Oppose US escalation in Colombia

Colombia Support Network's
statement on
the Barry McCaffrey Proposal

July 28, 1999

        The Colombia Support Network calls upon President Clinton and the
U.S. Congress to reject the call of General Barry McCaffrey for increased
military aid to Colombia.  Drug policy czar McCaffrey couched his request
for $1 billion in emergency assistance in terms of strengthening the
Colombian government's  efforts against drugs.  General McCaffrey has in
the past blurred the distinction between combatting drug traffickers and
fighting a counterinsurgency war against Colombian guerrillas.

        In practice, U.S. aid has assisted the Colombian military which has
maintained links to paramilitary organizations led by Carlos Castaño and
other persons known to be participants in drug-trafficking.  These links
were clearly revealed when the military, advised by a judge in the town of
Mapiripán in the Meta Department that paramilitaries were engaged in
carrying out a massacre of townspeople, did nothing to intervene - even
though the Colombian government has classified these paramilitaries as
illegal.  In other words, U.S. aid to the Colombian military and police, in
the name of the War on Drugs, helps them collaborate with drug trafficking
paramilitaries to slaughter innocent civilians.  The U.S. government should
support the peace process and grass roots community organizations which
seek peace with justice.  More military aid will increase military action
and make it even harder to achieve peace.

        We call for the protection of innocent peasants, teachers, priests,
human rights workers, labor leaders and all the others whose lives are
threatened by militarism.  The underlying  cause of the war in Colombia is
not drugs, but rather a very inequitable distribution of economic resources
in that country.  We call upon the U.S. government to support the grass
roots organizations working to improve economic conditions for the great
majority of Colombian people through community action.  Examples of
supportive community action are groups such as the Peace Community in Urabá
and the civilian organizations in the Middle Magdalena region who renounce
arms, oppose the guerrillas' strategies and tactics of assasinations and
kidnapping, and have born the brunt of attacks from the paramilitary thugs.

        Please write letters or send faxes of protest to the following
individuals.

President William Clinton
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC  20500
fax 202 456-2461

Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright
2201 C St., NW
Washington, DC 20520
fax 202 647-1533

Secretary of Defense
William Cohen
1000 Defense, The Pentagon
Washington, DC  20301-1000
fax 703 697-9080

General Barry McCaffrey
Executive Office of the President
ONDCP
Washingtion, DC  20503
fax 202 395-6640

Your respective Congresspeople

Colombia Support Network
P.O. Box 1505
Madison, WI 53701
(608) 257-8753   fax (608) 255-6621
csn@igc.apc.org    http//www.igc.apc.org/csn/

The Human Rights Action Network, a project of Derechos Human Rights, distributes appeals on behalf of victims of human rights violations. You are invited to join the network. Please check the date of the present action and do not write if it's over a month old.