Colombia

• Delegation to Colombia: Apply Today!
  
• Letter from the Field: A Stranger in Our Midst
• U.S.-Aided Intelligence Unit Accuses Human Rights Groups
  
• The Dark Side of Plan Colombia
  
• Pentagon Plans Intervention Ability from Military Base
  
• News Briefs: Reasons to Celebrate; Called to Trial; A C.O. Speaks
  

Delegation to Colombia: Apply Today!

August 15-29, 2009: Delegation to San Jose Peace Community, Medellin and Eastern Antioquia

Witness the incredible commitment and experience of the Peace Community of San José and other Colombian grassroots initiatives.

Program Highlights:

• Travel to the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó
• Meet
  with people whose family members have been killed by the U.S.-funded
  Colombian army and are nonviolently working for justice for these
  crimes.
• Meet grassroots activists who courageously and creatively advocate for truth, justice and integral reparations.
• Experience
  unparalleled access and a rich part of Colombian life to understand
  both the war's impacts on peasant communities and advances to justice.
• Convey your experience as a group to U.S. officials

Four decades of armed conflict in Colombia have led to indigenous
people, women, union activists, youth, journalists, and human rights
workers being subject to killing, displacement, and kidnapping. Now,
victims have united in a national movement to demand that the
perpetrators of these crimes be held responsible.

Oakland, CA - For Immediate Release: The United States is planning to establish a new military facility in Colombia that will give the U.S. increased capacity for military intervention throughout most of Latin America. Given the tense relations of Washington with Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador, as well as the Colombian military’s atrocious human rights record, the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) believes the plan should be subjected to vigorous debate.

“This base would feed a failed drug policy, support an abusive army, and reinforce a tragic history of U.S. military intervention in the region,” said John Lindsay-Poland, Latin America Program Co-director for FOR. “It’s wrong and wasteful, and Congress should scrap it.”

We started our march with a bit of sage, drums and a blessing to the four directions. There were 60 of us gathered on the sidewalks of San Francisco standing in the midst of the city bustle while Luis, a local Colombian, gave instructions to turn and face in each of the four directions.

This coming Sunday and Monday, the annual Colombia Days of Prayer & Action will be held across North America. FOR is one of a dozen national organizations cosponsoring this year's events.

As momentum builds toward this important international solidarity effort, drawing both faith and secular U.S. communities into deeper relationship with our sisters and brothers in Colombia, staff members of FOR's Latin America program are being interviewed on the challenges facing Colombia by numerous media sources.

Earlier today, FOR Colombia campaign organizer Liza Smith was interviewed on KAOS radio (Portland OR) by Kim Dobbs. We are hopeful that an MP3 audio file of the interview will be posted in the next couple days on the station's website -- if and when it is, you'll be able to access it here.

By Kristen Kuriga

Last night I dreamt I was in Colombia. I was walking down the street at
night alone and the lighting was dim. A man with a machine gun came out
from behind a building and forced me to the ground. He put his gun up
to my head and I could hear him slowly pulling the trigger back. My
heart was pounding as I lay with my face on the cold concrete. Am I
going to die? Everything was in slow motion. As I heard the bullet
coming out of the gun I grabbed the end with my hand and bent it. I
stood up, took the gun from the man, and broke it with my hands. I
threw the gun on the ground and walked down the dark street alone.

by Kristen Kuriga

When friends have asked me about my time in Colombia, my initial response is intense … full of life … big. In the span of ten days I witnessed and experienced the context of the conflict in Colombia, its effect on youth, and the creative ways that ACOOC and the Red Juvenil have developed an alternative path for youth built on the principles of nonviolence, conscientious objection, and art. And I met people who inspired me and filled me with a sense of possibility and resilience. In the midst of armed conflict and daily violence, poverty, and the repression of dissident voices, the youth that I encountered emanated love, life, joy, and celebration. What was at the core of this? I saw community, self-created family, vision, play, and most of all creativity!