Dear Friends,

We have sent out today the letter asking for humanitarian and
economic assistance to Colombia in place of military aid, to the
Human Rights Caucus of Congress, to local congresspeople, and to
local press. As you can see below, we are getting help from the
U.S. Colombia Coordinating Office and other organizations to further
distribute the letter.

Thanks to all of you who either signed on, or wrote your own letters
to Congress, and who helped to distribute the letter. We received a
request from the persons organizing the October 24 March for Peace in
Colombia in Seattle, Washington to use our letter for collecting
signatures and to include it in their press releases, so the message
will be further amplified.

Things are still up in the air in Washington DC regarding further
military aid to Colombia. If you missed the deadline for the letter,
it is not too late to contact your Congressional representatives.
Lisa Haugaard of the Latin American Working Group writes, "Despite
the fact that there is no administration package before Congress, it
is important to keep pressuring your senators and representative on
this issue. You can also write letters to Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright with a cc to Ambassador Peter Romero, Acting
Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, both at the
State Department, 2201 C Street NW, Washington DC 20520. ... at the
very end of the congressional session, all the unfinished
appropriations (spending) bills will be lumped together and at that
time new spending can be stuck in. Colombia spending could still be
added there. It probably won't come before Congress as a "Colombia
aid package" but as part of a bigger spending bill. Therefore,
constituents need to keep contacting their members of Congress with a
simple message that says no military aid, but yes provide assistance
to Colombia for crop substitution programs, humanitarian aid for the
displaced, judicial reform, peace and human rights. Even if no aid
package goes through this session, members of Congress are
making up their minds on this issue for next year."

Again, a heartfelt, "Gracias." In solidarity,

Martha and Cathy

From: Alison Giffen <agiffen@igc.org>
To: Colombia Human Rights Network and interested individuals
From: U.S./Colombia Coordinating Office

Colombia Vive, the Boston committee of the Colombia Human Rights Network,
produced and distributed a successful letter urging the U.S. Congress to
oppose military aid for Colombia today.

The letter signed by over 50 individuals and organizations from accross the
United States was distributed to New England press as well as the LA Times,
NY Times, Houston Chronicle, NPR, Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Post,
Washington Times, Miami Herald and other major news wires and papers. It
was also distributed to Colombian press.

The following letter will also be distributed to every member of the
Congress by the Latin America Working Group in their next drop on Colombia.

For a properly formatted version, please see attached

_____________________________________________________
COLOMBIA VIVE
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Martha Soto, Colombia Vive, Boston, (508) 856-1607
Cathy Crumbley, Colombia Vive, Boston (617) 868-7770

MEDIA ADVISORY
US Organizations and Individuals Urge U.S. Congress to Oppose Military Aid
for Colombia and to Instead Support Humanitarian and Economic Assistance
Boston, MA, October 20, 1999 ____

The U.S. Congress and the Clinton Administration are considering greatly
increasing military aid to Colombia this year, at a time when Colombia's
civilian government is attempting to negotiate a peace process with the
armed insurgency, and when Colombia's civil society is demanding an end to
the civil war. In 1997 an overwhelming majority of Colombians voted for
the Mandate for Peace.

Colombia is in the midst of the most serious human rights crisis in the
Western Hemisphere. Violence in the country's civil war --- the longest
running internal conflict in the hemisphere --- has increased dramatically
in the past year. Thousands of civilians have been caught in the
cross-fire. An estimated 308,000 people were internally displaced in 1998,
up from 250,000 in 1997, bringing to more than one million the number who
have fled their homes in the past decade.

In response to the dire current situation, and the further deterioration
expected if military aid is further increased, 9 National organizations,
and 54 individuals have signed a letter addressed to the U.S. Congress
(Human Rights Caucus) asking that military aid to Colombia be substituted
with humanitarian and economic aid. The signers include human rights
organizations from Boston, Washington DC, Iowa and Chicago, and
environmental organizations like Amazon Watch and the Rainforest Action
Network. These groups and individuals urge support for, "humanitarian aid
for the refugees displaced by the war, alternative development programs to
help small coca growers switch to legal crops, and programs to strengthen
Colombia's civilian institutions."

