ha causado destrucción ambiental y humana e irónicamente ha fortalecido las guerrillas cuando mas campesinos desposeídos de la tierra han engrosado sus filas. La ayuda militar no ha confrontado las razones por las cuales muchas personas han resuelto cultivar las drogas. Los problemas que han conducido al aumento del área de cultivo incluyen el abandono estatal del campo, la inexistencia de la justicia, la falta de oportunidades e infraestructura económica. Estos problemas pueden resolverse únicamente a través del apoyo a los procesos de paz y el mejoramiento de las vidas de los pobres.
Respetuosamente pedimos de su administración lo siguiente:
Dada la continua complicidad de las fuerzas armadas de Colombia con los paramilitares, como en el caso de la masacre de Barrancabermeja en 1998 y la continuada impunidad para castigar ese apoyo, le pedimos que no envíe mas ayuda militar de los Estados Unidos a las fuerzas armadas de Colombia. Tal como usted lo dijo elocuentemente al pueblo de Guatemala en Mayo de 1999, "Para los Estados Unidos es importante que yo diga claramente que el apoyo para fuerzas militares o de unidades de inteligencia que se enfrascaron en actos de violencia y represión incontenida de la clase que se describe en el reporte, fue equivocada. Los Estados Unidos no deben repetir ese error." Colombia ya es el país que recibe la cantidad mas grande ayuda militar de los Estados Unidos en las Américas y la tercera mas grande en el mundo. Por favor no empeore el problema al enviar mas dinero a los aliados de los paramilitares.
Le pedimos que reconozca la naturaleza parcializada de la Guerra contra las Drogas, la cual ha sido enfilada contra campesinos sin tierra y civiles desarmados dejando los verdaderos traficantes incluyendo los paramilitares sin ser tocados. De acuerdo a la oficina federal DEA, varios jefes paramilitares como Carlos Castaño son grandes traficantes de drogas. Consecuentemente objetamos el uso de la guerra contra las drogas incluso como pretexto parcial para aumentar la ayuda militar.
Nosotros pedimos que los Estados Unidos jueguen un papel clave en apoyar iniciativas de mediación internacional en Colombia con la posible mediación del Parlamento Europeo, el Secretario General de las Naciones Unidas, el Alto Comisionado de la ONU para los Refugiados, el Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja. Este esfuerzo de paz debe incluir la sociedad civil de Colombia. En Octubre 24 de 1999 el mundo fue testigo de las marchas por la paz que mobilizaron mas de 9 millones de Colombianos de todas las edades y posiciones sociales. La sociedad civil de Colombia ha demandado valerosamente y trabajado activamente por la paz. Los Estados Unidos deben respetar esos esfuerzos, proveyendo a Colombia con apoyo humanitario y económico, no con instrumentos de guerra.
Respetuosamente,
c.c.
Líder de la Mayoría del Senado
Líder de la Minoría del Senado
Vocero de la Cámara de Representantes
Líder de la Minoría de la Cámara de Representantes
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