To be updated this week. See contacts on

HOME page.

Dear Friends.
 

Religious and civic organizations, as well as individuals, have the
opportunity to prevent escalating tragedies in Colombia, site of the worst
human rights conditions in the Western Hemisphere.  We are particularly
concerned about residents in Montana's sister community of Landazuri, 
as it is located in the region where paramilitary groups are increasingly
violent.  Colombians in Landazuri and elsewhere need support from
Montanans.  That is why two Helena residents are preparing to travel into
the war zone on a peace delegation.  Please help us with this effort!
 

Colombia receives more US foreign aid than any other Latin American nation.
The US is now spending 2 million dollars per day in Colombia!  Of the 1.3
billion-dollar Plan Colombia just approved by Congress, 80% is military
aid.  President Clinton waived the human rights requirements of the bill
because Colombia is so far from fulfilling them.  As in El Salvador and
Guatemala, paramilitary death squads kill, terrorize, and displace peasants
regularly, often with the overt or tacit support of the Colombian military.
This is the same military that receives weapons, training and
"intelligence" support funded by our tax dollars.  There have been over
35,000 political murders in the last 10 years.  Particularly targeted for
murder are religious leaders, labor leaders, human rights workers,
teachers, social workers, journalists and indigenous people seeking to
protect traditional land and culture.  2 million internal refugees have
been displaced from their homes by violence.
 

The Colombia Support Network- Montana Chapter has been active in Helena for
over a year, in cooperation with social justice groups at Carroll College
and in Missoula, and with outreach to other towns.  CSN is a nation-wide
grass-roots organization, with 501(c)(3) status, created to work for a
peaceful solution to the Colombian conflict.  Aligned with none of the
armed factions, CSN is active in sister community projects, accompaniment
for human rights workers, delegations, hosting guest speakers, and outreach
through the newsletter Action on Colombia, and its web page,
www.colombiasupport.net.  CSN also has an Urgent Action service to provide
immediate response to emergency cases in Colombia, an effort that has led
to release of victims of kidnapping and prevention of impending atrocities.
 

It is vital that we send the first delegation of Montanans to Landazuri
this January and February.  These delegates will practice "people to
people" diplomacy, bring international attention to the human rights
crisis, further the sister community relationship, and nurture the
reconstruction of a social fabric that has been destroyed by war.  The two
Helenans who plan to travel are Katie Knight and Will Boland.  They will
join a fact-finding delegation as well as the sister community delegation.
Katie is an educator and artist, who has photographed and researched human
rights problems in Namibia, South Africa, El Salvador and Nicaragua.  Upon
return from Colombia, her documentary photographs will be published in a
book, featured in a traveling exhibition, and shared through slide-talks.
Will Boland is a seasoned traveler and political activist with
Spanish-speaking skills and experience in Latin America.
 

The Montana delegates will return with friendships and resources to connect
the people of Montana and Colombia.  The delegates will be available for a
slide presentation to any interested audience.  Slide talks will raise
awareness of the human rights crisis and help motivate involvement with the
sister community project.  Our attention to events in Landazuri will help
provide protection to human rights leaders now being threatened.  As the
project grows, Landazuri residents will visit Montana to share their
stories and continue the process of people-to-people diplomacy.
 

Travel to Colombia for the two Montana delegates will cost approximately
$7,000.   Please consider contributing to this vital action to promote
peace in Colombia and support an international social justice movement.  If
you or your organization would like a member of the Montana Chapter to
visit one of your meetings to make a presentation or answer questions,
please contact us.  If you would like to arrange for a slide-talk by
delegates when they return, we would be happy to provide this.  Those who
contribute $150 or more may choose as an appreciation gift, one of Katie's
photographs.  Her emotionally sensitive portraits give a human face to an
inhuman situation.  These 11"x14" black and white photographs are
archivally printed, matted and framed.
 

No donation is too small or too large.  Donations to the Colombia Support
Network are tax deductible and may be made out to CSN-Montana Chapter.  We
urge you to join us in our work to protect the human rights of our sisters
and brothers in Colombia.  You can be part of a growing movement working
for social justice in the Americas.
 

Sincerely,
 
Members of the Colombia Support Network - Montana Chapter  Steering Committee
 
Frank Kromkowski                      Leeann Drabenstott
Eric Stimson                                Will Boland
JoAnn Hanson                                Katie Knight
Jue Sing                                Gary Weglarz
 
Colombia Support Network - Montana Chapter
707 Highland Street
Helena, MT 59601
(406) 457-1827   gweglarz@mt.net
October 29, 2000