Colombia is now the third highest recipient of U.S. military aid in the
world, behind Israel and Egypt. This is due to the U.S. War on Drugs, and
the increased blurring by many in the U.S., like the Drug Czar General
Barry MacCaffrey, of the difference between support for counternarcotics
efforts and support for counterinsurgency efforts. The signers are
critical of the U.S. Drug War strategy not only because it is ineffective
and even counterproductive, but because, "the U.S. strategy of spreading
herbicides over Colombia's rainforest is an environmental and humanitarian
crime." Aerial spreading of herbicides harms not only the rainforest, but
the indigenous people who live there. In addition, the letter cites the
danger of arming a military that has in the past used U.S. military aid to
commit human rights abuses, and that has close connections to paramilitary
death squads responsible for most of the political killings and most of the
forced displacement in Colombia.

Finally, the letter urges the U.S. to give President Pastrana's efforts
more time and support. When he first took office last year President
Pastrana, who was elected due to his promise to pursue peace, received
international praise for his efforts to enter peace negotiations with the
largest guerrilla group. However, only a few months later many in the U.S.
are criticizing the "failure" of the peace process, a process that is
barely underway. The letter ends, "It is precisely because the Colombian
government, under President Pastrana, recognizes that this war cannot be
"won," that it is pursuing peace."

Please call Cathy Crumbley, Colombia Vive, Boston, (617) 868-7770 for more
information.
__________________________________________________________________________
59 Fenno St., Cambridge, MA 02138
phone: (617)868-7770
martha.soto@umassmed.edu
Cathy_Crumbley@uml.edu

October 4, 1999

To the Members of the Congress of the United States,

Dear Member of Congress,

I am writing to urge you to halt U.S. military aid, military sales and
military training to Colombia. U.S. aid is already accelerating the
descent into all out Civil War in that troubled country. At a time when
Colombians from all walks of life have expressed a desire for peace, U.S.
plans to aid the Colombian military in their decades long battle with rebel
guerrilla organizations are antagonizing efforts for peace.

Colombia's civilian government faces the worst economic situation of the
past 70 years. What Colombia needs right now to achieve peace and
stability is economic support for the millions of Colombians living in
desperate poverty. War is only adding to their misery. 1.5 million
Colombians, in a country of only 40 million people, have already been
forced from their homes by the war, mostly at the hands of paramilitary
death squads that often act with the support of the Colombian military.
Over 3,000 Colombian civilians are killed each year by the paramilitaries,
the guerrilla groups, and by the armed forces. Although most displaced
persons are too poor to travel beyond Colombia's boundaries, an escalation
in the war will create even larger refugee migrations, most likely into
neighboring countries. Already many middle class Colombians are clamoring
for visas to escape the war.

There are three important reasons why the current anti-drug strategy as
well as U.S. military aid to Colombia
are politically and morally wrong.

First, the U.S. strategy of spreading herbicides over Colombia's rainforest
is an environmental and humanitarian crime. No amount of spraying will
eliminate coca cultivation, since the growers will simply move elsewhere.
However, the damage done by powerful herbicides in the fragile ecological
environment of the rainforest, which is home to many of
Colombia's indigenous peoples, is a crime that the U.S. will live to regret.

Second, military aid has in the past been used to commit human rights
violations. Despite attempts from Congress to restrict aid to units
without a history of past abuses, the nature of counterinsurgency war and
the close connections between parts of the Colombian military and the
paramilitary death squads that commit most abuses do not bode well for the
safety of civilians increasingly caught in the cross fire of the war.

