FOR Calls on U.S. to Stop Feeding War in Colombia Launches Peace Presence in Northern Colombia
At midnight on February 20, all out war resumed in southern Colombia, after President Andrés Pastrana announced the death of peace negotiations. The break was triggered by a guerrilla kidnapping hours earlier of a Colombian Senator, but Colombian armed forces clearly had prepared their offensive well in advance.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), an interfaith pacifist organization founded in 1915, calls on the U.S. State Department to act quickly to ensure that U.S. personnel, equipment or Colombian troops trained by the Untied States are not participating directly or indirectly in the new offensive.
Within hours of President Pastrana’s announcement, Colombian aircraft bombed 85 points in the demilitarized zone controlled by the guerrillas, known as the FARC. News reporters inside the territory said the rebels had largely disappeared, while many residents and government peace negotiators and 10 foreign ambassadors mediating the peace talks were leaving the area.
Colombian military personnel declared last month that they were prepared for "Plan B," or total war against the guerrillas. The Tres Esquinas military base, from which today’s bombing was launched, had been preparing the terrain for military operations in case peace talks broke up with the financial, logistic and personnel assistance of the United States. In November, the United States delivered six Black Hawk helicopters to the Colombian Army. Black Hawks were used today in the more than 200 flight missions carried out from Tres Esquinas in only six hours.
President Pastrana referred repeatedly to the war on terrorism, calling the hijacking "an international offense classified as terrorism." The FARC is one of three armed groups in Colombia on the US list of terrorist organizations. But it is Army-allied paramilitary groups that are responsible for 79% of political killings of civilians in the country, according to international human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Bush administration efforts to broaden the scope of US military aid have flourished in recent weeks. The 2003 budget presented in January includes $538-million of additional aid for Colombia, including $98 million to train a Colombian army brigade to protect an oil pipeline from guerrilla attacks.
"The focus on protecting oil from guerrillas, instead of people from paramilitary attacks is a vivid demonstration of how U.S. policy puts the security of profits ahead of security for human life," said John Lindsay-Poland, coordinator of the FOR’s Latin America program.
Taking a Different Road In early February, the FOR launched the Colombia Peace Presence in the remote settlement La Unión of the Peace Community San José de Apartadó, near the Panama border in northern Colombia. Two US volunteers physically accompany the community, which is one of 50 Peace Communities that have formed in the country’s conflict regions. Because of their commitment to not support any armed party in the conflict, the community has been subject to ongoing killings, attacks and threats, especially by military-backed paramilitary forces. More than 85 residents have been killed in political violence since hundreds of peasants signed the community’s Declaration of Neutrality in 1997.
"In spite of the escalation of war, some Colombians are taking a different road, and we are supporting their choice for peace," said Jutta Meier-Wiedenbach, who recently returned to San Francisco from Colombia, where she helped set up the FOR’s peace presence.
The presence of the FOR observers in Colombia seeks to support the Peace Community’s right to life and contribute to the improvement of the situation of human rights and international humanitarian law. In light of the latest developments, the FOR is deeply worried about the safety of the civilian population.
Although today’s military attacks have concentrated on the FARC-controlled area, the new offensive threatens to strengthen paramilitary groups and spread violence to other regions. Paramilitaries have acted brutally against civilians whom they say support the guerrillas.
The FOR joins human rights groups and others concerned about this escalation of war and the role the United States is assuming in the conflict. The FOR urges the United States:
* To support the search for negotiated solutions to the conflict in Colombia;
* To uphold restrictions on US military aid to Colombian military units that violate human rights;
* To substitute the effort to protect oil pipelines with an energy policy that promotes renewable energy sources.
Because U.S. military assistance to Colombia fuels the country’s war, we also urge people of conscience in the United States to contact President Bush and their Congressional Representatives and Senators to call for an end to such aid.
Contact: Jutta Meier-Wiedenbach or John Lindsay-Poland, 415-495-6334
©2002 Fellowship of Reconciliation
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Produced by the Fellowship of Reconciliation Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean
2017 Mission St., #305, San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel: (415) 495-6334, Fax: (415) 495-5628, E-mail: forlatam@igc.apc.org
