April 7, 2005

Congress is already beginning to examine President Bush's proposal to send another almost $731 million to Colombia next year, 80% of which is military aid. The moment demands that we ask again: why is the United States rewarding a military with a history of human rights violations against innocent civilians? Below are actions you can take to put pressure on Congress and call for a change:

1) Join the Call for Peace with Justice in Colombia! Participate in the National Call-In Day on Colombia, Tuesday, April 26th!

On April 26th, individuals and organizations around the country will come together to call for a new U.S.-Colombia policy. We need your help to flood U.S. congressional offices with phone calls and send a clear message that we want a new U.S.-Colombia policy! Organize a group of friends or colleagues to make calls; bring people together in your place of worship; have cell phones available in a central location in your community for people to use; or simply make a call yourself during your lunch hour. This is our chance to highlight the failure of Plan Colombia, which was supposed to end this year, and call for change.

Click here for some points you can raise in your call:

To get in touch with your senators or representative, you can call the congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask the operator to connect you to the office. It is fine to leave a message after business hours; just remember to speak slowly and start the message by telling them that you are a constituent. If you don't know the name of your representative or senators, you can look them up at http://www.senate.gov or http://www.house.gov/writerep.

2) Great media moment!

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be traveling to Colombia on Wednesday, April 27th, the day after the National Call-In Day on Colombia! This is a great opportunity to create a "media moment": Plan Colombia, which was projected to last five years when it was passed by Congress in 2000, is being considered for renewal; Secretary Rice is in Colombia to express U.S. support for the current policy; and activists around the country are
raising their voices in opposition, and calling on Congress to make a major change.

Send letters to the editor of your local (or regional, or national) paper!

Letters to the editor are widely read and are a great way to educate and send a message to your members of Congress. Here's a sample letter--adapt it to make it your own.

Dear Editor,

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Colombia today to voice support for continued US-Colombian cooperation in the war on drugs. Media coverage of the two countries' close relationship shouldn't overlook a major catch: the drug war in Colombia is a certified flop. According to the U.S. State Department, a record number of acres of coca, the raw material for cocaine, were sprayed with herbicide last year. Despite the millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars that went into supporting this policy, Colombia ended the year with slightly more coca than it had in 2003-- and almost the exact amount that it had in 2000, when the policy began. U.S. policy has also failed to reach human rights goals; the United Nations found that in 2004, as in 2003, human rights violations by the Colombian military are on the rise. Congress may approve close to $800 million more for Colombia for next year, bringing
Plan Colombia's grand total to $4 billion. Perhaps Secretary Rice should use the occasion of her visit to reflect on the shortcomings of the current policy, rather than proposing more of the same. Individuals in ___ (your town or city) and around the country are calling Congress today to demand a new policy. Secretary Rice would do well to listen to their concerns.

Sincerely,

(Name, Address).

3) Get the Word Out- There Is Another Way!

Help show Congress that there's a real alternative to the current policy of massive military aid and fumigation. The combined effort of some 30 human rights, church, union, and grassroots groups in the United States and Colombia, a new publication, "Blueprint for A New Colombia Policy," lays out a comprehensive plan for a new approach based on the principles of peace, justice, and human rights. LAWG has delivered the blueprint to all 535 members of Congress, but we need your help to make sure it gets read. You can download the document in pdf format from our website, http://www.lawg.org/docs/Blueprint.pdf, or you can order copies from the publication page of our site. Bulk orders are available at a reduced rate; contact Jennifer Trowbridge, jtrowbridge @ lawg.org, to order.

Some ideas for using the blueprint:

• Bring a copy to a meeting with your member of Congress;
• Send a copy through the mail with a note asking that your member of Congress support a change in policy;
• Use talking points from the document (there's an executive summary on page 2) in letters to the editor of your local paper or on radio shows;
• Distribute copies on your college campus, at your place of worship, in events held by your community group, or at work.

Members of Congress are constantly asking, "But what's the alternative?" This is our unequivocal answer. Help turn the tide in favor of a new policy based on the principles of peace, justice, and human rights- not guns and chemicals.

Concerned individuals around the country are keeping crucial pressure on the State Department by sending letters demanding justice in the case of the San José de Apartadó massacre. If you have not already sent a letter on this issue, there's still time-- we must continue to demand justice in this case! Please refer to our March 28th alert for background and a sample letter to the State Department: http://www.lawg.org/countries/colombia/sja_action.htm.

Another way to bring further attention to the case is by joining the broad coalition of solidarity and religious groups organizing vigils on the San José de Apartadó case around the country. Vigils will be taking place as part of the national Colombia call-in day on April 26th (more details below), and around Mothers Day on May 6th . See http://www.peaceincolombia.org for more information on the vigil.