Help the Senate send a strong message on human rights to Colombian President Uribe. Please call your senators' offices (202-224-3121) before July 22nd and ask to speak with the foreign policy aide.

Sample message: "I am a constituent from ___ and I am calling to urge Senator ___ to sign the dear colleague letter on human rights in Colombia that is being circulated by Senators Feingold and Dodd. It is important for the US Congress to send a strong message to Colombia in support of human rights and the Colombian citizens who defend them. I hope Senator ___ can sign this important letter before it closes on July 22nd."

The foreign aid bill continues to move forward, and there was a strong debate on the House floor late last week. There's also an important Colombia letter circulating in the Senate which closes next week, and we need your help urgently to send a strong message on human rights! Please take a few minutes this week for these important actions:

Senate Letter to President Uribe: Take Action by July 22nd!
Senators Feingold (D-WI) and Dodd (D-CT) are currently collecting signatures for a letter that will be sent to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. We need your help before July 22nd to ensure that this important letter gets a lot of signatures in the Senate! Even senators who usually support US policy in Colombia should be able to sign on. If you've been frustrated by your senator's record on Colombia, this is your chance to push him or her in the right direction. As of July 16th, the signers were: Senators Feingold (D-WI), Dodd (D-CT), Murray (D-WA), Boxer (D-CA), Kennedy (D-MA), Durbin (D-IL), and Leahy (D-VT).

The letter urges President Uribe to comply with UN recommendations on human rights, including breaking ties between the Colombian military and brutal paramilitary groups. It also expresses concerns over continued threats and attacks against union leaders, human rights and peace workers, and journalists. To see the dear colleague letter, go to www.lawg.org/docs/colombiadearcolleague0630_1.pdf (pdf document). For the full text of the letter to President Uribe, go to www.lawg.org/docs/ColombiaUribe.pdf (pdf document)

ACTION: Before July 22, please call your senators and urge them to sign the dear colleague letter on Colombia that is being circulated by Senators Feingold and Dodd . See above for a sample message. Most offices may never even see the letter if you don't bring it to their attention.

Contact Info: Call the congressional switchboard in Washington at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected, or find your senators' state office numbers by going to www.senate.gov. You should ask to speak with the foreign policy aide. Leaving a voice mail is fine-- remember to leave your phone number so they can return the call!

Why is this important? Votes are not the only way we can help change policy. A large number of signers on this letter will send a strong message in support of human rights to President Uribe and give badly needed support to our friends and colleagues in Colombia who are working each day for peace and justice. Please add your voice to this effort!

Thank House members who spoke out against US policy in Colombia during yesterday's debate on the foreign aid bill!

July 16:

Over the past weeks and months, you've worked hard to educate and pressure your representatives to support a new US policy in Colombia. Yesterday, we saw one example of how important this work is. The House of Representatives debated the 2005 foreign aid bill, and US policy in Colombia was once again one of the most hotly debated issues of the day. The debate was strong, passionate, and at times very emotional. Two representatives who have never spoken out against the current policy, including one Republican, were right there in line behind members like Rep. Jim McGovern who have worked for change since the policy was enacted in 2000. Your words, expressed through meetings, calls, and letters, were reflected in the speeches made by members of Congress yesterday. In turn, their words gave important support and backing to people working for peace and justice in Colombia, who live each day with threats and attacks against them and their work.

Reps. Sam Farr (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) offered an amendment to the bill that would have limited US troop presence in Colombia. They decided to withdraw the amendment without a vote given that a similar amendment had already successfully been included in the House version of the 2005 Defense Authorization Bill. However, the debate itself sent a strong message to President Bush and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe that congressional support for the policy cannot and should not be taken for granted.

At the bottom of this message, you will find excerpts from yesterday's debate. Please thank your representative if he or she spoke in support of the Farr-Schakowsky-McGovern amendment! The following representatives deserve our thanks for speaking up (and their phone numbers are included so that you can call them and thank them for their efforts):

Rep. Farr (D-CA): 202-225-2861-- Deserves special thanks as the amendment's sponsor and for his impassioned words in favor of a policy that supports peace and economic development.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL): 202-225-2111
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI): 202-225-4735-- this was the first time that Mr. Stupak expressed concerns about US policy in Colombia on the House floor
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA): 202-225-6101
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY): 202-225-6506
Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA): 202-225-2411-- While he did not get the chance to speak due to time constraints, he included his remarks in the record. Mr. Pitts, a Republican, raised important concerns about President Uribe's verbal attacks on human rights defenders and union leaders (see below), and deserves a lot of thanks!

The next step will be ensuring that the Defense Bill includes the lower cap on US troops and contracted personnel from the US in Colombia. Stay tuned for updates during the month of August.

