Letter from Magdalena Colombia 


October 22,  1998
Cali

Dear Friends:

I write to you once again describing the worsening conditions in Colombia. 
The analysts seem to have lost their bearings, since their most recent analyses 
are that we are touching the bottom but the reality is that we have not 
touched bottom and the abyss keeps growing deeper and deeper.

You already know that the Samper administration left the state bankrupt 
with no possibility of the country receiving international credit. The Pastrana 
administration proposes a plan of adjustment which is very strict (fiscal 
reform and consequently increase in the value added tax and other taxes, 
readjustment in bank reserves and devaluation of the peso)....All of this has 
immediate economic consequences for people's daily livespeople, who 
besides being unemployed see their scarce income representing each day less 
quality and opportunity in life.

The women of our neighborhoods and groups see their jobs go, their extra 
hours, their economic income...they do not have money to pay the rent, high 
school for their children, their food; consequently, their health declines.

Additionally,  the country has completed a 17 day strike by government 
workers ( the majority of the workers in the country). There are continuous 
blockades in cities and of roads, assaults and damages caused by protests in the 
streets...Thus there is a certain popular reply to our situation, but still without 
direction.

While some members of civic organizations of the ruling class and 
representatives of the government and the church sit down at negotiating 
tables and speak of peace with the guerrillas and murders, assassinations, 
massacres, kidnappings, and violations of human rights continue. Likewise 
large private businesses and state business go bankrupt, diminishing job 
possibilities; the entire financial system is on the verge of collapse. Thousands 
of small time savers among Colombian people have lost the little savings and 
other resources they had. The news brings us continually a harsh panorama 
in this respect.

The most recent developments are: 1) the massacre in Machuca from the 
explosion of an oil pipeline by the ELN, in which 60 people have died, 
including many children; many more still will die from injuries sustained in 
the bombing; 2) the assassination of Jorge Ortega, vice-president of the CUT 
labor union and a defender of human rights.

The public universities of the country are without funds; specifically the 
Universidad del Valle which has been half-closed and without classes since 
the month of June, owing its workers and retirees three months' wages and 
pension. This week the Universidad del Quindio closed...And now the 
Ministry of Treasury has said that the universities are not viable in their 
current form ... What does this mean? The hospitals of the Department of 
Valle and other departments are penniless... some of them (Palmira, Cartago) 
have already closed. The Mental Hospital of Cali owes its workers and 
pensioners four months' wages.

The general situation which the country is experiencing  is one of very high 
social and sociological tension, which, of course, leads finally to despair and 
paralysis.

I am writing this letter on Thursday October 22 in the midst of a national civic 
strike which promises to leave a large number of persons injured, dead or 
lost. A broad session of expressions for peace has been called for October 26 at 
12 noon. It will be carried out with groupings of people in silence, clamoring 
for peace. We ask that you join this session through your prayers and by 
calling attention to the chaotic situation of the country, a situation in which 
the end is still unknown and far away.

With a fraternal embrace,

					MAGDALENA COLOMBIA