Call on Congress to Reduce Military Aid to Colombia & Support Victims of Violence

As you will recall, last year the Congress made many positive changes in U.S. policy towards Colombia – changes that couldn’t have been made without committed activists like you.

Picking up the phone, demanding your voice be heard. With the foreign aid subcommittees in the House and Senate set to “mark up” their respective bills in mid-July, it’s time to call your representative and senators and urge them to stand by Colombia’s victims of violence.

Call your Representative and Senators today and ask them to support the continued reduction of military aid to Colombia in this year’s foreign aid bill. See below for a list of Illinois Representatives & Senators, foreign policy staffers, and their contact information. Also, if you don’t know who your members of Congress are go to:

http://www.congress.org/

and type in your zip code to find out.


When you call, ask to speak with the foreign policy aide

. If he or she is unavailable, please leave the following message on his or her


voicemail:

“I am a constituent calling to encourage Rep./Senator  ____________ to ensure that this year’s foreign aid bill stands by Colombia’s victims of violence. Last year, the Congress moved U.S. policy in the right direction by reducing military aid. Now, with credible reports linking the Colombian military to extrajudicial killings of civilians, Congress must continue to cut aid to Colombia. Instead of fueling war, the U.S. should be supporting Colombia’s victims of violence – small farmers trying to turn away from coca, refugees and the internally displaced, and Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities – in addition to the courageous efforts of human rights defenders.

 I urge you to share my concerns on U.S. aid to Colombia directly with the chair of the foreign operations subcommittee before the foreign aid bill goes to mark up.


Can I count on Rep/Senator ________ to communicate these concerns?

Please let me know. My phone number is ___________. Thank you.”

When

you

decide to take positive actions on behalf Colombia’s victims of violence, send us an email to let us know what you did.

We’ve already achieved some momentous changes in U.S. policy towards Colombia, but we’ve got to keep building on our successes – we must keep pushing that ball up the hill!

Your calls make a difference!  For more information, contact Danielle Wegman at

dwegman@crln.org

or 773-293-3680.

Illinois


Representatives

Bobby Rush (D-



1

^st


)



– John Marshall,

202-225-4372

Jesse Jackson (D-



2

^nd


) ­



– Charles Dujon

, 202-225-0773

Dan Lipinski (D-



3

^rd)



– Keith Devereaux,

202-225-5701

Luis Gutierrez (D-4

^th

)


–

Greg Staff

, 202-225-8203

Rahm Emanuel (D –



5

^th


)



– Luis Jimenez,

202-225-4061

Peter Roskam (R



-6

^th


)


–

Vicky Sanville,

202-225-4561

Danny Davis (D



-7

^th


)



– Charles Brown,

202-225-5006

Melissa Bean (D-8

^th

)



– J.D. Grom,

202-225-3711

Jan Schakowsky (D-9

^th

)



– Nina Besser,

202-225-2111

Mark Kirk (R-10

^th

)



– Rich Goldberg,

202-225-4835

Jerry Weller (R-11

^th

)



– Alan Tennille,

202-225-3635

Jerry Costello (D-12

^th

)



– Dan McCarthy,

202-225-5661

Judy Biggert (R-13

^th

)



– Brian Petersen

, 202-225-3515

Bill Foster (D-14

^th

)



– Peter Judge,

202-225-2976

Timothy Johnson (R-15

^th

)



– Jennifer Mascho,

202-225-2371

Donald Manzullo (R-16

^th

)



–  Nien Su,

202-225-5676

Phil Hare (D-17

^th

)



– Kemi Jemilohun,





202-225-5905

Ray LaHood (R-18

^th

)



– Diane Liesman,

202-225-6201

From the Fellowship of Reconciliation Website:

In July 2007, FOR and the American Friends Service Committee released a report documenting the first-person experiences of women peace activists in Colombia. “I Will Never Be Silenced: Testimonies of Hope from Colombian Woman” highlights the words and work of 13 women from throughout Colombia – rural and urban, old and young, Afro-Colombian, indigenous and mestizo, artists, religious, political, feminists. These women have tirelessly and fearlessly worked to create peace and justice.

Order your copy today!

Elizabeth Lozano explains in the report’s introduction:

“The violence faced by women is not only inflicted by the machetes, guns, and landmines of the ‘enemy.’ It is also carried out by ‘friendly’ fire, so to speak, in the woman’s daily life. This is the normalized violence exercised without the weapons of war, and manifested in abusive marital relations, implicit or explicit threats of rape, absence of education opportunities, lack of sexual education, and in the general expectation that her right place is the kitchen and the bedroom.”

