PETITION TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT TO CLOSE THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS

 

June 18, 1998

The Honorable Madeleine Albright
Secretary of State
Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20520

Dear Secretary Albright:

We are writing to urge you to use the opportunity of the June 21 election of a new President in Colombia to reorient U.S. policy toward that country, with a new and overriding focus on seeking a negotiated end to the internal armed conflict.

The choice of a new President is one that only the people of Colombia can make. We believe that the U.S. should hold to a stance of determined neutrality in the final days of the election campaign. It would only damage the already tenuous state of that country's democratic politics if the United States were to weigh in behind one candidate or another. The U.S. should instead keep its options open, evaluating relations with the next Colombian government after examining its composition and post-election policies.

At the same time, the people of Colombia have already made it clear where they stand on another choice facing their nation, the decision between war and peace. A massive affirmative vote for a "Mandate for Peace" during a plebiscite last October, and demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of citizens in mid-May, have made clear their insistence that the new government vigorously pursue a peace process to end the internal armed conflict and work with determination to end the gory cycle of political killings that has gripped the nation.

On this choice, the United States must not be neutral.

For many years, the U.S. policy toward Colombia has been dominated by an overriding focus on the issue of drugs. In pursuit of this policy, our relations with Colombia's civilian government have been severely strained, our association with the country's often-abusive security forces has grown ever closer, and U.S. anti-drug aid to the military and police has increased dramatically, from $28.8 million in 1995 to at least $95.9 million in 1997. Military sales more than tripled, to $75 million. Yet during that same time period, coca production jumped 56 percent, opium production increased, and political violence continued unabated, expanding into new areas of the country. Despite this record, we understand that the State Department seeks to increase its anti-drug program by at least $21 million this year. And there are alarming voices in Congress, the Pentagon and the Administration that advocate even further escalation rather than reevaluation of current policy.

We believe that the time between now and the inauguration of a new President on August 7 is the perfect moment for the United States government to set a different course. Drug production and political violence cannot be diminished as long as the armed conflict rages across much of Colombia's national territory. And that conflict cannot be ended militarily. It can only be ended through a negotiated peace. It is time for U.S. policy to focus on securing that peace.

Towards this end, we would urge the Administration to take the following steps:

1. Actively oppose the paramilitary expansion. The U.S. government should encourage the Colombian government and its armed forces to sever ties to and confront paramilitary groups that carry out massacres against the civilian population and were responsible for nearly seventy percent of the 3,500 political killings in Colombia in 1997.

2. Vigorously enforce the new human rights conditions on U.S. foreign assistance. Congress and the Administration should work hard to ensure that U.S. tax dollars are not used to provide arms or training to units of the Colombian security forces that abuse the human rights of their citizens, or collaborate with paramilitary organizations that do so. This prohibition should apply to training and assistance carried out by the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies, as well as by the Department of State.

3. End the flow of arms. We should not fuel political violence by aiding the Colombian army's often ineffective and brutal counterinsurgency campaigns. At the same time, the United States should work with other countries in the hemisphere, particularly Colombia's neighbors, to stanch the flow of weapons to guerrilla and paramilitary groups in the country.

4. Work with other actors, in Colombia and internationally, to press for peace. The knot of political violence in Colombia can only be untied through the hard work of promoting a political resolution of the conflict. The U.S. government should use its influence with the Colombian military and other sectors to encourage negotiations toward such a settlement, and, after a new Colombian president takes office in August, should vocally support a renewed peace process demanded by Colombian civil society.

At the same time, the United States should play a leading role in fashioning an active international consensus for peace, both supporting the efforts of nations already involved in this pursuit and working to engage others, including the United Nations Security Council. Many actors in the international community are well positioned to make a critical contribution toward peace in Colombia -- by offering lessons based on experience in other peace processes, bringing pressure to bear on all parties to the conflict to negotiate a settlement, assisting those negotiations as appropriate, and committing to support the implementation of an eventual peace agreement.

Colombia faces the worst human rights nightmare and some of the most severe political challenges in the Western Hemisphere. U.S. policy -- with its tunnel vision focus on the drug issue -- has been unable to adequately decipher or effectively respond to this crisis. We believe that smart steps in the months ahead could put U.S. policy on a more constructive path, and help create the space for the people of Colombia to define non-violent solutions to their social and political conflicts.

Thank you for your attention to our concerns.

Sincerely,

(Signed by representatives of the following organizations)

Washington Office on Latin America

American Friends Service Committee

Bread for the World

Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Institutes

Center for Democratic Education

Center for International Policy

Center for Victims of Torture

Church of the Brethren

Church Women United

Colombia Human Rights Committee

Council on Hemispheric Affairs

Demilitarization for Democracy

Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean (EPICA)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Fellowship of Reconciliation

Franciscan Mission Service

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Guatemala Human Rights Commission-USA

Guatemala Partners

Human Rights Access

Interhemispheric Resource Center

Lawyers Committee for Human Rights

Lutheran World Relief

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Mennonite Central Committee

Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights

NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA)

Nicaragua-United States Friendship Office

North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)

Oblate Conference Justice and Peace

Peace Action Education Fund

Peru Peace Network

Quixote Center/Quest for Peace

School of the Americas Watch

U.S. Committee for Refugees

U.S./Guatemala Labor Education Project

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

United Church of Christ

United States Jesuit Conference

Voices on the Border

Witness for Peace

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