Take Action To End Expansion of The Ill-Fated 'Plan Colombia'

End The Deployment Of Excessive US Forces To Colombia

Dear Representative,

The recent decision to move the U.S. military base from Manta in Ecuador and to replace it with five new bases in Colombia ( Malambo, Palanquero, Apiay, Tolemaida y Malaga) has become public, although the negotiations are still considered secret in both Colombia and the United States. In democracies, matters that so deeply and seriously affect the citizens should not be kept secret.

The military bases will bring more problems than solutions, and will exacerbate not only the armed confrontation, but also the drug trafficking network and sexual abuses to women. The implementation of these bases would be a continuation of The United States' already existing Plan Colombia that has deepened the effects of war, making more profound the pain of thousands of Colombian families subjected to forced displacements and the disappearances and assassinations of loved ones. Grave ecological damage and destruction of peasant food crops due to crop fumigations are also direct results of this Plan.

The military bases would cause destabilization of commercial exchange in the region and turn the area into a territorial base for war with neighboring countries. Given the economic crisis in the United States, it is not in the best interest of the U.S. to implement policies that will destabilize this region, since doing so would adversely affect its commercial relationships.

Colombia is a country that has endured more than 50 years of social and armed conflict. The roots of the conflict lie in the profound economic and social inequalities of Colombian society, and politics that have been called “terrorism” since 2002 with the arrival of President Uribe. The solution to this conflict should not, indeed cannot, be military force. The United States should play an important role in developing a political solution to the Colombian conflict instead of establishing more military bases.

The Colombian government requested the establishment of the new bases in Colombia so that its military could continue receiving financing, even as overall expenditures for U.S. foreign aid have been reduced due to the economic crisis in the United States. With continued funding, the Colombian Army could thus persist in facilitating Pentagon plans for the region. This funding will result in conflicts and tension between Colombia and the United States on one side, and Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador on the other. The Colombian government also supports the location of U.S. bases within Colombia because it believes this may help gain approval for the bilateral Free Trade Agreement within U.S. Congress.

The placing of soldiers and mercenaries called “private contractors” in Colombian bases to conduct military exercises at the discretion of the Colombian Army, an army that assassinates its own civil citizens, would be the occasion for another counter-insurgency war. The United States does not need to add another war front to those already existing in Iraq and Afghanistan. The money proposed to be used in establishing the United States presence in Colombian bases should instead be used to solve the internal problems of the people of the United States such as health, education and housing. The money should not be spent on senseless foreign adventures that will only adversely affect its people.

I write to you as a citizen of the world to voice my concern regarding the establishment of U.S. military bases in Colombia. I believe that if democracy still exists in Colombia, it is in a state of crisis, and that U.S. foreign policy toward such a State must be changed. U.S. investment in this war cannot continue under the pretense of promoting security and peace. I urge you to consider the creation of a high-level U.S. commission that will engage in dialogue with members of Colombian civil society. The purpose of this commission would be to give people of Colombia a chance to voice opinions that diverge from those of the Colombian government, its economic groups, its embassy in Washington, and the Pentagon. The commission would make an effort to understand the Colombian people's point of view and the reasons for their opposition of the US military bases in Colombia.

If you have not done so already, please read & co-sign the following letter initiated by your colleague, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin :
http://colombiasupport.net/2009/Baldwin-on-Bases9-3-09.pdf

Regards,

[Your name]