Third, the aid is not achieving its stated aim, which is to halt drug
traffic from Colombia to the U.S. The Drug War strategy has failed to
lower the amount of drugs under cultivation, and has focused attacks on
small coca growers, while ignoring major drug traffickers like the
paramilitaries. Although some in the U.S. like to label the guerrillas
"narco-traffickers," the Government Accounting Office and the Drug
Enforcement Agency have reported that the rebel groups are not traffickers,
though they do profit from taxing the drug trade. Ironically, the U.S.
strategy has
strengthened the guerrilla groups, who have seen more peasants join their
ranks. In some zones peasants see the guerrillas as the only ones willing
to help them earn a living.

Peace did not come quickly to Northern Ireland, or to the Middle East, and
it will not come quickly to Colombia. However, international support for a
peace process coupled with humanitarian aid for the victims is a model the
world should follow in Colombia. I urge you to support humanitarian aid
for the refugees displaced by the war,
alternative development programs to help small coca growers switch to legal
crops, and programs to strengthen Colombia's civilian institutions.

We should not try to achieve peace by first helping the Colombian Army to
"win" the war, as suggested by General Wilhelm of the U.S. Southern
Command. It is precisely because the Colombian government, under President
Pastrana, recognizes that this war cannot be "won," that it is pursuing
peace. It is not too much to ask that the U.S. honor this valiant effort,
and provide humanitarian and economic support, not the tools of war.

Sincerely,

-----------------------------------------------------

Estimado Miembro del Congreso de los Estados Unidos,

Escribo para pedir que suspendan toda la ayuda, ventas y entrenamiento
militar para Colombia. La ayuda de los Estados Unidos está precipitando un
cambio hacia una guerra civil total en ese país. Mientras que los
colmbianos de todas partes de la sociedad han declarado su deseo por la
paz, los planes de los Estados Unidos de apoyar al ejercito colombiano en
su guerra contra la guerrilla, una guerra que ya lleva varias decadas,
está interferiendo con los esfuerzos por la paz.

El gobierno colombiano enfrenta la peor crisis económica de los últimos 70
años. Lo que Colombia más necesita en este momento para lograr paz y
estabilidad es apoyo económico para los milliones de colombianos que viven
en la miseria. La guerra sólo contribuye a la miseria. Un million y medio
de colombianos ,en un país de sólo 40 milliones, ya han sido forzados de
sus casas por la guerra, la mayoría a manos de los pramilitares, que
muchas veces actuan con el apoyo de las fuerzas armadas. Mas de 3,000
civiles mueren cada año a manos de los paramilitares, los guerrilleros, y
las fuerzas armadas.Aunque la mayoría de los desplazados son demasiado
pobres para salir del país, un aumento en la guerra creará todavía más
migraciones de refugiados, probablemente desplazandose a países vecinos.
En este momento, muchos colombianos de clase media están pidiendo visas
para escapar la guerra.

Existen tres razones, de caracter político y moral, por las cuales la
estrategia para combatir
el narcotráfico igual que la ayuda militar de los Estado Unidos a Colombia
estan en error.

Primero, la estrategia de los EE UU de fumigar con herbicidas sobre la
selva amazónica colombiana es un crimen ecológico y humano. La fumigación
no terminará con la coca, porque los que la cultivan simplemente se
trasladan a un nuevo lugar. Pero el daño hecho por herbicidas poderosos en
el frágil medioambiente de la selva amazónica, donde viven muchos pueblos
indígenas colombianos, es un crimen del que los EEUU tendrá que arrepentirse.

Segundo, la ayuda militar se ha utilizado para violar los derechos humanos.
Aunque el Congreso de los EE UU ha intentado restringir fondos a las
unidades con historia de abusos, la naturaleza de la guerra
contrainsurgente, y los nexos entre algunos militares colombianos y los
paramilitares crean preocupaciones sobre la seguridad de los civiles que se
ven cada día más atrapados por la guerra.

