CPTnet
2 May 2007
COLOMBIA: CPT joins call for end to military aid to Colombia--reports of
Colombian Army commander ties to death squads highlight need for change

On Tuesday, 1 May 2007, Christian Peacemaker Teams Colombia was one of
dozens of organizations who released a letter to the United States
Congress calling for a complete cessation of U.S. military aid to Colombia
as that country's president, Alvaro Uribe, arrives in Washington seeking
support for his military and trade programs. Additional letters, signed
by forty members of the CPT Colombia Team-at-Large, were sent to the
offices of every Congressperson and Senator.

Religious, peace and activist organizations and leaders from throughout
the United States, condemned the current U.S. aid policy for failing in
its stated aims, reinforcing impunity for human rights violations, and
contributing to the displacement of millions of Colombians. Colombia is
the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the world outside the Middle
East.
  In the light of expanding revelations of Colombian government and army
involvement with paramilitary death squads-responsible for 70% of
atrocities committed in the country--the joint letter calls on
Congress to re-cast U.S. policy in Colombia and articulate goals
consistent with respect for human rights.

  "The United States should not support an institution that collaborates
with death squads that the U.S. itself has labeled as terrorist groups,"
said John Lindsay-Poland of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, one of the
groups signing the letter. Others included CPT-sponsoring
organizations, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and the
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, as well as longstanding CPT Colombia Team
allies such as Witness for Peace and the School of Americas Watch.

Military aid to Colombia is supposed to be contingent upon the Colombian
army breaking ties with the death squads, but the organizations argue that
current "mechanisms for separating the [Colombian] State from illegal
paramilitary groups and protecting human and labor rights do not work."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last month certified that Colombian
armed forces had met human rights conditions for the release of military
aid. Less than two weeks earlier, the Los Angeles Times disclosed a CIA
report stating that Colombian Army commander General Mario Montoya Uribe
had collaborated with paramilitary groups in an operation that resulted in
the deaths of fourteen civilians and over a dozen disappearances. The
organizations