Colombia Delegation - 2004

Delegation Report: Colombia 2004

Plan Colombia: A Darkness More Than Night

When the Holy One created the first man, He took him and led him around all the trees of the garden of Eden and said to him, " Behold my works, how beautiful, how splendid they are. All that I created, I created for you. Take care, therefore, that you do not destroy my work. For if you do, there will be no one left to repair what you have destroyed."

And so with these words, our Witness for Peace fact-finding delegation returns to Colombia. It has been three years since this delegate last traveled the back roads of Putumayo, Colombia, a region of a lush green, scorched earth. Three years is not a long time, but for people whose only sin is their poverty, three years of chemical fumigation is nothing short of a living hell.

We are deep in the Amazon Basin. Our bus lurches over pot-holed roads on the way to the town of La Hormiga. The landscape has changed. Most of the coca in this region is gone. According to a United Nations report, in 2003, over 320,000 acres of farmland in Colombia was fumigated. So far in 2004, the number is over 250,000 acres. Since Plan Colombia's inception, over one million acres have known the touch of chemical fire. And yet in March of 2004, the US State Department released statistics showing that:

• The price of cocaine is not rising in the US
• The price of coca is not rising in Colombia, and
• Coca cultivation is increasing elsewhere

In fact, John Walters, the US Drug Czar, recently stated to the media that the four-year-old "Plan Colombia" has failed to make a significant dent in the amount of cocaine flowing out of that country.

To date, US taxpayers have spent over $3.3 billion on the so-called "War on Drugs," this "Plan Colombia." Dynacor and other US corporations received a total of $150 million in 2003 alone to spread their "chemicals of mass destruction."

The fumigation process goes like this: a satellite takes images of coca on the ground and stores these images on a disc that, at some later time, is fed into a computer. This process can take up to six months to complete. In the meantime, a farmer may have up-rooted his coca crop. Then the planes come.

Another problem is that these crop dusters fly at a higher than normal altitude for fear of being shot at, hence their chemicals drift onto pasture land, farm animals, and children playing in the fields. The poor tell us "the planes came with no warning."

School teachers, principals, and a school superintendent speak to us of school yard gardens being fumigated, of drifting clouds that settle on and in their schools, children scurrying, but there is no escape.

In the town of La Dorada, a stone's throw from Ecuador, a farmer speaks: "On May 22, 2004, between 10 and 11 am, the planes came and sprayed my land." He grew no coca. What was left standing were skeletal remains of various fruit trees, avocado, plantain, orange, lemon and peanuts, lilacs, tomatoes, a grape arbour.

Farm after farm we visited showed what chemical poisoning can do to food crops. A mother with piercing eyes states, "They spray us from heaven. Tonight we decide whether to eat a whole or a half banana."

We met with an NGO (Non-Governmental Agency), that receives some of its funding from both US AID and Plan Colombia. They assist farmers in their pursuit of growing food crops, and they readily admit that these food crop projects have been fumigated. They filed a complaint with the US Embassy
in Bogotá. They are still waiting for a reply. In fact, 10,000 complaints have been reported by farmers whose crops have been fumigated. A US Embassy official told us that they consider only 16 of these complaints to be legitimate. He went on to say that we will continue to fumigate even if it means going deeper into the Amazon Basin. There appears to be no exit strategy.

This policy is madness. To eradicate by fumigating is not only detrimental to
our ecosystem, but it also dehumanizes those that spray and those of us who pay.

But coca is not only a plant. It is an idea, a means to an end. For the guerrilla, coca is a means to fund their idea of a revolution and for the paramilitary/narco-traffickers, coca is a means to acquire land and gain influence within the government of Colombia. It is interesting to note that a July 2004 US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) report links the president of Colombia with the former renowned drug lord Pablo Escobar. Indeed, DIA concluded that President Uribe himself was one of the top 100 drug traffickers.

Lastly, there are the poor farmers, the campesinos whose coca is a means to feed and educate their children until the government finds the will to provide for the basic necessities of life: schools, hospitals, roads, and an honest judicial system, a market for their food products and employment opportunities. Without employment opportunities and other basic necessities, the young and the marginalized are easily recruited by any number of armed actors who offer a "living wage" to do their bidding. These recruits then take their place in the wholesale massacre of human rights workers, unionists, or even other campesinos.

