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WFP Urgent Action Alert
Help Stop Threats to Peace and Human Rights in Colombia and throughout Latin America
February 14, 2006

Dear friends,

We come to you to urge you to act on two major issues that will have deep impacts on peace in Latin America. The State Department is rightly holding up the certification of Colombia’s human rights record, which means a delay of 12.5% of U.S. military aid to Colombia. This is due to the lack of progress into investigation of the Colombian military’s long record of human rights abuse. Members of the House of Representatives are calling on Secretary of State Rice to withhold the certification until progress is made.

Also, the Administration released a budget request for the next fiscal year that maintains military aid to Latin America, but slashes aid to the most vulnerable. We cannot let this dangerous plan become reality. Read below to find out how you can take action on these two crucial issues. This is the time when we can have an impact!

In solidarity,
Erik

Action #1 – Don’t Certify Colombia’s Human Rights Record; Military Aid Could go to Human Rights Abusers!

Each year the State Department is required to certify to the human rights record of countries to which the U.S. sends military aid. Without this certification, a significant portion of military aid is withheld. Currently, the State Department’s certification of Colombia’s human rights record is rightly being held up due to the lack of progress on cases of military human rights abuse. Sending this military aid would signal U.S. approval to the Colombian government for its military's abuses.

The Colombian military has been implicated in various human rights violations in the past two years, and little to no progress has been made in the majority of these cases. The February 2005 massacre in the peace community San José de Apartadó is a particularly egregious example. Eight community members were macheted to death, including three children and human rights defender Luis Eduardo Guerra. The San José case is not advancing, and countless other cases, such as the Mapiripan massacre, are not resolved. Moreover, the Arauca murders of trade unionists by the U.S.-funded 18th brigade were only investigated with pressure from the U.S. State Department. These cases, and many others, have to be investigated fully!

Your advocacy efforts have proven invaluable in the past in postponing the certification of Colombia’s human rights record. Just last year, the State Department delayed certification for eight months, in large part due to your advocacy. Again, we have a major opportunity to significantly put this military aid on hold.

Representatives Sam Farr (CA) and Jim McGovern (MA) are circulating a letter among members of the House of Representatives to Secretary of State Rice asking her to withhold Colombia’s certification. The letter requests that certification be withheld until the Colombian government meets the human rights conditions laid out in U.S. law. We need as many representatives as possible to sign onto this letter so that it will have weight with the Colombian government and the State Department. You can view the letter at: http://www.lawg.org/countries/colombia/sign-on06_humanrights.htm

Contact your representative to urge them to sign onto this critical letter! The U.S. Capitol switchboard (202-224-3121) can connect you with your representative. Once connected, ask to speak with the foreign policy aide (leaving a voice mail is fine!). Let him/her know that as a constituent you want to see your representative sign on to the Farr-McGovern letter requesting that the State Department withhold human rights certification on Colombia. The letter will be open for signatures until Wednesday, February 22, but the sooner you can make your call the better.

Action #2 – The President’s Budget Request is Dangerous for Latin America!

On Monday, the Bush administration released its budget request for fiscal year 2007, which begins on October 1.  It’s no surprise that the new spending plan maintains the status quo in military aid to Colombia and other countries, while ignoring the real hopes and needs of our sisters and brothers in Latin America.

This budget plan would do exactly the opposite of what Latin America needs. It continues Plan Colombia, a stream of billions in military aid that fuels civil war and threatens millions of lives. And while it slashes social aid, the plan will fund programs like Radio and TV Martí that are literally broadcast to no one. Latin America’s majority has requested aid from the US to help save lives and improve living conditions. We cannot cut aid that specifically addresses those needs! But we can and must cut military aid.

The president’s budget request would:

• Maintain military aid through Plan Colombia. Although the $722 million that the Administration is requesting is at about the same level as this year, it cuts anti-drug funding to Colombia’s neighbors to upgrade U.S. anti-drug planes and helicopters.

• Slash social aid to Latin America by 17 percent. Essential humanitarian programs, such as those for child survival and health, aimed at helping the absolute poorest in Latin America are cut in some countries by more than half.

• Increase funding for the National Endowment for Democracy to $80 million. The NED has been implicated in a long history of election interferences throughout Latin America, most recently in Venezuela, which holds presidential elections in November.

• Spend $36 million on opposition broadcasts to Cuba.  Radio and TV Martí have been broadcasting for years in an attempt to undermine the Cuban government, however no one has ever heard or seen them! Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend these millions on humanitarian aid?

In the midst of this disastrous, militaristic spending plan, we have an urgent opportunity to advocate for peace before this budget becomes reality. Contact your members of Congress and educate your community to let them know that you oppose a budget that fuels armed conflict, ignores the poor, and undermines the rule of law in Latin America. The sooner we speak out, the greater the impact we will have on stopping these dangerous designs!

What you can do to advocate against the president’s budget plan:

• Call your representative and senators. Tell them that you oppose the Administration’s budget request because it is contrary to our values and vision for Latin America. Urge them to support a shift from military to social spending as the Foreign Operations appropriations bill moves through the congressional process. The U.S. Capitol switchboard (202-224-3121) can connect you with your legislator. Specific recommendations include:

1. Cut military aid to Colombia and restore funding to humanitarian aid programs, such as those that protect the most vulnerable children.
2. Transfer the $36 million budget for broadcasting to Cuba, which no one hears, to treating sick and malnourished children. 

• Set up a meeting with your members of Congress when they are home during the Spring District Work Period (April 10-23). Ask other advocates, your pastor, or community leaders to join you for the meeting. Tell your representative in person that this budget does not reflect your values and vision for Latin America.

• Write a letter to the editor that explains how the Administration’s budget request would endanger Latin America.

• Call on your city, congregation, or campus to make a public declaration opposing further military aid and supporting increased social aid to Latin America.

• Participate in nonviolent direct action that draws attention to the impacts that this budget would have for the majority of Latin Americans.

Please contact Erik Cooke in the WFP national office at erik@witnessforpeace.org or 202-547-6112 to share what you’re doing to oppose the Administration’s budget plan. This will allow us to spread the word on your creative advocacy to inspire others’ efforts. The more we share our ideas and work together, the more effective we will be in stopping this plan in its tracks!

Save the Dates

• Ecumenical Advocacy Days, March 10-13 in Washington, DC. Visit www.advocacydays.org for more information.

• Nationwide Colombia Peace Church House Parties, March 23. Contact Phillip Cryan at pcryan@lwr.org or visit http://www.lwr.org/colombia/launch/ for more information.

• WFP Mid-Atlantic Region Annual Regional Retreat, April 7-9 in Burlington, NJ. Contact Andy Mills at 215-628-3963 for more information.
• WFP Southeast Region Pilgrimage for Justice and Peace, April 9-14. Contact Gail Phares at wfpse@witnessforpeace.org or Sheila Moorman at sdmoorman@nc.rr.com for more information.
• SOA Watch Lobby Days, April 23-25 in Washington, DC. Visit www.soaw.org for more information.

**A special thanks to the Latin American Working Group for providing information contained in this alert.