COLOMBIA, RAVAGED BY VIOLENCE, NEEDS U.S. HELP

Kidnapped: People live in fear of the guerrillas, who are enriched by the
American drug trade.

ON SEPT. 16, more than 80 Colombian and U.S. citizens were kidnapped in an
afternoon raid by armed Colombian guerrilla rebel groups from the ELN and
FARC. The hostages were taken to mountain hideouts near Cali, humiliated,
abused, forced to walk seven hours on treacherous Andean trails in total
darkness, and held for ransom payments from their families.

Tragically, this is nothing new in a country that sees over 3,000 of its
citizens kidnapped every year. But this time it hit home to an American
family in the United States: Four of the hostages are my close cousins, two
of them American citizens. My cousins are Norma de Lima Sardi, her son,
Rodrigo Sardi, Baltimore native Ellen Gould de Lima and Eduardo de Lima.
Eduardo was released due to his heart condition, his wife Ellen was
released two days later, and Norma - a 70-year-old American citizen with
heart disease - was released and rescued during a raid on the rebel hideout
in late September by the Colombian army in which 12 guerrillas and two
soldiers were killed.

Unfortunately, my cousin Rodrigo Sardi was kept in captivity, along with 28
other hostages who were not able to escape. One of the hostages died of
cholera. The others were held for weeks, with no news from the kidnappers,
leaving Rodrigo's wife and children in limbo and desperate for information.

On Nov. 1, we received the great news that Rodrigo and the other 27 live
hostages were rescued in a second raid by the Colombian army on the rebel
hideout, and that they returned home unharmed.

During this crisis, our extended family throughout the United States came
together in a united effort to seek the release of the hostages. American
relatives of the de Limas, Sardis and Goulds spread out among 14 states
from Hawaii to Vermont contacted their congressional delegations, the
media, the State Department and the American Red Cross, seeking to help and
provide support. We are most grateful to all these agencies and to the
Colombian army for the role they played in the successful release of our
cousins.

But this terrible episode brought home to me the fact that we here in the
United States can no longer afford to sit by like Nero and play our fiddles
while Colombia burns. Having lived and worked three years in Colombia, I
know it as a proud country of warm, educated, bright people whose lives are
threatened daily now by fear of kidnapping, extortion, maiming and death.
It is a country that urgently needs economic and military aid from all of
its sister American republics.

As a U.S. citizen, I feel it is not acceptable for the people of Colombia
to live in constant fear. Imagine living in a country where you can't go
out to visit your friends or family, can't have friends come over, can't go
out to a restaurant on a Sunday afternoon, for fear of being kidnapped.
These people are our friends, our neighbors, and - quite literally - our
family. They deserve better.

Colombians desperately need our moral support and help through the U.S.
government, the United Nations, the World Bank, the Organization of
American States, and through private entities working to rid Colombia of
its criminals, guerrillas and drug lords and to create economic and social
justice in a country ravaged by violence.

The guerrillas, often masquerading as champions of social and political
rights for the poor, are in fact brazen criminals motivated only by greed.
Slowly but surely, they are crushing a decent, civilized country and
destroying the rule of law in this hemisphere.

One of the strongest factors keeping this criminal, guerrilla movement
alive in Colombia is our insatiable demand for drugs right here in the
States. As long as we keep buying the stuff, the guerrillas in Colombia get
richer and more powerful. We need to do everything we can to expand drug
rehabilitation and therapy programs in our country.

So, let us ask not for whom the bell tolls in Colombia. It tolls for all of
us.