“I Will Never Be Silenced” brings to readers women who endure these various forms of violence to speak about their experiences and their work to end the violence and impunity in their country.

The 40-page report is available for $6 postpaid for individual copies, or $30 for 10 copies, postpaid.

To order your copy

, please send a check to the FOR office at:

2017 Mission St, 2nd Floor

San Francisco, CA 94110

Honorable Members of the United States Congress, Washington D.C.

Dear Members of Congress:

We, the undersigned, are U.S. and Colombian people of faith, convinced that God calls us to be on the side of the weak, the victims and the poor.  For this reason, as representatives of numerous faith communities and churches, we come to you because we understand that soon you will consider two pieces of legislation that would have a significant impact on Colombia and the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.  We write in the hope that your decisions may build the foundation for dignified life for all and promote the justice and peace that we so desire.

For more than 50 years Colombia has suffered through armed conflict, violence, inequalities and injustices.  The civilian population is most affected by the armed conflict.  More than four million people have been displaced from their lands.  This conflict kills more than 3,000 people annually and tens of thousands of paramilitary and guerrilla victims today call for truth, justice and reparations.  Meanwhile, the United Nations indicates that more than 45 percent of the Colombian population lives in poverty.

We have closely followed the congressional debates regarding human rights in Colombia and the balance between U.S. military and social aid for Colombia.  We applauded Congress’ achievement last year when you cut $142 million in military aid and added $97 million in social aid to the aid package.  We know that this year President George Bush has once again called on Congress to pass an aid package with approximately 75 percent in military aid.  We, who work with the victims of the conflict or accompany them from the United States, hope that congress prioritizes work for peace and socio-economic assistance rather than military aid.

At the same time, we know that Congress may soon consider the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement negotiated between Colombia and the United States.  Being faithful to our principles, we must view any public policy from the point of view of the poor and the victims.

Therefore, in Colombia we must consider how the trade agreement would affect what the United Nations estimates are the close to nine million Colombians living in rural areas – the family farmer, the indigenous and the Afro-Colombians – 80 percent of whom live in poverty, according to USAID.

According to the United Nations, 21 percent of employed Colombians work in Agriculture, the vast majority in rural areas.  Research on the impact of free trade agreements between underdeveloped countries, such as Colombia, and countries with large economies, such as he United States, show that underdeveloped countries lose a significant number of agricultural jobs.  For example, independent studies indicate that in Mexico at least 1.3 million family farmers have been displaced from their agricultural production due to subsidized imports from the United States.

While in Mexico many of these family farmers have attempted to survive by migrating into the United States, in Colombia there would be a risk of increasing the number of internally displaced persons, a population that is already the second largest in the world.  We are deeply concerned that the livelihood of the rural population – individuals who have already suffered greatly from the consequences of the armed conflict – would be further put at risk by this trade agreement.  This population would then face decisions that have historically reproduced violence and poverty in Colombia; migration to urban settings, forced internal displacement, illicit crop production, recruitment by illegal armed groups, among other ill-fated consequences.

We are also concerned that the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement would put Colombians’ food security at risk, as the country would, in large part, be dependent on U.S. imports for basic grains and other key foods for daily consumption.  Furthermore, this trade agreement does not have sufficient protection for workers nor the environment.  Such labor protections are particularly important in Colombia, the country with the highest number of murdered trade unionists.  And without necessary environmental protections in the agreement, we would be jeopardizing Colombia’s environment, considered the second most bio-diverse in the world.

For that reason, we ask you, honorable members of Congress, to take into account the following requests before considering the proposed aid to Colombia or the ratification of the free trade agreement.

• Further cut U.S. military aid and aerial fumigation, which does not bring us closer to peace in Colombia, while significantly increasing aid for the poor, the displaced, refugees and the victims of the armed conflict.
• Insist that the State Department strongly enforce the human rights conditions in law, which is especially important as we are seeing a concerning increase in killings of civilians as well as other human rights violations attributed to the Colombian Armed Forces.
• Do not ratify a U.S. – Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which would increase the already concerning poverty rate among rural Colombians, would put Colombia’s food security at risk and lacks sufficient protections for workers and Colombia’s bio-diverse environment.