u.s. house passes aid package to colombia increasing support for critical social, economic and humanitarian needs...

one of the first, no THE first issue i lobbied on for amnesty international was regarding plan colombia (notice how amnesty international is cited in the wikipedia entry)...which emerged as one of the policy failures of the clinton administration...

well there's finally some positive change in this abysmal policy...last week the u.s. house of representatives unanimously passed a new aid package to colombia increasing support for critical social, economic and humanitarian needs and decreasing funding to a military implicated in serious human rights violations...

because of your appeals, the new aid package went from 76% military and 24% social and economic aid, to 55% military and 45% social and economic aid, including support for victims of the conflict...

for over a decade, amnesty international usa has advocated for a different approach to u.s. policy toward colombia...aiusa has highlighted the role of the colombian armed forces in serious human rights violations, the killing of thousands of civilians by the military, paramilitary and guerrilla’s, the attacks against human rights defenders, the internal displacement of millions of colombians and have communicated our concerns over cases of human rights violations to the u.s. government...

a heartfelt THANK YOU goes out to all you - amnesty activists and supporters or not - who contacted their congressional representatives asking the new congress to create a new policy toward colombia...stay tuned for the senate version of the state, foreign operations appropriations act...those of us seeking a new direction in colombian foreign policy will need your help to ensure that the senate also passes more balanced aid package that supports human rights in colombia...

in the meantime, take action to help ensure the safety of the members of the peace community of san josé de apartadó, colombia...according to recent reports, the peace community could be in danger of an attack at the hands of paramilitaries...francisco puerta, a peasant leader who lived in an area associated with the peace community was shot dead by paramilitaries, and both the paramilitaries and the army have threatened members of the community...

call on president alvaro uribe and other colombian authorities to take all necessary measures to protect the members of the peace community....

peace out <3