ENVOY'S CLAIMS DON'T STAND UP

RE: 'Canadian firm repairing Colombian copters; Fixing choppers for the
military' (June 14), and 'What would Canadians do?' (June 18). I was
curious to read the Colombian ambassador's negative response to the very
good article on the Canadian firm, Vector Aerospace, repairing helicopters
for military use in Colombia.

The ambassador's statistics and comments do not match those of many
independent human rights organizations. In fact, they are contrary to what
is regularly reported by independent groups (Human Rights Watch, the UN,
Amnesty International, etc.)

She portrays the paramilitaries in a very kind light, and the guerrillas as
the bad guys. Both groups commit terrible atrocities, but the right-wing
paramilitaries are particularly brutal. These out-of-control groups commit
more massacres than anyone else, and target the poor and indigenous people.
The recently-kidnapped Kimy Pernia Domico lives in a major paramilitary
area, yet the ambassador describes the kidnappers as "unknown assailants."

This ambassador recently appeared on Counterspin on the CBC. She clearly
speaks for the rich and the political right. I fear that the voice of the
poor in Colombia is lost and not heard here in Canada.

The helicopters in question are used to protect low-flying planes as they
spray defoliant on coca plants in southern Colombia, in a useless attempt
to curb cocaine production. This is part of "Plan Colombia," a U.S.-backed
$1.3 billion effort. In the process, these chemicals poison other crops,
the eco-system (this is in the Amazon basin), and the water, which is drunk
by the peasants. Most vulnerable are children and the elderly.

This kind of Canadian foreign involvement reminds me of Talisman in Sudan.
And the ambassador asks what would Canadians do? I say: "Canadians
shouldn't do it."

- -- Rev. Elizabeth (Buff) Cox,