Vulnerable Colombians must be supported

and protected

Ask your representative to co-sponsor H. Res 618

Proceso de Comunidades Negras

Thursday 4 October 2007

Please ask your representative to co-sponsor H. Res. 618, a resolution that acknowledges the grave humanitarian conditions that many Afro-Colombian civilians live in. Express your concern regarding the violations of the human, territorial and cultural rights of Afro-Colombians, and the hope that this resolution will serve as an educational tool to bring attention to this critical situation.

To: Foreign Policy Aides, U.S. House of Representatives

Date: October 4, 2007

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, ask that you co-sponsor H. Res. 618, a resolution that acknowledges the grave humanitarian conditions that many Afro-Colombian civilians live in. We wish to express our continued concern regarding the violations of the human, territorial and cultural rights of Afro-Colombians, and we hope that this resolution will serve as an educational tool to bring attention to this critical situation.

The humanitarian, human rights and internal displacement crisis that Afro-Colombian communities face has long been a concern of many organizations and individuals in our network. Despite the collective territorial rights granted to Afro-Colombians along the Pacific coast under Law 70 of 1993, Afro-Colombian communities in this region have become internally displaced due to the internal armed conflict, threats of violence and fighting related to territorial disputes between guerrillas, paramilitaries, and the Colombian army. There exists a long list of examples of how the violence and internal displacement perpetrated by all of the armed groups has taken its toll on Afro-descendant communities. In the municipality of Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca), the situation of Afro-Colombians civilians has significantly deteriorated in the past few years. In 2006, Buenaventura city experienced some 38 terrorist attacks including car bombs and the like. Since January 2007, over 200 persons, mainly Afro-Colombian youths, have been assassinated due to fighting and violence among all of the warring parties. In the department of Chocó combat between the armed groups has internally displaced hundreds of thousands of Afro-Colombians over the past ten years. Those who wish to return find that their territories have been unlawfully appropriated by illegal armed groups and third parties. In the northwestern part of this department, palm oil companies that allegedly operate in collusion with paramilitary groups have appropriated lands belonging to Afro-Colombians.

In April 2007, in response to the recent internal displacement of 7,000 people in the department of Nariño, twenty-five NGOs and individuals sent a letter to the Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos appealing the government to respond to the humanitarian crisis, protect the rights of Afro-Colombians internally displaced by the violence, and ensure the displaced have access to humanitarian assistance, such as food, medicine, shelter and protection.

It is our belief, as members of diverse U.S. organizations as well as concerned individuals, that vulnerable Colombians must be supported and protected, and that their rights to a dignified life must be respected. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you co-sponsor H. Res. 618, which will help bring attention to this dire situation and set the stage for more balanced and informed policy towards Colombia.

Thank you very much for your attention to these important matters. We hope that we can count on your continued support for the promotion of human rights and socio-economic justice in Colombia.

Sincerely,

Adam Isacson, Center for International Policy

Heather Hanson, U.S. Office on Colombia

Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)

Angela Berryman, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Peacebuilding Unit

Renata Rendon, Amnesty International USA

Marino Cordoba, Charo Mina Rojas and Otoniel Paz, Association of Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES USA)

Julio César y Marta Montaño, ECOS DEL PACIFICO AFROCOLOMBIA "EPA!" - PCN (Black Communities Process), Illinois

Nicole Lee, TransAfrica Forum

Dr. Joseph Jordan, TransAfrica Forum Scholars Council

James Early, TransAfrica Forum Board Member

Sanho Tree, Institute for Policy Studies (IPS)

Gary Cozette, Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America

Carlos Quesada, Global Rights

Rev. John L. McCullough, Church World Service

James R. Stormes SJ, Jesuit Conference

Shaina Aber, Esq., Jesuit Refugee Service/USA

Andrea Lari, Refugees International

Barbara Gerlach, United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries

C. Richard Parkins, Episcopal Migration Ministries

Marselha Gonçalves Margerin, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights

