military bases

The Colombian military and police have, by far, the worst record of human rights abuses in the Western Hemisphere. Over the last 7 years, more than 2,000 innocent civilians have bee killed by the Colombian army and then presented as guerrilla or paramilitary killed in combat to bump up the body count numbers and qualify for bonuses, vacation time and promotions.  The Army has also been involved in the execution of horrific massacres of innocent civilians, including children such as Santiago and Natalia Bolivar and Deiner Guerra (18 months old, 5 and 11), chopped up with machetes in February 2005 along with their parents, all San Jose de Apartado Peace Community members.

MacGregor Eddy, a friend and fellow peace activist, is on a bus right now on the way to Las Vegas. MacGregor is joining Cindy Sheehan, Father Louie Vitale, members of CodePink, and others on a five-day trip to multiple armed forces bases in California and Nevada -- bases for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines -- whose impacts lead to death and devastation to humanity and the natural environment.

Here's the Fellowship of Reconciliation's Colombia update for September 2009.

• Thanks, and a Request
  
• Bases and UNASUR Update
  
• Beyond the Peace Community...
  
• Damming Magdalena: Emgesa Threatens Colombian Communities

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent public statements that the impact of the proposed use of Colombian military bases by U.S. armed forces will be limited has done little to assuage tensions in the Latin America about the deal. Yesterday, in a meeting of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Latin America presidents from across the continent assailed Colombian President Alvaro Uribé and the U.S. for the deal being negotiated. Lead stories in today's Washington Post, BBC News, Time, and the Huffington Post are among the dozens of international media stories on the situation this weekend.

By William R. Northrup

This is the tenth day of my immersion into the Colombian society as part of the FOR two-week delegation. I’m sure you would find the work of those here for this organization, advocating for peace and justice, impressive. Colombia, while exceptionally impressive in many ways, is a complex, difficult society with a multi-faceted, tragic configuration to its struggles that takes time to understand, to appreciate, and to love.  Clearly the staff here and the volunteers have arrived at this valuable place and are effecting modest, peaceful changes. Many people are thankful for the FOR presence and depend on the FOR staff to accompany them when they feel threatened by the military, which continually harasses, threatens, apprehends, and worse in a seemingly willy-nilly fashion.

Colombia monthly e-newsletter

• Action Alert: Colombia Military Bases, or South American Peace?
  
• Religious and Grassroots Leaders Urge Suspension of Base Talks
  
• Obama's Choice: Documents Show U.S Seeks Colombian Bases for Training & Operations
  
• Letter from the Field: "Yanquis Fuera!"
  
• British MPs Urge End to U.K. Military Aid
  
• Protests in Colombia Increase Despite Oppression of Dissent
• News Briefs: Anti-Mili; Witness Paid to Testify Against Peace Community
• World Summit for Peace: Bogotá, Colombia -- October 1-4, 2009
  

Religious and Grassroots Leaders Urge Clinton to Suspend Military Base Talks with Colombia

Bases deal “presents enormous dangers for entire hemisphere”

President Obama was forced to address the growing clamor in South America opposing plans for U.S. military use of bases in Colombia to carry out regional operations with a wide and ambiguous mandate. “We have no intent in establishing a U.S. military base in Colombia,” Obama said on Friday.

But whether the bases are "U.S." in name is of no import. The proposal has always been for U.S. military use of national bases in Colombia, which is how the U.S. works at military bases in Honduras, Ecuador, El Salvador, and many other countries in the world. The Pentagon does not acknowledge “U.S. bases” in Iraq, for example. Obama’s announcement doesn’t change anything of what has bothered so many Latin Americans and U.S. citizens who hoped for better from Obama’s government.

July 16, 2009: Oakland, CA: In a stunning development, the United States is negotiating for the use of five military facilities in Colombia in an agreement whose objectives include “filling the gaps left by the eventual cutting of [military] aid in Plan Colombia,” according to sources in Washington and Bogotá cited by an explosive article published in this week’s Cambio magazine.

The five bases, which replace a U.S. base in Manta, Ecuador, closing in September, would expand the U.S. military mission to include counter-narcotic operations, involvement in Colombia’s counterinsurgency war, and combating “other international crimes,” according to Colombia’s Foreign Minister.

Earlier today, the Fellowship of Reconciliation reported on negotiations between the Obama administration and Colombia President Alvaro Uribe's administration toward as many as five U.S. military bases in Colombia. This stunning proposal was confirmed later today in an Associated Press story authored by journalist Frank Bajak (The map at left locates Colombian military bases that may soon share space with U.S. military forces):