April 24, 2005

Greetings from Bogota.

I haven't written an update recently; there has been so much happening here that I have not taken the time to make sense of it all. This update may seem disjointed and confusing, but that is a reflection of Colombian reality at this moment.

Winter has arrived here in Bogota. Rainy afternoons, grey skies, and cloudy nights with no stars in sight.

Winter also brings Condoleeza Rice to Colombia to meet with President Uribe this Wednesday. After 5 years of Plan Colombia, approved by the US Congress in 2000, Congress is talking about renewal of US policy in Colombia. Rice is coming to Colombia to offer her support for continued US policy in Colombia. Fumigations, resulting displacement of millions of people, increased militarization of Colombia, and increased human rights violations are the product of 5 years of Plan Colombia. The Colombian people are asking for a Plan for Life rather than continued militarization. You can help by calling on Congress to make major changes; this Tuesday, April 26, is National Call in Day for Colombia. See below for more details on an action plan.

Since the first day of 2005, attacks by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC guerrilla) have increased dramatically against the Colombian military, across the country. Analysts say that this strategy of coordinated attacks is meant to take military troops away from traditionally guerrilla controlled territories, in order to disperse the troops from Plan Patriota areas. Another major goal is to make Uribe's national Democratic Security campaign a failure by continuous attacks on military bases and military controlled areas.

In the past 2 years, over 200 Colombians have been extradited to the USA for narco-trafficking charges. Two weeks ago, 5 US Army members were found smuggling 35 pounds of cocaine in a military aircraft (paid for with Plan Colombia money, our tax dollars) from Colombia to the USA. High ranking Colombian lawmakers, including the president of the Senate, are demanding extradition to Colombia of the US Army drug smugglers. US Ambassador Wood says absolutely no extradition of US soldiers in Colombia, who fall under Diplomatic Immunity, according to the agreement that was signed in 1974 between the 2 countries. "They should face justice in Colombia with the same rigor and treatment that suspected Colombian drug traffickers receive there," said Jairo Clopatofsky, head of the Colombian Senate's foreign relations committee.

Eleven people are killed daily in Colombia because of the internal armed conflict. More than 1,037 Colombians have been killed due to the conflict since January 2005, according to the NGO Human Rights and Displacement Consultancy (CODHES). President Uribe continues to say that "there is no armed conflict in Colombia. There are only illegal armed narco-terrorist groups." There is no war in Colombia, yet there are two people disappeared each day, and entire towns displaced due to control by armed actors (military, paramilitary, and guerrilla forces).

Have you heard of the Killer Coke campaign? It calls for an international boycott of Coke products until the company ends its egregious human rights violations and pays reparations to victims' families. Posters with the slogan "Coke kills more than thirst" hang in progressive university hangouts in Bogota. A group of labor activists have been waging a campaign against Coca-Cola and its bottling partners for several years, accusing them of hiring right-wing death squads (paramilitaries) to intimidate union activists at Colombian bottling plants. 9 union activists who worked at Coke bottling plants in Colombia have been murdered since 1989, according to SINALTRAINAL, a Colombian union that represents a group of workers who sued Coca-Cola and the bottlers.

Last week, Coke granted $10 million to the Colombia Foundation for Education and Opportunity for victims of violence in Colombia. I participated in a human rights workshop yesterday with Colombian union leaders. "This is an attempt for Coke to clean up its image in Colombia. They chuck $10 million into a program for victims of violence, when they are guilty of the worst violence, the murder of innocent workers," said the union leader sitting next to me.

The Choco, in NW Colombia bordering Panama, is one of the most biodiverse regions on earth (with minerals, gold, oil, platinum, and coal). It is a highly sought region for mega-projects (hydro-electric dams, major highways, mining projects), the only department with a Pacific and Caribbean coast in all of South America, and is mostly comprised of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous people. Why would the US continue to fumigate, when there is hard evidence that fumigation doesn't work, and begin fumigating in a new region with such incredible biodiversity? Fumigations bring displacement, negative health effects (especially in children), contamination of drinking water, a culture of terror, death to illicit and food crops alike, and contamination of the soil.

The US State Department has offered a compensation program for farmers to file claims when they have been wrongly fumigated. Of the thousands of claims filed, fewer than one dozen have received compensation for their lost food crops, time and money invested in their land, and poisoning of their soil, water, animals, and bodies. Imagine if a South Carolina tobacco farmer had her crops fumigated without notification, and in the process, her corn, beans, pigs, strawberries, peaches, apples, and drinking water supply were also fumigated and destroyed.

