MINISTER SEEKS SHIFT IN U.S. AID

Blade Religion Editor

While the world focuses its attention on the war in Iraq, the Rev. Pablo
Jose Noguera is hoping Ohioans will help to ease the suffering in war-torn
Colombia.

"Now we have an international war in Iraq, but war has not stopped in
Colombia," Mr. Noguera, a Presbyterian minister from Bogota, said during a
visit to Toledo this week sponsored by the Interfaith Justice and Peace Center.

In 2000, the U.S. Congress passed a $1.3 billion aid package known as "Plan
Colombia," making the South American nation the third-highest recipient of
American security funding, behind Egypt and Israel.

The bulk of Plan Colombia funds goes to the national army in its war
against guerrillas, paramilitary forces, and narcotics traffickers.

Mr. Noguera believes U.S. military aid to the South American nation is
inadvertently making life more miserable for civilians, who have endured 40
years of civil war, by escalating the violence among military groups.

U.S. funding for the Colombian Army spurs more attacks on the guerrillas,
particularly the Revolutionary Armed Forces known as FARC, Mr. Noguera
said. The paramilitary forces - private armies hired for protection and
notorious for their brutality - also are battling guerrillas, and the
rebels in turn are striking both army and paramilitary forces.

In addition, many army soldiers join the paramilitary forces after they
retire and there are widespread allegations that the two military groups
are often in collaboration.

"It's a vicious cycle of violence," said Mr. Noguera, pastor of a
200-member church and executive director of Central Presbytery in Bogota.

Caught in the middle of the violence are Colombia's 40 million citizens,
many of whom are fleeing the war-torn countryside and seeking refuge in
cities such as Medellin, Cali, Baranquilla, and Bogota.

There are an estimated 2.2 million displaced Colombians, most of whom are
single mothers with young children, Mr. Noguera said.

Refugees cluster in shantytowns that spring up on the outskirts of the
cities. Their crude shelters, built with scraps of wood and junk, lack such
basic necessities as running water and electricity, according to Rainer
Naranjo, a Bogota finance director traveling with Mr. Noguera.

Many displaced peasants cannot find work in the city, where the national
jobless rate is officially listed at 34 percent- although most Colombians
believe that figure is actually much higher, Mr. Naranjo said.

Unlike the United States, there is no government welfare system in Colombia
and many unemployed adults resort to crime or violence to survive, Mr.
Noguera said.

Children, many of them orphans, also turn to violent crime, drugs, or
prostitution, Mr. Noguera said. He has ministered to children as young as 9
who were involved in prostitution.

Mr. Noguera is involved in an ecumenical effort by Colombian Catholic,
Methodist, Lutheran, and Baptist groups to provide social services to the
poor and displaced, including running a kindergarten for 300 children in
the capital city.

"We do what we can to help, but we can only do so much," he said.

Mr. Noguera, who spoke at Lourdes College, the University of Toledo, and
Toledo Mennonite Church during his Toledo visit, is calling for
reallocating a greater portion of U.S. funding from military aid to social
services and humanitarian assistance in Colombia.

- - DAVID YONKE