javier writes: "
Several black communities in the pacific coast of Colombia are being killed
and displaced by paramilitaries in this very moment, in an operation which
will continue in the next days and weeks. This is happening in the same
region where between 100 and 300 people were massacred last Easter, with
the complicity and cooperation of the Colombian army, which is happening
again this time. The objective is to make room for transnational investment
in a region where black and indigenous communities have preserved the
highest density in biodiversity of the world, strategic oil reserves and
projected interoceanic transport megaprojects for international trade.



Below you will find an edited version of the letter that the
Colombia-Canada Solidarity Campaign has sent to the Canadian minister of
foreign affaires, already adapted to be used as model for European groups.
There is also a letter to Pastrana (in Spanish only), sent in another
message. Obviously, non-European groups are also strongly encouraged to
write to your minister, you will have to get rid of the parts that are
specific to Europe.

We know that this sort of lobbying is not the usual form of action
discussed in these lists, but in this very urgent case it is a matter of
life or death; there are no guarantees that it will work, but it is better
than doing nothing. However, actions in (front of) Colombian embassies
and/or companies involved in business with Colombia are surely more effective.

IMPORTANT: There are some words that STILL have to be inserted in the
letter for it to make sense, referred to in the letter [IN SQUARE BRACKETS
AND CAPITALS] - please look for them and replace them before sending the
letter. It would be very good if you would make other changes in the
letter, take it just as a suggestion.

If you send a letter to your minister and Colombian embassy, please send a
short message to the following addresses in order to let us know:
trasgu@chello.nl, dianhuburlon@gmx.net, mingacolombia@yahoo.ca,
sergio.o@gmx.net

The Process of Black Communities and the Colombia-Canada Solidarity
Campaign are discussing about forming an international brigade to spend
Christmas with the black communities, the preliminary call will be sent later.



On 17-18 May there will be a summit of heads of state from the EU and Latin
America in Madrid (not just because Spain has the presidency of the EU in
the first half of 2002, but also because Spanish TNCs are re-colonising
Latin America at an amazing speed), and there will be mobilisations against
it. Stay tuned.

If you are interested in the campaign against militarism and paramilitarism
of People's Global Action (which is still taking shape), subscribe to the
list stopwar@mail.nadir.org by sending a message to
with the word subscribe in the BODY of the text
(not in the subject line).

#################

[DATE]

TO:
[NAME]
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Government of [YOUR COUNTRY]
[ADDRESS]

Re: Call for action to halt the impending massacre in Pacific Coast region
of Colombia.

Dear Minister

We are writing, as citizens of [YOUR COUNTRY], to express our grave concern
about the intensifying violence that is being directed against grassroots
social movements and their communities in Colombia. This letter is prompted
by our sense of urgency concerning an impending massacre on Colombia's
Pacific coast. This letter is also our concern about our governments'
official position and consequent actions towards the Colombian government
in a context where systematic terror has become a deliberate strategy used
to silence legitimate civil social movements and organizations and their
communities in Colombia. In the words of Alfredo Molano Bravo, Colombian
sociologist and journalist living in exile, the model is simple: "all
symptoms of inconformity are liquidated through terror and communities are
submitted by the rule of obedience to the victor." We are aware of
Europe's [AND/OR YOUR COUNTRY'S] significant and expanding trade interests
in Colombia and feel it is imperative that [THE EUROPEAN UNION'S / YOUR
COUNTRY'S] relationship with Colombia -expressed both through official
government policy and private investment- pay careful attention to ethical
and humanitarian demands, given that Colombia is a society afflicted by the
worst human rights crisis in its continent. When crimes against humanity
are being committed, extreme and exceptional measures need to be taken to
avoid negligence or complicity with the perpetrators. "Business as usual"
cannot be the assumption upon which [EUROPEAN / YOUR COUNTRY'S] policy
towards Colombia is based.

Many international delegations visited Colombia during the year 2001. All
of the civil Colombian movements meeting with diverse European and
International delegations had the same message to share: there is a
systematic dirty war - a campaign of extermination - directed against civil
social movements and their communities in Colombia.

Their perspective has been tragically ratified by the events that have
followed the international delegation's return to Europe and elsewhere:

· Sept.-Nov. 2001: At least 50 labour leaders have been assassinated since


September 2001 (totalling 143 killings in the course of 2001).


· Nov. 8, 2001: Carlos Giovanni Blanco, second year medical student at
Colombia's National University, was shot dead by anti-riot police at a
student protest against the US and British war on Afghanistan.


· Nov.10, 2001: Paramilitaries demolish one of the Women's Centres of the
Women's Popular Organization (OFP in Spanish) in the northern oil city of
Barrancabermeja.


· Nov. 19, 2001: Paramilitaries massacre 12 indigenous people and peasants
in the Southwestern region of Cauca, Colombia.


