Colombia: Please sign electronic petition Mon, 31 Dec 2001 S.O.S Petition**please distribute Hello friends of Colombia: The following is call to sign on to an electronic petition that is being sent to Colombia's President, Andres Pastrana. The petition recognizes that there is a dirty war being waged against all forms of political and social dissent that has claimed thousands of activist's lives in recent years. The petition recognizes that not drugs but multinational investment interests and the removal of all obstacles to the implementation of a neoliberal free trade regime are behind the violence. It is also a call to halt the imminent massacre of Afrocolombian and indigenous communities on Colombia's pacific coast announced in early December by paramilitaries. Recent reports have let us know that over 150 paramilitaries have moved into the Naya river on the Pacific Coast in preparation for the massacre. You can sign this electronic petition by going to: www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/559441420 Please circulate this call throughout you networks. FOR A COLOMBIA WITH PEACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE! In solidarity, The Canada Colombia Solidarity Campaign Below is the full text of the petition. Remember that to sign it, you must do so at the aboive mentioned website. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- An S.O.S For Colombians This petition is to express our grave concern about the intensifying violence that is being directed against grassroots social movements and their communities in Colombia. It is also prompted by a sense of urgency concerning an impending new massacre on the Pacific Coast of Colombia announced by the Paramilitary death squads. There is growing evidence of a systemic, nation-wide strategy of terror against popular movements organizations and their communities representing the majority of Colombians, with the intentional purpose of displacing people from contested territories as well as eliminating, dismantling and criminalizing social dissent. The deadly results of multinational investment in mining, fuel and other resources in Colombia are multiplying as some of this companies successfully lobby Colombian government to remove labor and environmental standards, collaborating with armed paramilitaries that assassinate unionists and leaders of civil society who are working for an end to war. According to the U.N Colombia is the most dangerous place to be a trade union worker in the world, averaging one assassination every three days (the numbers so far this year are about 150). The armed groups do not directly fight each other. Instead, they target ordinary people who they accuse of being sympathizers of the enemy faction. The paramilitaries are responsible for 80% of the deaths with the guerillas and army placing second. There is growing evidence of collaboration between paramilitaires and some army units. Both army officers and paramilitary commanders receive training in counter- insurgency tactics, including assassination and torture, at the School of the Americas located in Fort Benning Georgia. These courageous people are working for peace in the face of assassinations and terror incorrectly presented by the media, government and hollywood as "Drug Wars". The result of which has only increased the coca production, since the armed factions increasingly rely on the profits to finance their war. All of these armed groups tax coca growers who are small farmers forced into growing these crops because of the low world price of coffee and food crops (due in large part to subsidized farm prices in the North and the implementation of neoliberal policies such as the so called "free trade"). This is causing Colombia to import coffee and staple foods for a first in their history. An additional factor is the removal of land from food production because of "land assembly" by wealthy landowners as they wait for the foreign investment to come from abroad. The land that is owned by peasants is also taken by way of massive displacements following massacres with threats to leave immediately or they "paramilitaires" will come back and finish the job. This is the present situation facing the communities in the Naya and Cacarica rivers basins, on the North and South of the Pacific Coast Regions of Colombia. There are now more than 2 million displaced people in Colombia and over 40,000 precious lives terminated. There is no coincidence that the active areas of displacements are also the active areas of potential or active investments in mining, oil and mega projects.Plan Colombia's money is not only being used to finance the military but also to fumigate(using Monsanto's Roundup)small farms including food crops, animals and jungle where they allege coca is grown but coincidentally is in areas such as the Putumayo region in the South where large deposits of oil have been discovered. it is also near the region where the Farc is settled for the peace talks. Some say that this is not a war on drugs but is a counterinsurgency measure to clear out guerillas and civilians so that it will be possible to extract the resources as cheaply as possible under the protection of the U.S Military. One could go on an on describing the horrible situation of Colombians today but hopefully this will inspire you to find out more and become active in lobbying your governments and multinationals with interest there, so that they will put and end to their practices and pressure the Colombian Government to end this war by dismantling the Paramilitary death squads, continue and implement the dialogue with the FARC and ELN, demand respect for the International Humanitarian Law, implement a much needed land reform and respect the Human Rights of all Colombians. Sincerely, The undersigned.