Other Ongoing Actions for July:

1. The Feingold-Dodd letter on human rights in Colombia is still circulating in the Senate, and we need your help to collect more signatures before the letter closes on July 22nd (next Thursday). See above for more information.

2. Sign LAWG's petition to Senator Kerry on Colombia, and tell your friends! Senator Kerry has a mixed record on Colombia. With your help, we can send a strong message that we want him to rethink current US policy if he becomes the next president of the United States. Thousands of individuals around the country have already signed-- let's collect another thousand signatures before the end of August! To sign on, go to http://www.lawg.org/tools/petition.htm. Click on the button to send the link to friends and colleagues, and help get the word out.

EXCERPTS FROM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DEBATE ON THE 2005 FOREIGN OPERATIONS APPROPRIATIONS BILL, JULY 15TH 2004-- FROM THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD

Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA): "Today the administration has been calling Members' offices to ask them to oppose the Farr-Schakowsky-McGovern amendment, because the administration is dead set on working to expand the military aid, not the economic aid to Colombia. After 5 years of spending almost $4 billion on Plan Colombia, is it not time that we reassess our policy?

"There is only 20 percent of the budget [for US aid] that now goes to the economic side of it. That is the least amount of money since... Plan Colombia began. So the mission creep is on the military side, and I think the mission creep ought to be on the other side, on the economic side. Until we win the war on poverty, we will not win the peace, and until we win the peace, we will not have a stable country.

"The biggest problem with the drug war is it has displaced millions of people who just do not have an adequate place to live or a job or the social services or the health services and educational services that are necessary.... We have got to provide for the infrastructure, the social, economic infrastructure of all of the people that have been displaced, and we are moving away from that, from the ability to have alternative crops."

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL): "We have provided $3 billion to Colombia over the last several years. This bill [the 2005 foreign aid bill] seeks to provide over $700 million for the Andean Region, including Colombia, and now we are being asked to commit more of our Nation's sons and daughters to the violence in Colombia.

"Despite our investments in Colombia so far, there have been no improvements in the overall problem of drug consumption in this country, and there has been no reduction in the violence in Colombia.

"I have seen firsthand what a beautiful country Colombia is. I have met people from all sectors of Colombian society and traveled throughout Colombia. It is a wonderful nation but one in the midst of a civil war. I believe what the Colombian people want and need from the United States is support to help improve the lives of its people. Sending troops will not accomplish that goal. If we allow the administration to double the number of U.S. troops in Colombia this year, what will next year's request look like?"

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI): "The Bush administration wants an open policy to send as many military troops and contractors to fight in Colombia's 40 year civil war, while Colombia's elite has exempted itself from military service. We should not be involved in Colombia's civil war at all. "

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA): "Mr. Chairman, when Plan Colombia was first launched and American troops first sent down to Colombia, Congress was told we were only going to fight the drug trade. Then we were asked to commit our troops to fight not only a drug war, but to join the campaign in a counterterrorist, a counterinsurgency civil war. Now we are being asked to double the number of our soldiers, boots on the ground in Colombia. There is a term for what is happening in Colombia. It is called 'mission creep.'"

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY): "The request to increase manpower is clearly intended to expand U.S. troop involvement in the Colombian's war against the FARC, that war that has been under way for 40 years. Solving Colombia's problems will not be accomplished with a few hundred additional U.S. soldiers. There must be a comprehensive effort that includes a plan for reintegration of former combatants back into Colombian society.

"I have always supported assistance for Colombia in the context of a plan that I thought made sense. The U.S. is now spending close to $1 billion a year in Colombia, including ever-increasing amounts found in the Department of Defense appropriations bill. I do not support this manpower increase, because I believe it continues to expand U.S. involvement, and a violent political struggle will only lead to an ever-increasing commitment of U.S. manpower. "

Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA): "I am concerned about the use of U.S. funds in Colombia. In particular, I am deeply concerned about four public statements by the President of Colombia in which he accused domestic and international human rights organizations of supporting armed groups and of being allied with terrorists.

"These statements are not only unhelpful but are also deeply disturbing. Human rights organizations are working to assist with humanitarian aid and building civil society in local communities in Colombia that have been torn apart by the terrible violence.

"The President's verbal assaults on human rights organizations do absolutely nothing to help the Colombian people or to help bring an end to the violence--instead his comments may cause a reverse in a recent trend of a decrease in politically motivated violence. I would urge President Uribe to cease his senseless attacks on human rights organizations that simply hurt those who are helping the people of Colombia--instead he should vigorously pursue those who commit horrifying atrocities and terrorize communities across the country. "