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WhyLatin America & Caribbean Colombia: Colombia is a beautiful country rich in culture, beauty and resources. However, Colombia has been in a state of civil war for over four decades. Fought between various armed actors, Colombia’s war has displaced over 3.8 million people making it home to the world’s second largest population of internally displaced people, surpassed only by Sudan. Each year many are assassinated, kidnapped, threatened and displaced. A rural Colombian church member explains, “What you experience only in your nightmare is our daily reality.” Colombia is notorious for its human rights violations carried out by all the armed groups, including the government forces. The drug trade is a crucial part of Colombia’s war; it finances the illegal armed groups—the guerillas and paramilitaries. The war is deeply rooted in an unequal economic system. The vast amount of wealth and resources are controlled by a few, thus excluding many Colombians from the formal and legal economy and leaving them in poverty. Government and AUC-paramilitary collusion includes suppressing local community (including church) organizing efforts, worker rights movements, labor union organizers and human rights defenders. The cycle of violence and economic injustice go hand-in-hand.1 Churches are not exempt from the violence. According to a study on human rights violations against church leaders undertaken by MCC partner Justapaz, over 200 aggressions against church members occurred during 2006. US Policy and Victims:Over the last six years, Congress has appropriated nearly five billion dollars for the Colombian government, largely in the form of a military aid package—Plan Colombia. This aid has done little to resolve Colombia’s internal armed conflict and crisis of internal displacement. In fact, 80% of the currently displaced population has been displaced during the Plan Colombia era.2 It has also failed to achieve the U.S. policy goal of decreasing Colombia’s cultivation, processing and distribution of drugs by 50%. In fact, more coca is being grown now in Colombia than when Plan Colombia began, and cocaine remains readily available on U.S. streets.3 Moreover, Colombia’s internal armed conflict still rages on, resulting in the second largest population of internally displaced persons in the world and countless human rights violations. Despite media hype about increasing security in Colombia, during President Alvaro Uribe’s first term in office, a total of 11,292 people were registered as disappeared or assassinated in non-combat situations—that is nearly 13 people per day.4 The Colombian Military’s human rights record remains dismal: from 2002-2006 there was a 73% increase in extrajudicial executions with direct involvement of State security forces. Meanwhile, paramilitary groups – supposedly under a ceasefire agreement – assassinated or disappeared an average of 1,060 persons each year (that is one person every 8 hours for four years) Until these abuses end and the government is willing to consider true and integral proposals for peace, we urge the U.S. Congress to stop pouring billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars into the Colombian military. Canadian Policy and Victims:Historically, Canada’s foreign policy towards Colombia has been a relatively passive one. However, the current Canadian government is pushing a free trade agreement with Colombia that could potentially worsen conditions for poor Colombians and victims of the violence. As one partner clearly stated, “the free trade agreement is absolutely against the interests of the Colombian people”. Currently Colombia is home to the world’s second largest population of internally displaced persons (IDPs), after Sudan. The United Nations has named Colombia the “worst humanitarian catastrophe in the Western Hemisphere” as over 3 million people have been made homeless refugees in their own country. According to an MCC partner report on human rights violations of church leaders and members, “displaced persons testify that their lives become similar to that of a fugitive sought by the authorities. They are forced to flee constantly, moving from one place to another to avoid being found by those looking to kill them, and having members of the armed group that displaced them show up in the place they were displaced to. They speak of lists of names of persons sentenced to death, and of infiltration by armed groups of the government agencies where they have gone seeking help or protection…They live in fear, forced to remain virtually imprisoned in their homes, terrified by the sight of men on motorcycles or vehicles that pass by or stop near their residences.”3
1 Taken from Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office “Guide to U.S. Policy on Colombia” 2Evaluation Report, #12, National Planning Department, Government of Colombia 3“A Prophetic Call: Colombian churches document their Suffering and Hope” Vol. 2, August, 2007. |
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