FAILED DRUG WAR POLICY CONTINUES

I and SOA Watch colleagues are more than halfway through a fast and vigil
at Fort Benning, spanning the death dates of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar
Romero (March 24) and Guatemalan Bishop Juan Gerardi (April 26). Both men
- -- courageous advocates for the poor, and outspoken critics of oppressive
U.S. policies -- were murdered by graduates of the School of the Americas
(now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation).

I have no doubt that Monsenors Romero and Gerardi would be similarly
critical of current U.S. policy toward Colombia, both the chemical
eradication of coca (and food) crops and the escalating militarization. The
U.S. claims its intervention in Colombia is in the interest of maintaining
the rule of law. But in fact our policy there violates both human rights
and the rule of law.

For starters, the drug war rationale for supporting the Colombian military
has been refuted by a wide range of human rights and drug policy
organizations. And calling this policy part of the war against terrorism
similarly plays havoc with fact. Documentation from Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty International, the U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights, and even the
U.S. State Department shows that the Colombian military acts in
coordination with right-wing paramilitaries. It is these "paras" who commit
approximately 75 percent of the human rights violations -- 75 percent of
the terror.

So the Clinton administration's "Plan Colombia" -- by aiding and abetting
the very military which aids and abets the paramilitaries -- has
accelerated terrorism in Colombia.

And the current Bush plan for further militarization can only increase U.S.
culpability for Colombian deaths, in sharp contradiction to his War on
Terrorism rhetoric.

MARGARET KNAPKE

Columbus