Change US policy in Colombia: Ben Beachy of Witness For Peace denounces Colombia crisis

Ben Beachy an activist with the NGO Witness For Peace talks about the current crisis in Colombia after a protest in front of the White House demanding the Obama administration for a change in US policy towards Colombia. This rally was organized by Witness For Peace on April 20, 2009.

This is what Witness For Peace is saying about the Colombia crisis:

Why we're demonstrating:
With four million people violently forced from their homes, Colombia has now surpassed Sudan as the worst internal displacement crisis in the world. While the war responsible for this crisis has raged for decades, the pace of displacement has intensified in recent years. Last year, 1500 Colombians fled their homes every day.

For far too long, the US has been part of the problem, not the solution:
•Through Plan Colombia, the US has given over six billion taxpayer dollars to Colombia, most of it to arm and train the country's military, notorious of late for killing innocent civilians and then dressing them up to appear to be guerrillas.
•Aerial fumigations, another component of US aid, have displaced thousands of farmers by killing their crops (both illicit and licit), while utterly failing to curtail coca production.
•The US-Colombia free trade agreement, still pending approval by our Congress, would further exacerbate displacement by decimating Colombia's small-scale farmers with an influx of heavily-subsidized US grains.
Now is the moment for bold action. Obama has plenty of things to think about in his first several months--Colombia should be one of them. Four million displaced Colombians cannot afford to wait any longer. In this time of changing the way things are done in Washington, it's our chance to call on Obama to chart a new path with Colombia--one that halts the displacement, supports victims of violence, and opens avenues to peace.


Peruanista: peruanista.blogspot.com


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[LesPaul2006]

Un gringo bien informado. Ojalá todos fueran así.