"Through our dreams we take a chance, we defy what has been imposed on us, we insist on living differently. The proposal of the Red Juvenil is to build a collective, to come together, live and unlearn together, to defend dignity, that of our own and many others.”

- Adriana Roman, Medellín Youth Network

For Adriana's speaking tour schedule, click here.

Colombian and US officials signed an agreement October 30 to grant the United States the use of at least seven military bases in Colombia for ten years, an agreement that was fiercely criticized by South American leaders, Colombian civil society, and US lawmakers and humanitarian groups.

The new US air base in Palanquero will “expand expeditionary warfare capability” and “improve global reach” for “conducting full spectrum operations,” according to a newly disclosed Pentagon budget document. The Air Force document describes South America as “a critical sub region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies, anti-US governments, endemic poverty and recurring natural disasters.” The document flatly contradicts well-publicized claims by US Ambassador William Brownfield that soldiers based in Colombia will “never, never, never” participate in armed operations, and that the base agreement doesn’t allow operations outside Colombian territory.

Bases deal “presents enormous dangers for entire hemisphere”

Versión en español aquí.

Over one hundred religious, national, community organizations and leaders and academics today called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “suspend negotiations for expanded U.S. military access or operations in Colombia,” a plan that has generated a swell of protest among Latin American countries, including Colombia, the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the hemisphere.

August 9, 2009

President Obama was forced to address the growing clamor in South America opposing plans for US military use of bases in Colombia to carry out regional operations with a wide and ambiguous mandate. “We have no intent in establishing a US military base in Colombia,” Obama said on Friday.

But whether the bases are "US" in name is of no import. The proposal has always been for US military use of national bases in Colombia, which is how the US works at military bases in Honduras, Ecuador, El Salvador and many other countries in the world. The Pentagon does not acknowledge “US bases” in Iraq, for example. Obama’s announcement doesn’t change anything of what has bothered so many Latin Americans and US citizens who hoped for better from Obama’s government.

By John Lindsay-Poland

The U.S. Air Force made its last flight from its military base in Manta, Ecuador in mid-July, closed because of Ecuador's concerns over arrogance and aggression. While the Pentagon abided by the eviction, it didn't use the occasion to re-examine its missions in the region or correct its overreach. On the contrary, the military appears to be escalating its operations in the Andes.

Now the United States is negotiating for the use of at least five military facilities in Colombia, in an agreement whose objectives include "filling the gaps left by the eventual cutting of [military] aid in Plan Colombia," according to sources in Washington and Bogotá cited by an explosive article published in early July in the weekly Cambio magazine.

FOR and the American Friends Service Committee have released a report documenting the first-person experiences of women peace activists in Colombia. "I Will Never Be Silenced: Testimonies of Hope from Colombian Woman" highlights the words and work of 17 women from throughout Colombia - rural and urban, old and young, Afro-Colombian, indigenous and mestizo, artists, religious, political, feminists. These women have tirelessly and fearlessly worked to create peace and justice.