January 7, 1998
Please contact your US Congressional Representative IMMEDIATELY and ask him/her to ADD THEIR SIGNATURES to Rep. Farr's letter to the State Department. Please contact CSN as to your representative's agreeement or refusal to sign the letter. Thank you.

Colombia Support Network
PO Box 1505
Madison, WI 53701
 608 257-8753/fax 608 255-6621/csn@igc.apc.org 
 
 January 6, 1998 

  Dear   Friend : 

  	As you know the situation in Colombia is very difficult. Many 
peasants, workers and human rights organizations members have 
been killed in recent paramilitary/military actions in rural areas. We 
at the CSN  office have received a commitment from Representative 
Sam Farr ( D - California), a former Peace Corps Volunteer in 
Colombia, to circulate in Congress a letter which he has drafted 
addressed to Secretary of State Madeline Albright seeking 
information about U. S. government  assistance to the Colombian 
military and evaluation of the uses to which it is put. 

  	Please contact your Senators and Representatives AS SOON AS 
POSSIBLE and urge them to sign Congressman Farr's letter. A copy of 
his draft letter is enclosed for your information. 

 	 Thank you for your support !. 
                                                           CSN
============================================================

Draft of letter from Rep. Farr and co-signers to Sec. of State Albright 

   Dear Secretary Albright : 

 	 We are writing to express our serious concern with the 
worsening  human rights situation in Colombia and urge you to take 
steps to address this matter. 

  	News reports and first-hand accounts indicate that violence in 
Colombia is scalating. particularly in the country's northern regions. 
Many different groups and individuals have been implicated in the 
violence, but an increasing  number of human rights abuses are 
being instigated by paramilitary groups --armed civilians who 
torture, evict, kidnap and murder Colombian civilians. 

  	Although paramilitary groups are officially independient from 
the  Colombian military, there is evidence that the military tacitly 
supports their activities and prevents investigation of human rights 
abuses instigated by these groups. Local commanders such as General 
Rito Alejo del Rio, Commander of the VXII Brigade in Uraba, a largely 
Afro-Colombian region, are among those cited for permitting or 
supporting human rights abuses by paramilitary groups. Just last 
July, military officers assissted members of a paramilitary group, 
helping them travel through a military-run airport to arrive at the 
hamlet of Mapiripan in the Eastern planes of Colombia, where they 
murdered numerous townspeople at the local slaughter house. There 
is also evidence of  links betwenn paramilitaries and local drug lords, 
who rely on paramilitary groups to undertake violent activities on 
their behalf. 

	The recent approval of $50 million in equipment to help 
Colombia's military fight guerrillas involved in drug trafficking in the 
south is of great concern. It is disconcerting to read comments by 
Colombian General Manuel Jose Bonnet that the aid could be used 
against guerrillas in the zone whether or not they are involved in 
drugs, "It's the same organization, and everyone in it is responsible." 
The temptation to use these materiel for counterinsurgency on the 
part of the Colombians will be great. While human rights abuses are 
reportedly on the rise in Northern Colombia, U.S. intentions to combat 
drug trafficking could easily result in a rise in human rights abuses 
in the target zone as well. 

	As concerned Members of Congress, we urge you to raise the 
issue of human rights and the problem of paramilitary groups with 
oficials in Colombia, as well as the new U.S. representation to 
Colombia, Ambassador Curtis W. Kamman. We also ask that you 
report to us on what is being done to prevent U.S. foreign aid to 
Colombia from being used by Colombian military or paramilitary 
groups in the violation of human rights. 

	Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward 
to your reply. 

  Sincerely, 

  (Congressional Representatives Names) 


 ================= 

  ADDENDUM from CSN : We are requesting that the letter specifically 
ask to apprehend the paramilitary leader Carlos Castano who has a 
warrant for his arrest but has never been captured because he is so 
close to the Colombian military.