An urgent call from Colombia to the
churches of the north to reflect and act on behalf of life
[posted 11-15-01]
This letter, translated by Alice Winters,
Presbyterian Co-Worker in Colombia, comes from the Commission of Human
Rights and Peace, Council of Churches of Colombia, and the
Presbyterian Church of Colombia. It was sent to the Presbyterian
Church (USA), but has not been widely noticed. We believe that even
though it was written in the summer of 2000, it presents us with
painful truths which have come home to us in terrible ways more
recently.
Bogota, Colombia, July 1, 2000
Dear brothers and sisters,
The gospel invites us to "interpret the signs of
the times" (Mat. 16:1). For this reason, and "with fear and
trembling" (I Cor. 2:3) we dare to write to you, in the midst of
the confusion and pain through which the Colombian people are passing,
seeking solitary and fraternal discernment.
The government of the United States, the most potent
hegemony in the modern world, has put its eyes on Colombia. The US
Congress has just approved "aid" to the Colombian government
in the amount of $1.3 million, of which almost 90% is military aid for
the army, that is, to increase the war. The Colombian government is
seeking a similar sum from European governments within the same
proposal, the so-called "Plan Colombia," which seeks military
advantage over the guerrilla fighters in order to obtain a supposed
peace in the country. It is probable that Europe will follow the lead of
the US.
During the past 50 years Colombia has suffered a grave
social conflict, which has now degenerated into an armed confrontation
which is leaving the fearful sum of some 30,000 deaths a year, almost
2,000,000 displaced persons, the destruction of the economic structures
of the country, a government which has lost its legitimacy, a civil
society divided and hopeless, and frustration for the lives of millions
of humble people.
In the past 15 years this social conflict has been
augmented by the terrible drug industry, financed by international
business interests, which, taking advantage of the greed of many people,
the weakness of our government, the corruption of many politicians and
the hunger and misery of the displaced and the unemployed, has
flourished in our land of deep jungles, great mountain ranges and
extensive coast on two different oceans.
Today the drug traffic is the excuse the US government
is using to justify its intervention in Colombia, disguising its actions
as a war against drugs when in fact it seems to be searching for a new
foreign enemy to replace the one it lost when the cold war came to an
end.
The few news items about Colombia that appear in the
media are slanted to present the violence almost pornographically, as if
it had to do only with the drug traffic, showing the Colombian conflict
as a diabolic struggle between drug cartels. This covers up the real
background of social justice which has produced Colombia's violence. It
deprives the people of other nations such as the USA, Canada and Europe
of an opportunity to share the pain of the Colombian people and blinds
them to the fact that their governments are using taxpayers' money to
increase the misery of our people by intensifying the war.
Just as oil increases the intensity of afire, so arms
produce more fighting in the context of our social conflict. With this
military "aid" the fighting is not going to come to an end and
the drug traffic is not going to be wiped out. The number of dead will
increase along with the misery of the Colombian people. Indeed, as more
persons are displaced by the war, more coca will be sown as these people
turn to whatever will help them survive. It is a vicious circle which
involves more and more foreign countries each day, enriches the cartels,
creates problems for the government here and, as the poverty increases,
leads more and more people here to take the guerrilla seriously.
What is coming to the Colombian people from the North
through this military aid is a message of death and destruction,
amplified by the profound silence of many brothers and sisters in the
north who belong to our great worldwide family of faith.
When Mordecai was desperate about the danger of the
Jewish people, he asked Queen Esther not to keep silent. For the same
reason we ask you not to keep silent. We ask you to join your voices
with ours to denounce the evil of this kind of "aid" and the
danger that our conflict may in some form reach your own homes and
produce the death which is described in this biblical passage.
We beg you, as Queen Esther did, to gather together
the people of God and join together in prayer and fasting that the Holy
Spirit may change the mind of those who govern you and give wisdom to
those of us in the church of Colombia so that we may give consolation
and hope as we continue to take the message of life and peace in our
Lord Jesus Christ to the suffering people of Colombia.
We invite churches and local congregations in the
North to join churches and congregations here in Colombia, situated
strategically throughout the country, so that together we may create
"Sanctuaries of Peace" with a broad vision for the incarnation
of the message of peace and abundant life which was promised to us by
Jesus Christ, through specific actions of training, consolation,
humanitarian aid to displaced persons, pastoral support and the
development of holistic projects for the reconstruction of broken lives.
We ask your help to transform the vicious
circle of death and destruction produced by military aid into a
"virtuous circle" of abundant life and peace, so that our
people will begin to receive a different type of message from the North,
sent by the churches, a message of solidarity and respect for human
life. Perhaps it was to support the churches of Colombia and transform
your government's message of death into a message of life that God has
placed you, our brothers and sisters in the faith, among the nations of
the North at this time in history.
THINGS YOU CAN DO
1. Pray unceasingly.
2. Recruit at least one new person for the School of
Americas watch this November; consider crossing the line; consider high
risk action which could lead to a prison witness.
3. Invite Alice Winters and others to speak at local
churches and presbytery meetings.
4. Invite others to take a Borderlinks
journey. Sponsor others in travel to the US/Mexican Border and to
Colombia. [We're working on a delegation
to Colombia right now!!]
5. Write letters to Congress members expressing
concerns.
6. Write letters to newspapers and other local
publications.
7. Find ways to use art, drama, music to communicate
causes and concerns.
8. Encourage presbytery/church partnerships with
churches/groups in Colombia.
