SPEAKER COVERS COLUMBIAN DRUG WAR

Columbia produces 75 percent of the world's supply of coca, the main
ingredient in cocaine. Since 2000, the U.S. government has spent $4
billion supporting the Colombian military and fumigating coca crops.

This has led, in part, to continued civil war and the ancillary
destruction of food crops.

Jenny Neme, a Colombian Peace Church Leader, talked Monday night about
her personal experiences with the conflicts in Colombia at the North
Broadway United Methodist Church. Nikki Thanos, from the Witness for
Peace organization, translated.

Neme spoke about the armed groups in Colombia, the leftists guerillas,
the conservative government and the right-wing paramilitary and how
they affect the civilian population, and about her movements efforts
to persuade the government not to use violence as a way to end the
conflict and drug trafficking

Drug trafficking is a major factor in the armed conflict. The
paramilitaries rely on drug trafficking for funding, Neme said.

Religious persecution also fuels the bloodshed. In Colombia, there are
about 3 million displaced people and many pastors have been killed
because they are spreading the word of God and peace, Neme said.

The U.S. has been supplying Colombia with $4 billion since Plan
Colombia took effect in 2000. Eighty percent of this money has gone
toward military support and 20 percent has gone toward economic and
social aid, Neme said. The smaller portion dedicated to social
improvement does not begin to help the problems caused by the combat
supplied by the other 80 percent, she said.

Neme said the fumigation of the coca crops in Colombia results in
fumigation of the food crops and causes health problems to civilians.
It also is hard to farm the land after the fumigation, Neme said.

"Many Colombian citizens have chosen to flee for their lives,
abandoning their country and some coming to the United States," said
Rossen Vassilev, a lecturer in political science.

Neme said the U.S. citizens have a responsibility to help because it
is the U.S. government supplying the money to the Colombian military.

Neme and Thanos encouraged people to help lobby with our government by
writing letters to the U.S. Representatives and Senators to change the
policy and shift the balance from military aid toward social and
economic assistance.

Neme is working with Witness for Peace to promote a non-violent
approach to ending the Colombian conflict, she said. Neme is making a
two week tour through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. Along with
her tour of the Mid West, an oil specialist is speaking in east coast
states, and a fumigation lawyer is speaking to what they call the
Great Lake states, Thanos said.

Thenos said some university students are becoming more involved to end
military interaction in Colombia.

"As citizens, you pay taxes," Thanos said, "and instead of going
towards public education, those taxes are being used to fight an
unwinable war in Colombia."

Thanos also said she would like to have Ohio State students go on a
Witness for Peace delegation this summer to Colombia. Thanos said
students from Miami University go on different delegations with
Witness for Peace each year.

Jenny Neme will be speaking again Wednesday, Oct. 26, from 12:30-1:30
p.m. at the Columbus Mennonite Church. The presentation will be "Bread
and Peace: Colombia's violated and vulnerable children in focus." There
will be a light lunch served and child care will be provided.

Neme's visit was co-sponsored by the North Broadway United Methodist
Church and the Columbus Mennonite Church. The two churches have been
working together for about two years to organize the visit, said Mary
Finke of the Columbus Mennoite Church.