QUESTIONS U.S. POLICY IN COLOMBIA

Dear Editor:

This is a call to action for anyone who cares about human rights, the
people of Latin America or the environment. The Senate will soon vote
on the Andean Regional Initiative-continued funding for military and
fumigation aid to Colombia.

I recently returned from a delegation to Colombia where our group
heard several times how U.S. military aid is increasing the number of
civilians displaced and killed for political reasons. We heard about
the strong ties between the U.S.-funded military and the
paramilitaries that commit 80 percent of the human rights violations
in Colombia. Our delegation met human rights workers and labor union
activists who have been declared military targets because of their
activism, and heard the stories of some of the 80 Colombian labor
union leaders already assassinated this year.

We stood on a school playground in the tiny village of La Concordia,
while parents showed us their children's rashes caused by the U.S.-
funded spraying of an herbicide called Roundup Ultra. We toured a
yucca processing plant that now stands idle because the spraying
wiped out the entire crop.

Some say that the purpose of U.S. aid to Colombia is to protect kids
in the U.S. from illegal drugs, but if that is true, it is a horribly
misguided effort. Studies have shown that decreasing the demand for
drugs in the U.S. would be far less expensive than trying to stem the
supply. By cutting the supply, U.S. policy is increasing the price
paid in Colombia, giving poor farmers, whose small plots are being
sprayed, incentive to move further into the jungle to plant more.

I believe that we can make a difference by voicing our opposition to
senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray. Analysts say that senators
consider constituents that take the time to send them handwritten
letters to be expressing the concerns of 500 constituents. Phone
calls are thought to speak for 200 constituents and e-mails, two. The
number for the Washington, D.C. switchboard is (202) 224-3121.

If you express concerns about U.S. policy in Colombia, you won't be
alone. The AFL-CIO and the United Steelworkers labor unions have come
out against U.S. military aid to Colombia. "We are strongly opposed
to the amount of military aid being sent to the Colombian army," said
the president of the steelworkers union, "when trade unionists and
innocent people are being killed by the very military forces we are
financing."

Ann George