MCC INTERN OPPOSED TO SPRAYING OF DRUG CROPS IN COLOMBIA BY U.S.

One thousand people in the country of Colombia are displaced from their
homes and villages each day, according to a Mennonite Central Committee
representative. Janna Bowman, MCC intern, said, "this phenomenon is
growing, but it's not new." Bowman is a 2000 Goshen College graduate, and
has been with MCC in Colombia for one year. She has been studying the
political situation and working with the Colombian Mennonite Church. She
plans to return to Colombia for two more years, and is currently completing
a speaking tour to churches and communities about the conflict in Colombia.
She spoke at a community meeting Sunday evening, held at Assembly Mennonite
Church, and at Goshen College for Monday morning's convocation. Bowman
began her presentation by outlining the different fighting factions in the
country.

First, she said, there are the state security forces, who, like in the
U.S., serve as the army, navy, police, air force, etc. Then, in opposition
to the government, there are two main guerrilla groups, the FARC
(Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), and the ELN, a smaller group.

A third group she outlined is known as the paramilitary group, that has
members employed by the elite of the country to protect special interests.

Bowman said that the guerrillas are on one side of the conflict, while the
state security and paramilitary are on the other.

The civilians, she said, are directly in the line of fire between the
groups. The paramilitary groups are responsible for 70 to 75 percent of the
civilian deaths, said Bowman (Colombian Commission of Jurists). Though the
guerrilla groups are responsible for human rights violations, the
paramilitary groups are responsible for a much greater number of civilan
torture and death, said Bowman. This crossfire is one of the reasons people
are fleeing from the countryside to urban slum areas. "They are creating
what you could call 'misery belts,'" said Bowman, of the urban areas.
Bowman shared a story of a displaced woman in Colombia who she had gotten
to know. She said the woman and her husband were in their village home when
paramilitary troops came into the village and mutilated and murdered many
of the civilians with chain-saws. She and her husband were spared that
time. Her husband stayed in the house for a few days, while she left the
village.

When she returned, Bowman said that her friend found her husband's
breakfast cold on the table and the chair overturned. She has not seen him
since that day. "They (Colombian civilians) don't speak up because they are
killed or disapeared," said Bowman. Colombia now has two to three million
internal refugees and is in the throes of a 38-year civil war, which,
according to Bowman, is exacerbated by current militarism. One of the main
reasons the militarism has increased in the last several years is due to
the United States' "Plan Colombia," which provides military assistance to
the Colombian government and chemicals to fumigate areas where U.S.
officials believe the coca plant (used to make cocaine) is grown.

The ostensible role the United States takes in this endeavor, said Bowman,
is to eradicate the source of the drugs.

The United States supplies 1.3 billion dollars to Colombia each year, and
80 percent of the money is in military funds.

Bowman said that 170,000 acres have been fumigated, and even after such
high levels of fumigation, cocaine production has increased significantly
because of the demand here in the United States. Bowman said that in the
past, U.S. officials have learned that fumigation does not work. In
Colombia they have seen a year of heavy levels of fumigation only increase
coca production. Now, officials are arguing that fumigation was not
effective enough because there were not enough chemicals sprayed.

The Bush adminstration plans to double the fumigation programs, she said.
"They are throwing fuel on the fire," said Bowman. She said that the
increase of fumigation programs will only increase the already-tense
situation. While "getting to the root of the problem," said Bowman, the use
of an ultra Round-Up (a pesticide produced by Monsanto) the U.S. says is
"harmless," is killing livestock, destroying food crops, polluting water,
and causing nausea, migranes, miscarriage, and even death in some
situations. Bowman displayed numerous photos of destroyed food crops and
polluted land. Bowman also noted a proposal for $98 million dollars
Occidental Petroleum has given to congress, lobbying for taxpayer money to
train and arm Colombian soldiers to protect pipelines in the Colombian area
of Arauca. Bowman pointed out that since the conflict in the Middle East
began, the U.S. goverment is more likely to protect its economic interests
for oil in other countries.

This is disregarding what will happen if more military assistance is given
to Colombia, though, said Bowman. In a Justapaz fact sheet, it is stated
that Occidental Petrolum has been widely criticized for drilling in
indigenous U'Wa lands in Arauca, however, the oil company spent over $1.5
million on federal election campaigns from 1995 to 2000. Following the
current Enron scandal, this request for $98 million taxpayer dollars is
what Bowman says "is blatantly about U.S. economic interests." Bowman said
that since the "war on terrorism" began, the U.S. military support given to
Colombia is aimed at curbing the FARC guerrilla group as well as addressing
the paramilitary as terrorists. "The poor will continue to be hit the
hardest, though," said Bowman. Bowman said that prominent organizations
such as Human Rights Watch have documentation that shows strong links
between the military and the paramilitary groups, which together are
killing many more civilians that the guerrilla groups.

The military is connected with the paramilitary, and aid given to the
military often ends up in the hands of paramilitary. In addition, Bowman
said that the FARC and other guerrilla groups will not be deterred with
more military intervention from the U.S. "It's not that these groups are
interested in being terrorists," she said, "they're people interested in
putting food in their stomachs." Bowman noted that neither she nor the
Mennonite church condone the guerrilla groups, and the perception of them
being an "army for the poor," is not accurate. "I'm not a FARC
sympathizer," she said, "they have stepped up their bloody military
operations." However, she said U.S. military intervention will not solve
the problems.

In addition to the paramilitary perpetuating gross human rights violations,
there is strong evidence that the paramilitary groups are growing coca
plants in northern Colombia, and the U.S. has not addressed those crops -
they have addressed only the ones in the south, said Bowman. "No other
countries provide this kind of military aid," said Bowman. "The E.U.
(European Union) is clearly opposed to U.S. aid to Colombia." She pointed
out that a Rand Corporation study shows that treatment is 23 times more
cost effective than source eradication, and, according to the office of
National Drug Control Policy, more than half of the drug addicts in the
United States are not receiving treatment. "It's not helping to pour money
into that situation," she said, refering to fumigation problems. Bowman
said one of the ways people find refuge emotionally as well as phyisically
is through the Colombian sanctuary church movement.

The movement was originally started by Justapaz, a Mennonite organization.
Bowman said that the churches try to stay as removed from the conflict as
they can, although some inevitably end up as a target for the armed groups.

Bowman said that the Mennonite church in Colombia is 54 years old, and
there are more than a million Mennonite members in the country.

Recently, Justapaz has taken the inititive to form sister-churches by
connecting a church in Colombia to a Mennonite congregation in the United
States. Locally, Assembly Mennonite Church, has formed a sister-church
relationship with one of the churches in Colombia. "These people have
taught me a whole lot about faith.

And what it means to sacrifice oneself in the name of faith," said Bowman.
"Out of respect for the Colombian people and their faith, don't give up,"
said Bowman. She encouraged people to write to U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar,
R-Indiana, to request public tax money for fumigations be stopped, as well
as to the Bush administration.