Melinda St. Louis, Witness for Peace

Susana Pimiento Chamorro and John Lindsay-Poland, Fellowship of Reconciliation Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean

T. Michael McNulty, SJ, Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM)

Theo Sitther, Mennonite Central Committee, U.S. Washington Office

Rev. Whit Hutchinson and Humberto Garces, Manuel Zapata Olivella Center for Education and Human Development

Carlos A. Quiroz, Manuel Zapata Olivella Center for Education and Human Development Group of Andean Immigrants in DC

Dr. Norma Jackson, Office of International Programs, Benedict College

Monica Rizo, Member of the Network for Advocacy in Solidarity with Grassroots Afro-Colombian Communities (NASGACC)

Roland Roebuck, Member of the Network for Advocacy in Solidarity with Grassroots Afro-Colombian Communities (NASGACC)

Wilder Peña, Grupo Folklórico Afro-Colombiano Tangaré

John Jairo Garces, Organización Un Día de Esperanza

Marcos Bellamy, Cimarrones President (2005-2007), Howard University

Fatimah Williams Castro, Rutgers University

Kiran Asher, Clark University, Author of forthcoming book Black Social Movements and Development in the Making in the Pacific Lowlands of Colombia

Pamela Bowman, School of the Americas Watch

Tianna S. Paschel, Department of Sociology, University of California - Berkeley

Jim Oldham, Las Lianas Resource Center

Parish W. Jones, PhD, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship

Patricia Forner, Colombia Accompaniment Program, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship

Cristina Espinel and Catalina Talero, Colombia Human Rights Committee

Gail S. Phares, Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America

Aris White, Rooted Afrikans-Serving the Afro Colombian Communities-Chicago-Chocó-Cartagena

Eunice Mina Escobar, Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America

Ann Farnsworth, Latin American and Latino Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Tukufu Zuberi, Center for Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Rick Axtell, Academic, Danville, Kentucky

Arturo Escobar, Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Marian Douglas-Ungaro, Writer and Human Rights Consultant

Miriam Jiménez Román, Afrolatin@ Forum

Martha Pierce, Chicago Metropolitan Sanctuary Alliance

For further information please contact Jessica Eby at the Washington Office on Latin America, jeby@wola.org or (202) 797-2171 ext. 202, www.wola.org

Agencia Prensa Rural

Colombian San Jose Peace Community

members detained in Tel Aviv airport

Colombia Support Network

Friday 12 October 2007

The Colombia Support Network (CSN), has received word form the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado that two members of the Peace Community, Arley tuberquia and Martha Vásquez, were detained by the Israeli secret service in the Tel Aviv airport. They had arrived to participate in the Grace Peace Pilgrimage from Eilat, over Bethlehem to Jerusalem. These members of the Peace Community, itself a nominee

for the Nobel Peace Prize, apparently are being treated by the Israelis as terror suspects. They are, of course, in no sense terrorists. They have been the sister community of Dane County,Wisconsin for many years. The San Jose Peace Community is totally committed to peace and rejects arms.

Please write Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to tell him that Peace Community members are not terrorists and that Arley and Martha should be released immediately and send a letter to US Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice urging her to press the Israeli authorities for the immediate release of these Colombian pilgrims for peace.

Please send copies of your letters to your Representatives in Congress and urge them to write to the Israeli authorities.

Your Senators and Representatives : See CSN Action Center

US Secretary of State www.state.gov, Tel (202) 647 4000

Prime Minister's Office, Website: http://www.pmo.gov.il, E-mail: pm_eng@pmo.gov.il

Meir Sheetrit, Ministry of the Interior, Tel: 972-2-6701411, Fax: 972-2-6701628, Website: http://www.moin.gov.il

Colombia Support Network, P.O. Box 1505, Madison, WI 53701-1505, phone: (608) 257-8753, fax: (608) 255-6621, e-mail: csn@igc.org, www.colombiasupport.net, www.prensarural.org/english.htm

Agencia Prensa Rural