ACTIVIST DISCUSSES COLOMBIA PROBLEMS

Nancy Sanchez Claimed The United States' War On Drugs Is Causing Health
Issues.

Columbian civilians are being killed by paramilitary groups, and rural
crops are being destroyed every day, two activities Colombian activist
Nancy Sanchez said the U.S. government finances as a part of the war
on drugs.

Sanchez spoke Tuesday about how she believes U.S. foreign policy has
affected her home country of Colombia. Sanchez works for Minga, a
prominent Bogota-based non-profit organization that monitors
human-rights violations.

Since 2000, U.S. contractors have been fumigating regions of Colombia
in attempts to destroy coca plants that are used to create cocaine.
The chemicals often destroy crops and make children sick, Sanchez said.

The United States gave $754 million to Colombia in 2003 with $605
million going to fund military and police operations, according to the
Center for International Policy Web site. The money finances the war
on drugs and the war on terror.

Jess Hunter, senior associate for the U.S. Office on Colombia,
translated for Sanchez, who spoke Spanish.

"In the first year of this policy, I was convinced that this was
really focused and was a war on drugs and against the coca crop,"
Sanchez said. Since the spraying began, Sanchez said she has observed
fields of crops with no coca plants nearby destroyed.

Sanchez showed videos documenting fields once containing banana and
corn crops. Children exposed to the pesticide often exhibit skin
sores, fever and headaches. Pregnancies often result in miscarriages.

"We think this is a war of attrition, a war of hunger," Sanchez said.
"They're trying to drive off the small farmers from this region."

Sanchez has spent years working in Putumayo, a disputed region of
Colombia that has a large oil reserve.

"If this is a war on drugs, why don't they continue to try to attack
the shipment routes or precursor chemicals?" Sanchez said. "The same
amount of cocaine is coming into the [United States]. There's been no
change."

Colombia is the third-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid next to
Israel and Egypt, Hunter said.

Hunter and his organization have given eight talks in three days in
Oklahoma, two of them to local representatives.

Six amendments have been proposed in the U.S. Congress that would
limit the amount of aid going to Colombia, and they have been defeated
every time, Hunter said.

Rachel Brown, co-president for Sooners for Peace, said she supports
the amendment to cut funding to Colombia.

"It seems like a start, a small start," Brown said. "This is just one
thing that needs to be brought to people's attention."

Tania Valle, economics senior, said she admired Sanchez for having the
courage to speak out against U.S. policy while in the United States.

The event was sponsored by Sooners for Peace, the OU Colombian Student
Association and the OU chapter of Amnesty International.