Dear editor,

Recently a funeral ceremony was held in El Salvador. Villagers buried
37 of their loved ones from among the 200 recovered 19 years after
what has become known as the El Mozote Massacre.

The ritual in the pre-dawn hours was broken by the tears that waited
nearly two decades to fall. In 1981, U.S.-trained Salvadoran soldiers
fighting in the war against communism gunned down 1,000 citizens and
attempted to hide the action in a land-filled rubble heap.

Fast forward now to the year 2000 and U.S.-sponsored Plan Colombia.
In addition to the $1.3 billion in U.S. aid, 80 percent of which goes
to military armaments, the Clinton administration quietly has hired a
high-level group of former U.S. military personnel whose job far
exceeds the narrow focus of the war against drugs. It is intended to
turn the Colombian military into a first-class war machine with
weaponry to match.

In contrast to Plan Colombia, Columbia's leading peace and
non-governmental organizations have formed Paz (Peace) Colombia, and
met recently for "Mobilization to Escalate Peace."

These NGOs have refused to accept money from the U.S.-brokered Plan
Columbia to fight the so-called war on drugs.

One of the worst aspects of our war against drugs is the
coca-eradication program. Supposed to use precise geographical
coordinates to spray coca fields from a helicopter flying 200 feet
above with a 179-foot width, it is said to leave little room for
error.

However, Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., and his party, while on a
investigative mission for Plan Colombia, watched a U.S. Embassy
demonstration of these "precise coordinates" and were enveloped in a
mist of the herbicide glyphosate dumped from a low-flying helicopter.
Police said it was a mistake and blamed the wind.

Glyphosate is one of the most toxic herbicides, with many species of
wild plants being damaged or killed by applications of less than 10
micrograms per plant. It can be more damaging to wild flora than many
other herbicides, as aerial spraying can give average drifts of 1,200
to 2,500 feet and ground spraying may cause damage to sensitive
plants up to 300 feet from the field sprayed. Known as Roundup
Glyphosate, it is manufactured by Monsanto, according to Rachel's
Environmental and Health News.

The spraying is now having its run-through practices, with heavy
spraying to commence in January.

Have we not learned anything in the past two decades? Does it have to
be our children in the U.S. drug market against their children in the
drug-producing country? We can save our children through a plan of
rehabilitation, thereby cutting off this U.S. market and saving the
many lives in Colombia who will be dispossessed or killed as a result
of our war against drugs.

WHO WILL TELL THE CHILDREN IN 20 YEARS?

Millie Seewald

Silver City