Tercero, la ayuda de los EE UU no está cumpliendo la meta declarada de
frenar el tráfico de drogas entre Colombia y los Estados Unidos. La
estrategia de la Guerra Contra las Drogas no ha bajado el número de
cultivos ilícitos, y ha dirigidos los ataques contra pequeños cultivadores
de coca, ignorando a grandes narco traficantes y a los paramilitares.
Aunque algunos en los EE UU llaman narco traficantes a la guerrilla, la
Government Accounting Office del
Congreso y la Drug Enforcement Agency, han reportado que los guerilleros no
son narco traficantes, aunque recogen fondos poniéndole impuestos a los
cultivos ilícitos. Irónicamente la estrategia de los EE UU ha fortalecido
a la guerrilla, quienes han aumentado su reclutamiento entre la población
campesina. En algunas zonas los campesinos ven a los guerrilleros como
los únicos que les ayudan a ganarse la vida.

La paz no llegó rápidamente al Norte de Irlandia, ni a al Medio Oriente, y
no llegará rapidamente a Colombia. Sinembargo, el modelo de apoyo
internacional para el proceso de paz y ayuda humanitaria para las víctimas
es el que se debe seguir en Colombia. Pido que apoye la ayuda humanitaria
para los refugiados desplazados por la guerra, programas de desarrollo
alternativo para los pequenos cultivadores de coca para que cambien
a cultivos licitos, y programas para fortalecer las instituciones civiles
colombianas.

No debemos tratar de buscar la paz ayudando a que el ejercito colombiano
le "gane" a la guerrilla, como sugiere el General Wilhem del Comando Sur
de los EEUU. Es precisamente porque el gobierno colombiano, bajo el
Presidente
Pastrana, reconoce que esta guerra no se puede "ganar," que está buscando
la paz. No es mucho pedir que los EEUU honren este valiente esfuerzo, y
aporten ayuda humanitaria y económica, en vez de las herramientas de guerra.

Sinceramente,

INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS SIGNING IN AGREEMENT WITH THIS LETTER TO
CONGRESS
ON HALTING MILITARY AID TO COLOMBIA AND INSTEAD SUPPORTING ECONOMIC AND
HUMANITARIAN AID:

Name Organization/ Address

Cathy Crumbley and Father Gerry Kelly,
Co-Chairs Colombia Vive, Boston

Erik van Lennep, Executive Director The Arctic to Amazonia Alliance, Ivy,
VA, USA

June Hom, Development Associate The Pachamama Alliance

Kim Foster, Northeast Organizer Boston Rainforest Action Group, Rainforest
Action Network

Atossa Soltani, Director Amazon Watch

Barbara Gerlach and Cristina Espinel
Co-Chairs Colombia Human Rights
Committee, Washington D.C.

David Alper, Co-coordinator, Chicago Colombia Committee

Robert Soto, President Club Colombia, Seattle, Washington

Ned Bertz, Coordinator International Alliance for People's
Movements, Iowa
City, Iowa

* Matthew Knoester, member Colombia Support Network-Boston

*Liliana M. Dávalos, Graduate Fellow American Museum of Natural History and
Center for
Environmental Research and Conservation at Columbia University

*Andrea Vergara, Postdoctoral Fellow University of Massachusetts Medical
School
*Cesar Abadia Harvard Medical School
*Mauro Oliveira SOL Communications (501c3)
Laureen Clair
Mahaia Sol Oliveira
Jennifer Waggoner
David Creech
Joelle Davis
John Owen
Julia Orr
Vic Phelps
John Berman
Laura Ascenzi-Moreno
* = Organization given for identification purposes only

INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS SIGNING IN AGREEMENT WITH THIS LETTER TO
CONGRESS
ON HALTING MILITARY AID TO COLOMBIA AND INSTEAD SUPPORTING ECONOMIC AND
HUMANITARIAN AID:

Name Organization/ Address

*Gary Cozette, Director Chicago Religious Leadership Network
on Latin America

*Jeff Crosby, President North Shore Labor Council (Mass.)

*Allison Sharkey Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights

*Leonel Narvaez Gomez, postgraduate student
Harvard- Divinity School
* Sutti Ortiz, Professor Emeritus Boston University

*Christina Holcroft, Research Fellow, UMass Lowell

* Joseph de Rivera, Professor of Psychology Clark University

* David Sweet Resource Center for Nonviolence;
Santa Cruz, CA.

