In Colombia, an insurgency-counterinsurgency war has left over 200,000 people dead since 1964 and displaced over three million others from their homes. CPT's Colombia delegations will meet with church, human rights and social justice organizers in Bogotá and in Barrancabermeja, the industrial city in the Magdalena Medio region where CPT's full-time team has been based since 2001. In addition, delegates will spend several days in the countryside where communities have been subject to attack and threats by various armed groups. The July delegation will visit San Pablo.

In San Pablo, a municipality along the Magdalena River in the south of the province of Bolivar, there have been 13 murders since the beginning of this year, including the assassination of mining leader Edgar Martinez Ruiz. The south Bolivar region has witnessed continued pressure from, and fighting among, paramilitary groups. The delegation will meet with grassroots human rights organizations to understand how the conflict and violence effect and threaten the people that live and work in San Pablo. These organizations are the people who in the face of death-threats, continue to call for human right, justice, and peace in Colombia.

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CPT is an ecumenical violence-reduction initiative with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations. CPT has had a continuing presence in the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia since May 2001.

FUNDRAISING EXPECTATION: $2200 US or $2400 Cdn (covers roundtrip airfare from a designated U.S. or Canadian city. If traveling from another country, contact CPT office for details).