Protesters Target U.S. Aid To Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia -- About 100 American anti-war activists demonstrated
Thursday against U.S. military assistance to Colombia, which is fighting
leftist rebels.

"We're ashamed of the politics of destruction and war promoted by our
government," said Sue Severin, 63, of San Francisco, one of the protesters
in front of the U.S. Embassy.

The demonstration was staged by Witness for Peace, which opposes a
U.S.-backed military counternarcotics offensive. In the offensive,
U.S.-supplied planes protected by troops trained by American Green Berets
are fumigating cocaine-producing crops. Many of the drug plantations are
guarded by leftist rebels and rightist paramilitary squads.

Witness for Peace recently began deploying volunteers to Colombia's war
zones. They are to report on rights violations, the flight of refugees and
effects of Washington's military assistance.