CSN'S COLOMBIA MOBILIZATION PAGE
April 19-22, 2002
Colombia Mobilization Update
For more resources on the Colombia Mobilization, including housing information,
visit: www.colombiamobilization.org
Friday, April 19: SOAW Vigil & Lobby Action at the Capitol
Colombia Support Network will be holding a caucus on Friday evening, April 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the Washington City Church of the Brethren at 337 N. Caroline Ave. SE. We hope to see representatives of the chapters there.
Sister Marge
Colombia Support Network
Saturday, April 20: Colombia Teach-in & Activist Skills Training
(Also: March on Washington against the war)
Sunday, April 21: Rally, Action Planning, Nonviolence Training
Monday, April 22: Colombia Solidarity March & Nonviolent
Direct Action
Working in coalition with Colombia Support Network, Witness
for Peace and other solidarity, labor, student, environmental, anti-globalization
and human rights groups, SOA Watch
calls for a National Mobilization to end U.S. support of the war in
Colombia. This event offers us the opportunity to reach many new, diverse
constituencies with our message that the SOA must close, while amplifying
our cry for a just U.S. policy towards Colombia.
Mobilize your community to come to Washington, DC this spring!
Background
Colombia, with over 10,000 troops trained at the SOA, is the school’s
largest customer. Not surprisingly, Colombia currently has the worst
human rights record in all of Latin America, currently averaging a massacre
per day. 2,000,000 people have been killed or displaced by civilian-targeted
warfare carried out by graduates of the SOA. General Mario Montoya Uribe,
an SOA graduate with a history of ties to paramilitary violence, commands
the Joint Task Force South, which includes the 24th Brigade. The 24th
brigade is ineligible for U.S. military aid due to its complicity in
paramilitary violence. A leading Colombian newspaper identifies Gen.
Montoya as “the military official responsible for Plan Colombia.”
U.S. Military aid under Plan Colombia has been sold to the U.S. public
as part of the war on drugs. In actuality, the forces under Montoya’s
command are engaged in a counter-insurgency war against leftist guerillas.
The aid is directed to troops taking offensive action against guerillas
in areas targeted for coca fumigation. Evidence shows that these offensives
often happen in conjunction with paramilitary attacks. Robert Zoellick,
a top foreign policy advisor to President Bush, was recently quoted
as saying, “We cannot continue to make a false distinction between
counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics.”
April 19-22, 2002 Schedule of Events
Friday April 19
9 - 10:30 AM Lobby Briefing (Location TBA)
11 - 5 PM Vigil & Lobbying (Upper Senate Park)
7:30-9:30 Colombia Support
Network Caucus: Washington
City Church of the Brethren at 337 N. Caroline Ave. SE
Saturday April 20
10 - 5 PM Teach-In, Skills & Nonviolence Training
Student Caucus (Location TBA)
7 - 10 PM Solidarity Concert (Location TBA)
Sunday April 21
10 - 11 AM Interfaith Service (Location TBA)
11 - 5 PM Rally: Festival of Hope & Resistance
Speakers and Music (Location TBA)
7 - 10 PM Coordinating Mtg. for Monday Action (Location TBA)
Monday April 22
7 - 9 AM Solidarity March & Nonviolent Direct Action
(Location TBA)
The National Mobilization on Colombia is a national coalition of organizations
and individuals working to transform US policy toward Colombia and the
Andean region. We are committed to nonviolence in our own actions as
well as supporting exclusively nonviolent, negotiated political solutions
to the conflict in Colombia. The Colombia Mobilization does not support
any of the armed actors in Colombia. www.colombiamobilization.org
For more csn Colombia Mobilization information click here