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The
Honorable Colin Powell December 7, 2001 Dear Secretary Powell, The undersigned organizations write to express our grave concerns about the course of US counter-narcotics efforts in Colombia. It has come to our attention that aerial fumigation of illicit crops during the past few weeks has widely targeted legal cultivations, and represents a serious setback to the crucially important development-assistance component of U.S. aid to Colombia. In the
southern Colombian state of Putumayo, the site of the recent fumigations,
local farmers and families have signed social pacts promising to eradicate
their illicit crops within twelve months of receipt of assistance. Though
these pact signers' twelve-month period has not expired - and in many
cases aid has yet to arrive - they were specifically targeted by fumigations
that began in mid-November. A report released by the Colombian field team of Witness for Peace-a U.S. organization that visited the site of fumigations in November 2001 --documents the following: Communities
that signed social pacts were fumigated. The Witness for Peace investigative
team in Colombia visited El Paraíso, a small group of communities
in the municipality of Valle de Guamuez in Putumayo department. El Paraíso
community members are among the 37,000 families in Putumayo that signed
U.S.-funded alternative development pacts with the Colombian government
over the course of the last year. El Paraíso signed a manual eradication
pact with the government on June 1, 2001 and signed a letter of intent
for an additional, optional pact on October 22, 2001. On November 13,
four crop duster planes flew over El Paraíso three times, staying
low to the ground and spraying throughout the communities. Further, Witness
for Peace found no evidence to suggest that the National Police gathered
information on which areas had social pacts underway when they researched
the locations of legal and illegal crops in Putumayo. Alternative development crops, subsistence crops, water sources sprayed. In addition to coca plants, the pilots sprayed subsistence crops near peoples' homes, including yucca, plantains, beans, fruit trees, corn, and pineapples. In El Paraíso, the spraying destroyed new rice fields, just planted as part of the manual eradication pacts. Houses, community buildings, farm animals, and water sources were also sprayed. Only a few weeks later, low?flying planes, supposedly with high levels of accuracy, widely sprayed legal crops. Human health impacted. One remote community has reported that an eleven?month old baby died soon after being hit with fumigation chemicals three successive times. Although local medical personnel could not say unequivocally that the baby's death was a direct result of the fumigation chemicals, he could give no other possible explanation. The U.S. Senate recently included language in the 2002 Foreign Operations bill mandating a human health impact study of the fumigation chemicals before any new chemicals are purchased. The current spraying clearly violates that legislation's intent. Communities had not received promised alternative development assistance. The Senate version of the Foreign Operations bill also mandates that alternative development programs be in place before communities are sprayed. According to the pacts themselves, communities that sign manual eradication pacts have 12 months after the arrival of the first government aid commitments to eradicate their illicit crops. The El Paraíso pact was signed more than six months ago -- on June 1, 2001 -- yet the community has received no government assistance. Spraying was in violation of Colombian law. Witness for Peace was able to document the fumigation of family farms that contained less than one acre of coca. Colombian Law 0005 of 2000, which regulates fumigations, states that fumigation will be used on coca crop extensions of more than 5 acres. Similarly, the law states that unless food crops are being planted as "dummy crops"-food crops that are planted among coca in order to confuse the aerial spraying program-only illicit crops will be targeted; sparing food crops, pasture lands and water sources. In fact, the law states that "the application of agricultural chemicals in rural zones cannot be carried out within less than 10 meters by land and less than 100 meters by air as a security border, in relation to bodies of water, roads, nuclei of human or animal populations or any other area that requires special protection." Nevertheless, Witness for Peace found evidence to suggest that all of the above have been and are being sprayed in the current fumigation campaign, in clear violation of the law. The claim of "new coca crops" is a government excuse. In his November 14th letter, Gonzalo de Francisco charges that the fumigation is a punishment for the planting of new coca crops by the pacts' signers. While it may be true that some individuals in some communities planted new coca crops, Witness for Peace did not find this to be a generalized situation. The investigators' findings, substantiated by local government officials, supported the claim that industrial?sized producers, who had never signed pacts in the first place, planted the majority of new crops. De Francisco's letter makes no mention of the lack of government compliance with pact commitments. The U.S. role. This fumigation campaign was carried out with the cooperation of the U.S. government. A Colombian army officer in charge of one aspect of the fumigation campaign reported, "I believe the U.S. government is pushing for a new round of fumigation" as the reason for the recent spraying. Most
farmers in Colombia's impoverished coca-growing zones want to stop growing
coca, and are closely watching the alternative development pacts. While
many are skeptical, and believe that the Bogotá government may
fail them again, most hope that this U.S.-backed effort may offer a legal
alternative in areas where none currently exists. The fumigation of pact
signers, even before aid arrives, sends an unhelpful signal. It casts
severe doubts on the pacts' viability and increases the local peasants'
deep-rooted suspicion of the Colombian government's ability to deliver
on its promises. The spraying is nearly certain to prove counterproductive,
inspiring coca-growers to ignore the pacts and grow more coca in new zones,
out of the spray planes' current reach. We call into question a government policy that is contradictory to the expressed concerns of U.S. citizens, the U.S. Congress, and Colombian law. We urge you to order the cessation of all U.S.-funded fumigation of communities who have signed social pacts for alternative development. No U.S.-funded fumigation should occur at least until communities have been given a good?faith opportunity to manually eradicate illicit crops. Only then will we begin to see a reduction in the amount of coca and poppy grown in Southern Colombia. Signed,
cc: Ambassador Anne Patterson, US Embassy, Bogotá Colombia
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