Our last days in Putumayo were gut-wrenching. A farmer pleads with us, "We beg you, take our voices with you. Tell them to stop. We have much pain." We vow to carry this message, but who will listen to those who have to decide whether to eat a whole or a half of a banana. The campesinos of this world ask us to heed these words: "take care that you do not destroy my world, for if you do, there will be no one left to repair what you have destroyed."

PS: Presently, the United States has 400 troops and 400 advisors in Colombia. President Bush is requesting that Congress double that number. Please, write or call your congressional delegation. Ask them to end the fumigation, to stop sending troops and advisors. Ask them to support peace initiatives that respect human rights and address social and economic issues. Request more funding for substance abuse treatment and prevention programs here at home, approaches that have proven effective.

Martin Lepkowski
42 Deer Ridge Way,
Wakefield, RI 02879
401-783-2425

Martin Lepkowski is available for slide lecture presentations.

Letter from Martin Lepkowski

Dear Friends,

I just got back from Colombia on a Witness for Peace delegation. It was quite intense. Besides having to worry about guerrillas and Para-military groups we got to see first hand what "Plan Colombia" is doing to the country. To date we have sprayed over 600,000 gallons of herbicides on the Amazon Basin. We have sprayed over 132,00 hectors. A hector is about 2.5 acres.  We were in the state of Putumayo, the poorest state in Colombia , were 45% of the coca is grown. I was there three years ago and saw great devastation to crops, children & animals. This time I saw a lot of boarded up homes because the people have fled the region; besides coca, we have sprays food crops. One woman said to me that she had to decide whether she would eat a half or a whole banana for breakfast.

In Colombia , they say coca has feet. Since the spraying began over six years ago, (see Bill Clinton) the skies have rained poison, and the poor have taken their seeds with them. Before the implementation of Plan Colombia, coca was found in 12 provinces. Today coca can now be found in 20. So much for the "war on drugs".

I asked the man in charge of the fumigation program who resides at the US Embassy in Bogata, whether he thought spaying some ones food with deadly herbicides was a human right violation? Needless to say he danced around the issue. When asked about the boarded up huts he stated that these farmers were  living with some family members, probably ( I kid you not) with an "Uncle Wilfredo". This guy was so out of touch. When I was in Colombia three years ago over 2 million people were displaced. Today that number is closer to 3 million. Only the Sudan has more displaced people.

Colombia is bleeding as "chemicals of mass destruction" rain down from heaven.

Food crops are being destroyed. To date over 10,000 complaints have been filed at the US Embassy. To date only 16 have been accepted as legitimate claims.

We saw fields of banana, yucca, corn pepper, and various fruit trees destroyed. The fumigating plane fly high to avoid gun fire hence when the planes let loose their chemicals it drifts over food crops, schools and all living things below. 

And the icing on this cake is that there are armed actors every where. El Tigre, a town I had visited in the past had just experienced another massacre. Seem like one of the town's people was accused of being a guerrilla. He was taken out to the middle of a soccer field while a game was in progress and shot in the head. His body was left there over night. The next day a number of the towns people went to claim the body. The Para-military were waiting. these family members & friends too were executed. The Colombian military happened to be right down the road while all this was going on. They did absolutely nothing. You see the Para's and the Colombian Military are sometimes like cousins, kissing cousins. 

Through it all, the Colombian people continue to have hope. Various campasino groups are organizing around what they call a "Plan for Life". I asked Cecelia, a woman who is the president of an organization that support the campasinos, how she continues in the struggle, how she can have hope in such a hopeless situation.

She stated that she believes in the people and that she prays to God. I then asked her if God listened to her. At this her face got quite animated and as  her eye caught mine, she spoke to my heart. "Yes", she said, "God listens to me".

There are lessons to learn in Colombia. Our is to act, to struggle, to not give into fear, to speak plainly no matter the cost, to listen to the Spirit that dwells in us. 

Stand.

Love,

Martin

Page last updated: September 19, 2004