REFUGEES FROM COLUMBIAN CIVIL CONFLICT TO SPEAK AT APRIL 12^TH MEETING

On Thursday, April 12^th, the DuPage Democratic Club will host two recent Columbian expatriates who will speak about the continuing political violence in their country. Our meeting will be held at the Lombard Community Building, 433 E. St. Charles Road, Lombard. As usual, our meeting will start with a social time at 7:30 PM followed by our formal meeting at 8 PM.

The Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN) and the Chicago Sanctuary brings our guest speakers on April 12th to us. CRLN is a 600-member network of both lay and clergy leaders who together work for human rights, justice and peace in Latin America.

Many American citizens are unaware that Colombia is the third largest recipient of US aid, following Israel and Egypt. This aid primarily takes the form of military assistance. According to the 2001 statistics of the US Embassy in Columbia, the US sent $1.3 billion to Columbia of which only $321,000 went towards social programs and human rights. Eighty percent was in the form of military aid, police aid and fumigations or the practice of aerial spraying of herbicides on suspected illicit crop production site.

The fumigation in parts of the Columbian countryside has been part of a failed effort to reduce coca production. The Columbian military with US assistance has tried to fumigate drug crops through aerial spraying. Various reports reveal that fumigation sprayings have disastrous results, frequently killing legitimate food crops and endangering the health of Columbian communities.  In some Columbian provinces, chemical run-off empties into the Amazon River basin causing the potential for ecological damage. It has been argued that by destroying subsistence crops the government is undermining its own attempts at substituting drug crops with legitimate food crops.

In February 2002, the Colombian conflict took a frightening turn when three-year-old peace talks between the Colombian government and the country’s three largest rebel groups the FARC, the paramilitaries (AUC), and the ELN broke down. The conflict continues to drag on with the various factions controlling large rural areas of the country.

The U.S. State Department has labeled the three main armed groups as narco-terrorists. These groups have access to millions in ill-gotten funds, and control significant amounts of territory. Air strikes and Special Forces raids are unlikely to make a much of a dent in the sophisticated capabilities of these well-organized and well-armed groups.

Unfortunately, the impact of the increased fighting within the country has fallen heaviest on the innocent civilians. According to the Bogota-based Center for Investigation and Popular Education, for every armed combatant killed in the conflict, six civilians are murdered. Indigenous groups, Afro-Colombians, peace communities, women, children, and others find themselves caught in the crossfire.

Although most Colombians do want US aid to their country, many say that Columbia doesn’t need more military assistance, but instead aid that addresses the root causes of Colombia’s problems such as social, political and economic injustice in a country where two-thirds of the country lives in poverty.

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