As you know, people of faith and conscience have been deeply concerned about the U.S.-led militarization of Colombia and the human rights violations that have resulted from our policies there.

The Latin America Working Group offers this timely action alert to help turn the policy around.  Please call your member of Congress today and ask them to sign on to the Farr-McGovern sign-on letter to Secretary of State Rice.

Call your members of Congress to urge them to sign on to the letter that Representatives Sam Farr (D-CA) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) are currently circulating in the House of Representatives. The letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice requests that human rights certification be withheld by the State Department until the Colombian government meets the human rights conditions laid out in U.S. law. In particular, the letter urges the State Department to put pressure on the Colombian government to reform the 17th Brigade of the Colombian army and investigate and prosecute the human rights violations committed against members of the San Jose de Apartado community and other communities within the 17th Brigade’s jurisdiction. The more members of Congress that sign on to this letter, the greater impact it will have with the State Department and with the Colombian government.

Contact your congressional representative to request that he/she sign on to this important letter! Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to be put through to your representative’s office. Once connected, ask to speak with the foreign policy aide (leaving a voice mail is fine!). Let him/her know that as a constituent you would like to see your representative sign on to the Farr-McGovern letter requesting that the State Department withhold human rights certification on Colombia. The letter will be open for signatures at least until Wednesday, February 22, but the sooner you can make your call the better.

Dear Colleague:

We respectfully request that you sign the attached letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging her to take important steps in promoting human rights in Colombia. Specifically, we are requesting that she withhold Colombia certification until the Colombia government meets the human rights conditions included in the conference report for the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for FY2005 and FY2006.

Aid to Colombia should not be a blank check. By law, the Secretary of State must certify that the Colombian military is complying with specific human rights conditions in order for the government of Colombia to receive over $860 million in military and police assistance for FY05 and FY06 provided by the respective foreign operations appropriations bills. While only a maximum of 25% of this total can be held up by withholding certification — certification is our only Congressional oversight tool for urging the Colombian government to comply with international human rights norms.

While the Colombian military has made strides in improving security in the country, we continue to receive reports of gross violations of human rights committed by members of the military as well as continued collaboration by security force members with illegal paramilitary groups. Particularly egregious is the conduct of the Colombian 17^th Brigade, which has been allegedly involved in numerous deaths of members of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartadó and violations against Afro-Colombian communities.

As one of the largest recipients of US foreign assistance, improving the security environment in Colombia is a key foreign policy goal for the United States. Respect for international human rights norms and strengthening the rule of law, including the recognition that civilians are non-combatants, are equally important for creating a sustainable peace in Colombia. Please join us in signing the attached letter to Secretary Rice and help promote a US foreign policy that is based firmly on human rights and the promotion of sustainable security.

Please contact Ann Vaughan in the Office of Rep Farr (5-2861) or Cindy Buhl in the Office of Rep McGovern (5-6101).

The Honorable Secretary of State Dr Condoleezza Rice
Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Madam Secretary,

We are writing to ask you to refrain from certifying that the Colombia government meets the human rights conditions included in P.L.108-447 and P.L. 109-102, the Foreign Operations Appropriations Acts for FY2005 and FY2006, until the Colombian Army’s 17^th Brigade improves its human rights practices. We also believe that certification requires more substantial progress in prosecuting a number of other outstanding cases involving allegations of gross human rights violations involving members of the Colombian army, including the killing of three trade union leaders in Arauca, the killing of a family in Cajamarca, and the Mapiripan massacre. Since the inception of Plan Colombia, Congress has approved and President Bush has signed into law a requirement that the Colombian government prosecute key cases of alleged human rights abuses by members of Colombia military.

The record of the 17^th Brigade is especially deplorable with regard to the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó in northwestern Colombia. More than 160 members of the community have been killed by paramilitary groups, leftist guerrillas, and army soldiers since the community pledged not to support any of the armed groups operating in Colombia in
1997.

In February 2005, eight community residents, including three children, were brutally killed in a massacre that witnesses reported was carried out by the Colombian army. This massacre was one of several cases that led the State Department to delay its certification of the human rights conditions for several months in 2005. At the time of certification in August 2005, the Colombian Attorney General’s office had made no progress that we are aware of in the investigation of this massacre. We believe that in the absence of any charges against those responsible, further violence against members of the Peace Community ensued.

We were deeply disturbed to learn of the killing of Arlen Salas David on November 17, 2005, which occurred, according to eyewitness accounts, after an army soldier fired a grenade as Salas and others were weeding a cornfield. Shortly after, according to community members and a local teacher, soldiers fired on the village itself, shooting at a school and wounding a second person, Hernán Goez. A delegation from the community and an international observer who took Goez to the hospital were detained by a group of soldiers from the 17^th Brigade who allegedly said they were going to kill them and destroy the community.

On January 12, 2006, according to a military spokesman quoted in the Colombian newspaper “El Colombiano,” the Army killed Edilberto Vásquez Cardona, a member of the Peace Community. While the Army does not contest that it killed Vásquez Cardona, it asserts that he was a guerrilla, which community members insist is not the case.

The US Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), an interfaith organization that has permanent human rights observers in San José de Apartadó, has been harassed by Colombian Army soldiers operating in the area. In October 2005, a Colombian soldier in San José was overheard threatening to “cut off the head” of a FOR observer.

The Department of State’s certification decision transmitted to Congress last August records more than 200 reports of violations by the 17th Brigade against members of the Peace Community. The 17th Brigade has also been implicated in collaboration with paramilitary groups and for human rights violations against Afro-Colombian communities.

We applaud the decision, noted in your certification letter of August 2005, that the US “will not consider providing assistance to the 17th Brigade until all significant human rights allegations involving the unit have been credibly addressed.” Because the Brigade is a component of the Colombian Armed Forces’ command structure and has been implicated
in the above referenced human rights violations, we implore you to abide by both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law by withholding human rights certification for Colombia until the following conditions are met:

(a) the Colombian Prosecutor’s office follows all available leads and shows substantial progress in investigations into the most serious crimes against the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, no matter who the perpetrators may be,

(b) in the specific case of the 17^th Brigade, its leadership is suspended from duty until such a time that full and impartial criminal investigations establish those officers’ innocence or guilt, and

(c) there is substantial reform of the 17th Brigade’s operations, as reflected in its conduct in San José de Apartadó, Afro-Colombian communities, and other communities within its jurisdiction.

We believe that withholding certification at this time will contribute to stimulating the political will in Colombia to address these issues that the Congress is monitoring. These steps are necessary in addition to progress on other well-known cases of credible allegations of human rights violations by members of the security forces.

Thank you for your consideration of this important matter.

Sincerely