Date: 15 April 1999
From: Colombia Support Network (CSN), Madison, WI

CALL FOR SUPPORT FOR THE NGO's IN URABA - COLOMBIA 

The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO's) working for human 
rights in the Uraba region of Colombia have received threats which 
are worrisome to the organizations represented. First of all, a letter 
of cattlemen, merchants and community representatives to 
Colombian President Andres Pastrana criticized NGO's active in the 
Uraba region and criticized them for supposedly provinding 
assistance to the guerrillas. The Peace Communities in the region of 
Uraba also were criticized. 

Following that, General Carreno, Commander of the 17th Brigade of 
the Colombian Army based in Carepa near Apartado in the Uraba 
region, referred to these criticisms. He mentioned that some 
residents of Uraba believed representatives of the NGO's in Uraba 
were involved in sending of food and medicine to places infested by 
guerrillas. 

The NGO's working for human rights in the Uraba region have 
responded by indicating that what they are doing is carrying out " a 
humanitarian action of support and attention to the victims" of the 
internal war. They note that food and other supplies are lacking for 
the displaced persons. Who " have as a common denominator 
diseases and hunger". While General Carreno has said that some 
civilian sectors believe the NGO's have sought to capture resources in 
the region through their actions with displaced persons. Fr. Leonidas 
Moreno, the director of relief efforts in Uraba for the Catholic 
Church's Pastoral Social Office, noted that a lack of government 
services for refugees should not be converted into a suspicion of the 
purposes of the NGO's working among them. He has strongly 
defended the activities of the NGO's with which his office works, as 
well as Peace Communities such as that in San Jose de Apartado. 

The NGO's noted in a joint communique that their actions were within 
the legality of Colombia law and that they contribute to the 
application of Internal Humanitarian Law. The Pubic Defender's 
office in Uraba has noted that it has received no concrete charges 
against any NGO working in human rights in the Uraba region. 
Moreover, the Assistant Chief of the International Red Cross 
Committee in Colombia, Rohn Wahle, has noted that under the rules 
of International Humanitarian Law, the army is an armed actor. 
Furthermore the people in the Peace Community are entitled under 
the Rules of International Humanitarian Law not to be treated as 
armed actors, but to pursue peace in the way that the Peace 
Communities have been doing.

A representative of one of the human rights NGO's involved in the 
Uraba region has asked that CSN chapters and CSN board members, 
among others, convey what is happening to their Congressional 
representatives, and urge that the U.S. State Department and the U.S. 
Embassy in Bogota come out with a pronouncement defending the 
work of the NGO's for human rights in the Uraba region, as well as in 
the rest of Colombia. This defense should be for all of those 
organizations working for human rights in the Uraba region, not just 
those related to or involving U.S. citizens. 

In addition to contacting Congressmen in the Congressional District in 
which you are located, please also send messages supporting the 
NGO's working for human rights in the Uraba region in Colombia to 
other officials of the United States government, among them 
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Secretary of Defense Willian 
Cohen, and President Clinton. We ask that you provide the CSN office 
with a copy of any letters which are sent to the Congressional 
representatives or to other U.S. Government officials. The Members 
of Congress and other U.S. Governments officials should be 
encouraged to communicate their support for the human rights 
workers to Colombian President Andres Pastrana. Colombian Minister 
of National Defense Rodrigo Lloreda and General Martin Orlando 
Carreno Sandoval.

President Clinton
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 205000
Fax: (202) 456-2461

Willian Cohen
Secretary of Defense
Fax: (703) 697-5737

Madeleine Albright
Secretary of State
Fax: (202) 6470-0221

Doctor Andrˇs Pastrana Arango,
Colombian President
Palacio de Nari–o
Carrera 8 No. 7 -26
Santafe de Bogot‡. Colombia.
Fax : (571) 2 86 74 34
E mail: pastrana@presidencia.gov.co

Doctor Rodrigo Lloreda
Colombian Minister of National Defense
Avenida El Dorado con Carrera 52
Santafe de Bogot‡, Colombia
Fax: (571)2 21 53 63
E mail : infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co

General Martin Orlando Carre–o
Commander of the 17th Brigade
Tel-fax: (57) 48-236-844