Otanga Daily Times, 9/24/2006
by Elizabeth Duke

Children and adults carry smooth stones up from the river. They paint them in bright colours, and write a name on each. The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, in northern Colombia, commemorates its murdered dead - over 150 from a rural community of around 1500.

For half a century Colombia has suffered internal violence, much of it directed at control of its natural and mineral wealth. Today a right-wing government is fighting left-wing guerrillas, with the aid of paramilitaries, who are nominally independent "self-defence forces", but with close ties to the army. The stakes are heightened by the huge profits from the trade in coca, the raw material of cocaine, and by United States intervention to cut off cocaine at its source, and to control this strategically vital region.

The FOR recently obtained two documents produced by the US State Department that list 235 Colombian military units in the Colombian military and 28 police units that have been screened for US assistance, and units that are using US helicopters. (To see the documents, a map of the units, and comments, click here)

The documents show that the US has cleared for assistance the command staff of the Army’s Seventh Division, which includes several brigades with a history of reported abuses. Paramilitaries operated freely in the jurisdiction of the 11th Brigade, which the United States has cleared for direct support according to the document.

Voices from Colombia
Otago Daily Times, 18 September 2006
by Elizabeth Duke

"We women do not bear or rear sons and daughters for war." "Our association of lawyers tries to bring human rights violations to trial, with the goal of truth, justice and reparations." "Women united in the power of love, building scenarios for life." "We are trying to make an inventory of available native seeds, and to restore the historical memory of traditional agricultural practices. The soil is the patrimony of all communities and of all humanity." "May the life and the sacrifice of our brothers and sisters take root in us as a ferment of humanity, to impel our world towards truth, justice and love." Amid the fierce violence which possesses Colombia, these are the voices of people and organisations who stand for humanity and peace.

Village's Unarmed Rebellion
On strategic land in Colombia's civil war, a group of peasants stands up against violence. But a refusal to take sides offers little protection.
By Chris Kraul
Times Staff Writer
Read article from LA Times site

September 18, 2006

ARENAS ALTAS, Colombia - Ana Hilda Vargas was living in a place called Hope when the gunmen came to her farm and gave her an ultimatum: Leave your house in 48 hours or be killed.

"Everything I built in my youth and all that I had - pigs, hens, mango and avocado trees, yucca, corn and bean fields - I lost that day," Vargas said, recalling the terrible morning in 1997 when she was thrown off her land in the village of Esperanza by paramilitary members.

The wave of break-ins threatening the work of FOR and other groups in Colombia has entailed many days of work by our team in Colombia and the U.S, as we rally support for a full investigation and responses by officials in Washington and Bogotá. Your participation has meant a lot to all of us. Amid all of this, we still need to replace the two computers that were stolen, a contingency that we had not budgeted for. We also need to replace clothes of a field team member that were stolen in the break-in.

So we are asking those of you able to do so to make a special contribution, beyond what you might have already planned, to help us replace these computers and supplies. In short, we need to raise some $3,500, quickly, so that our team can continue to function, accompany the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, Medellín Youth Network, Antioquia Peasant Association, and others, and contribute to the movement to demilitarize U.S. policy in Colombia.