Looking for an opportunity to return to Colombia and renew your commitment? Know anyone else who would benefit from seeing the human face of US Policy in Colombia? Witness for Peace has delegations planned this summer to focus attention on the continuing harmful US intervention in Colombia.
June 1-13, 2003 Colombia in the Crosshairs: US Drug Policy in the Andes
Colombia, the world's leading supplier of cocaine, is a case study in the failure of U.S. drug control efforts. Washington's counter-narcotics aid package has done little more than inflame a complicated conflict that has already resulted in 2 million internal refugees and thousands of deaths per year. Participate in a delegation to end this failed policy. Led by drug policy expert, Sanho Tree, the delegation will meet with Colombian experts on drug policy, civilian communities directly and indirectly affected by counternarcotics assistance, as well as government officials from the US and Colombia.
For more information, contact: Alex Volberding: (909) 607-6315 or (909) 206-4574, ACV01999@pomona.edu
June 18-30, 2003 WFP 20th Anniversary Delegation The Cycles of Military and Economic Violence
Debt, Sweat, Guns, and Grudges underpin US government policies and corporate practice in Latin America. Together they foster unending cycles of military and economic violence in the hemisphere. The sum is shame in our name done with our tax dollars. In our 20th year, Witness for Peace is organizing an historic 100-person delegation to challenge and change these devastating policies and practices. The delegation will begin in Washington, DC, where the policies and plans are made. On June 20th, we will divide into four documentation teams to observe first-hand the consequences of US economic and military policies in Nicaragua, Cuba, Mexico or Colombia. The documentation teams will gather again as one delegation in Washington, DC, June 28th, where we will share what we have seen and heard with each other, with the media, with Congress, and other policymakers. For more information, contact: Roxanne Hanson, 202-588-1471 and Roxanne@witnessforpeace.org or Gail Phares, 919-856-9468 and Rphares105@aol.com.
July 18-29, 2003 Afro-Colombians in the Crossfire: The Impact of US Military Aid
Afro-Colombian leaders are making an urgent appeal to Americans, especially African Americans, to respond to pre-meditated massacres, chemical fumigations, and displacement of tens of thousands of Afro-Colombians from their ancestral lands in Colombia. $2 billion in US military aid to Colombia is feeding the escalating violence between Colombian military, paramilitaries, and the guerrilla, and has contributed to the displacement of nearly 2.7 million Colombians in the past decade. Caught in the crossfire, Afro-Colombians make up a majority of the displaced communities and are discriminated against when they are forced to flee to the large cities. Long neglected and ignored by the Colombian government, Afro-Colombians are asking for help to bring visibility to this grave threat to their right to life, their ancestral lands, and their culture. For more information contact Barbara Gerlach, gerlachmack@erols.com and 202-726-4382.
To apply online, or view online brochures, visit www.witnessforpeace.org.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roxanne Hanson
Delegations Coordinator
Witness for Peace
1229 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20005
202-588-1471