Take action: Protect Colombian peace activists from death squads

Tens of thousands of Colombians marched on March 6 in Bogota (see photos by Sarah Koopman) and many other cities to stand with the victims of right-wing paramilitary violence and to protest violence by all armed groups. Solidarity events occurred in New York, Washington, and San Francisco.

Now, in the wake of accusations by a presidential advisor that the activists in Colombia who helped organize these peaceful marches are guerrillas, they are being targeted with paramilitary threats, kidnappings, and even killings.

Lethal attacks on Colombian labor activists also continue. On March 4 in Washington, President Bush called on Congress to approve the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia, although Colombia is the most dangerous nation in the world to be a trade unionist. As if in response, in the four days following his statement, four labor leaders in Colombia were murdered.

It is crucial that we act to detain the US-supported Colombian government from its threats to nonviolent activists. Please call your member of Congress today and urge her or him to sign a letter to President Uribe and to oppose the anti-labor Free Trade Agreement.

In the days leading up to March 6, José Obdulio Gaviria, a close advisor to President Uribe, went on national radio to suggest that the March 6th rally was "convened by the FARC." In the days after the march, dozens of organizations, including Peace Brigades International, received emails informing them they were military objectives of the paramilitary group "Black Eagles." Several march organizers around the country were threatened, and at least two were killed.

President Bush says passage of the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia is a matter of US national security, and plans to submit the bill in the coming month despite the opposition of every labor federation in Colombia and the US, indigenous people, Afro-Colombians, the major Colombian opposition party, Democratic Party leaders and human rights organizations. The FTA is more likely to generate displacement than security, just as NAFTA is estimated to have led millions of Mexican farmers going under because the market was flooded with US-subsidized grains. For background, see the the excellent resource produced by the American Friends Service Committee, "Violent Intersections of Commerce and Conflict." (http://www.tradeandwar.org/connections.html)

Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) are circulating a "dear colleague" letter (download a PDF of the letter) to President Uribe. The letter calls on the Colombian government to fully investigate these threats and murders and to bring those responsible to justice. The letter also urges President Uribe to take concrete actions to ensure government officials stop making comments that put the lives of human rights defenders at risk.

Please contact your Member of Congress and urge them to:
1. Support McGovern-Schakowsky Letter on Recent Wave of Threats and Killings in Colombia, and
2.Oppose the Colombia Free Trade Agreement that President Bush is pushing onto Congress.

Call your member of Congress today! Simply dial the Capitol Switchboard 202-224-3121 to be connected to their office and ask to speak to their foreign policy aide. Urge them to oppose the Colombia FTA and sign on to the McGovern-Schakowsky letter on Colombia.

If your member of Congress is interested in signing on, they should contact Cindy Buhl in Rep. McGovern's office, or Megan Garcia in Rep. Schakowsky's office, by close of business on Thursday, April 10. As the administration seeks more aid for war and approval of the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, we have to demand our elected officials take human rights seriously.