* PilarHernandez, Psychology Intern Sunset ParkMental HealthCenter

Richard Boren PO Box 85878 Tucson, AZ 85754

* Mrs Geoffrey R. Hope, Iowa City, Iowa,
Iowa City Representative, Colombia Human Rights Committee
Nelson Gomez & Ublester Gomez

* Amy Ward, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Anthropology,
Michigan State
University

*Nikolas Kozloff, doctoral student, Latin American history, Oxford
University

*Fernando Alberto Arana Ceballos
Investigador Bioquímica Molecular, Live Systems Technology, S.A.
*Alexis De Greiff Centre for the History of
Science, Technology and
Medicine,
Imperial College, London
*Thomas Henfrey, Research student University of Kent at Canterbury, UK
* Jean Jackson , Professor of Anthropology, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology

*Reverend David Carl Olson Community Church of Boston

Adriana Covelli Soto

*Angela Perez, Assistant Professor Brandeis University

Javier Amaya PO Box 47433, Seattle WA 98146

* = Organization given for identification purposes only

INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS SIGNING IN AGREEMENT WITH THIS LETTER TO
CONGRESS
ON HALTING MILITARY AID TO COLOMBIA AND INSTEAD SUPPORTING ECONOMIC AND
HUMANITARIAN AID:

Name Organization/ Address

Tom Hinds Colombia Human Rights
Committee, Washington, DC

*Sandra Alvarez Global Exchange

Dan Medina Colombia Human Rights
Committee, Washington, DC

*Lisa Rodriguez Maryknoll Mision Association of the Faithful

Dr. Katherine Benson Washington, DC

*Angel Patino Colombia Human Rights
Committee, New Jersey

Sarah Debolt Washington, DC

Joanne Drake 2532 Q St. NW, Washington, DC 20007

Gustavo Caldas 18606 Phoebe Way, Gaithersburg, MD 20879

Betsy Boatner 1852 Monroe St. NW 20010

Tricia Smith 280 W. Main, Norwalk, OH 44857

Joanne Rappaport 4531 46th St. NW, Washington, DC 20016

*Sarno Tree Institute for Policy Studies,
733 15th St. NW, Washington DC
20005

M. Helene Pollock 550 W. Queen Lane,
Philadelphia, PA 19144

Jennifer Atlee 941 Mt. Pleasant Ave, Wayne, PA??

Peter Clark 708 Hope Lane, Gaithersburg, MD 20878

Maria S. Hope 1109 Xavell St., Iowa City, IA 52240

*= Organization given for identification purposes only

COLOMBIA VIVE
____________________________________________________________________________
_____

October 20, 1999

Representative Tom Lantos
Representative John Porter
The Human Rights Caucus
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representatives Porter and Lantos,

We are sending you the attached letter in appreciation for your strong
commitment to the defense of human rights in Colombia and around the world.
We hope that this letter, signed by human rights and environmental
organizations from around the United States, and by many individuals, will
be of use to you in your efforts to further support human rights in Colombia.

The letter urges the U.S. Congress to support humanitarian and economic
assistance to Colombia, in place of military aid. We understand from your
Dear Colleague letter accompanying the recent Amnesty International report
on Colombia that you have in the recent past urged your colleagues to take
into account the close connections between the Colombian army and the
paramilitaries as the Congress considers the best next step in Colombia.

We hope that this and other letters, including the letters we are
encouraging individuals to write to their own Congressional
representatives, will allow you and other Members of Congress to vote and
speak out against military aid to Colombia until we see much better
guarantees that this aid will not be used to harm the civilian population.

Respectfully yours,

Cathy Crumbley
Co-Chair
Martha Soto
Member
Colombia Vive, Boston

____________________________________________________________________________
____
59 Fenno St., Cambridge, MA 02138
phone: (617)868-7770
martha.soto@umassmed.edu
Cathy_Crumbley@uml.edu

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