· Nov. 24, 2001: Paramilitaries inaugurate the National Indigenous Congress
by assassinating 4 indigenous leaders. There have been at least 16
assassinations of indigenous leaders from Northern Cauca since September 2001.


· Sept.13, Oct.11, Nov. 21 and Nov, 26, 2001: High school girls
Cundinamarca and Silberia Espinosa Secondary Schools protesting the
privatization of their schools and the right to education have been
attacked, assaulted, tear gassed, water-cannoned and detained by police.


· Nov. 29, 2001: Paramilitaries massacred 12 people in the village of
Montebello, Antioquia, centre-north of Colombia.


· Dec. 5, 2001: Regional president of the National Oil Worker's union (USO
in Spanish), Aury Sará Marrugo, kidnapped by paramilitaries on November 30,
was found assassinated near Maríalabaja, in Bolivar province, northern
Colombia.


· According to the most recent studies, eight families are forcibly
displaced ever

y hour.

The purpose of this letter is to bring to your attention and request your
prompt intervention, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, to address the
Colombian government and demand its immediate action to prevent the
imminent massacre of communities and popular leaders on the Naya, Cajambre,
Yurumanguí and Raposo rivers in Colombia's Pacific coast. The paramilitary
groups present in the region have announced that they will 'celebrate
Christmas' murdering the unarmed Afro-Colombian, Indigenous and peasant
communities who live along those rivers, in order to take control of their
biodiversity-rich lands.

We remind you that the Naya River was the sight of the infamous Easter Week
Massacre of 2001 in which approximately 100 Indigenous, Afrocolombian and
peasant inhabitants were killed. This massacre took place despite previous
warning by the inhabitants to the Colombian government months before.
There were warnings from the other side of the ocean too: the threats to
the black communities in the Pacific coast of Colombia was discussed at the
European Parliament on the 14th of December, resulting in a letter to the
President of Colombian signed by 22 Members of the European Parliament
(MEPs) and a written question by MEP Laura González which, according to the
European Commission, was forwarded to the Colombian government. However,
nothing was done to prevent the massacre, done 25 minutes away from troops
of the Colombian Navy.

After carrying out this massacre, the paramilitaries belonging to the
United Self Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) announced their incursion into
the neighbouring Yurumanguí River, a threat denounced by the Yurumanguí
inhabitants to the local and national authorities. Two weeks later the AUC
entered the fishing village of El Firme on the Yurumanguí massacring 7
peasants and permanently displacing the entire community. This happened
one day before the Table of Donors, meeting in Bruxelles, approved 300
million Euros in support of the Colombian Government. An action that makes
our governments de facto responsible for the atrocities committed. The
protest letters sent by several MEPs, including Joan Colom Naval,
vicepresident of the European Parliament and Joaquim Miranda, president of
the Development Commission have not let to any substantial change in the
policy of slow but systematic displacement and extermination of indigenous,
black and peasant communities of Colombia.

The civilian inhabitants of the municipalities of Timba, Suarez and Buenos
Aires on the Naya River have reported that there now are about 300
paramilitaries in the area. This raises fears of a paramilitary incursion
in these municipalities, especially in the areas of Alto and Bajo Naya and
on the shores of the Yurumanguí. Paramilitaries in this region have been
consistently alleged to have strong ties with the Colombian army,
specifically the III Brigade. There are already preliminary reports of
killings in the Naya river, still to be confirmed.

We expect our government to acknowledge the existing evidence, to challenge
the Colombian government for its complicity and negligence and to develop
the necessary international leadership and measures to effectively oppose
the genocide being carried out to serve national and international legal
and illegal interests. In consequence we request that the [YOUR COUNTRY'S]
and other European Governments:

1. Develop and implement the necessary mechanisms to closely monitor the
comprehensive and systemic character of human rights abuses against popular
movements and their leaders in Colombia and put appropriate and efficient
pressure on the Colombian Government to protect popular movements in
general, and the people of the Naya, Cajambre, Yurumanguí and Raposo rivers
in particular, in the face of a very real and imminent threat of massacre;

2. Take concrete action pressure the Colombian government to bring to
justice the terrorist perpetrators of the above mentioned crimes along with
those who fund and support them, in a way such that compliance carries real
consequences for all those responsible;

3. Openly and publicly scrutinize European investment in Colombia,
particularly in sectors and areas affected by armed actors. The validity
and efficiency of this process depends on the involvement of legitimate,
objective and well-informed parties in Europe and Colombia, credible
independent researchers, human rights organizations and affected
communities and organizations.

Finally, beyond your written response to this letter, we would like to
request the opportunity to meet with you and with your staff, at your
earliest convenience, in order to present the issues and requests posed in
this letter, listen to your perspective, exchange views and carry on with
the implementation of measures to stop the extermination of rural
communities in Colombia.

Sincerely,

Cc:
The Colombian Embassy in [YOUR COUNTRY]
The [YOUR COUNTRY'S] Embassy in Colombia

-------------------------------------------------- -------------------


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