Colombian politics send my head spinning. I read the national daily paper, El Tiempo, every morning. Headlines of massacres, discoveries of mass graves (with 3 bodies or sometimes several hundred decaying corpses), swamp pools thriving with alligators that devour the bodies of victims of paramilitary violence (in order to dispose of the evidence), armed gangs in Bogota that kill 2 young men every night, violence against single mothers and their children who live on the streets, rural towns attacked by the FARC and forcing everyone to leave in the middle of the night, and so much more.

Despite the political chaos, I love Colombia. The Colombian people are wonderful. Two weeks ago, I participated in a conflict resolution workshop with my friend Alisa (visiting from Philadelphia). We were warmly welcomed by 30 Afro-Colombian women from the poorest neighborhood. They shared their stories of neighborhood and family conflict with us and invited us to share in effective communication strategies. Dina, a middle-aged woman who speaks her mind, made a special batch of sweet lentils with honey for us to enjoy and share with our friends back home.

My daily life is not all about politics. Today my cat, "Chantaje" ("blackmail", because he is a black male) deposited a bloody mouse head on my bedroom floor, as a trophy, representing his honor and appreciation for me. The pawpaw seeds that I brought from the Congaree Swamp in South Carolina have sprouted and I now have 4 pawpaw trees growing in my room. I rode my bicycle today with two friends, in downtown Bogota, on Ciclovia with 1 million other Colombians. Ciclovia takes place every Sunday, where 139 km of major roads are shut off from automobile traffic, in order for cyclists, runners, skaters, and pedestrians to reclaim the city.

Please take the time to write, call, or fax on Tuesday for National Call In Day on Colombia. Your support makes a huge difference to the Colombian people and to my work here.

Thank you for your continued support. Your emails, photos, and personal words of encouragement and news are the foundation of my support here in Colombia.

Peace,

Amanda

Here are some ways you can take advantage of Tuesday, April 26, National Call In Day on Colombia:

1. Send letters to the editor of your local (or regional, or national) paper!  When President Bush traveled to Colombia earlier this year, activists got letters in the Washington Post and the LA Times, as well as numerous local papers.  Letters to the editor are widely read and are a great way to educate and send a message to your members of Congress.  See below for a sample letter.

2. Work Rice's visit into your message for the call-in day. Here's a sample script: "I am a constituent calling from ____ to register my concern over U.S. policy in Colombia.  Secretary Rice is in Colombia tomorrow expressing support for the current policy of military aid and fumigation.  But that policy hasn't worked.  Drug production in Colombia didn't budge last year despite a massive spraying campaign, the price of cocaine on our streets hasn't changed, and human rights violations by the Colombian military have increased since U.S. aid began.  I would like ___ (member of Congress) to vote to change this policy, and to prioritize social assistance instead of military aid."

For more talking points for your phone call, please see our last alert at
http://www.lawg.org/countries/colombia/call_in_day.htm.

Background: Tuesday, April 26th is the National Call-In Day on Colombia, when activists around the country will be flooding Congress with calls for a new U.S.-Colombia policy.  To reach your member of Congress, call the Congressional Switchboard at 202-224-3121.  If you don't know who your members of Congress are, see http://www.senate.gov or http://www.house.gov/writerep.

Sample letter to the editor:

Dear Editor,

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Colombia today to voice support for continued US-Colombian cooperation in the war on drugs.  Media coverage of the two countries' close relationship shouldn't overlook a major catch: the drug war in Colombia is a certified flop.  According to the U.S. State Department, a record number of acres of coca, the raw material for cocaine, were sprayed with herbicide last year.  Despite the millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars that went into supporting this policy, Colombia ended the year with slightly more coca than it had in 2003-- and almost the exact amount that it had in 2000, when the policy began.  U.S. policy has also failed to reach human rights goals; the United Nations found that in 2004, as in 2003, human rights violations by the Colombian military are on the rise. Congress may approve close to $800 million more for Colombia for next year, bringing Plan Colombia's grand total to $4 billion.  Perhaps Secretary Rice should use the occasion of her visit to reflect on the shortcomings of the current policy, rather than proposing more of the same.  Individuals in ___ (your town or city) and around the country are calling Congress today to demand a new policy.  Secretary Rice would do well to listen to their concerns.

Sincerely,

(Name, Address).

You can find the contact information needed to reach your local papers by using Church World Service's media finder at http://capwiz.com/churchworld/dbq/media/.