Hello,
Eight CPT delegates walked down the Barrancabermeja airport ramp, knelt, and prayed for an end of Plan Colombia aerial spraying to eradicate coca. They prayed facing the helicopters and airplanes used in that destruction, as you can see in the photo. This “War on Drugs” is much more a war on Colombian farmer families, often destroying their food crops indiscriminately while aiming for coca planting. In many ways this makes the farmers more economically dependent on coca.
The banner reads: Yes, to development, self determination, and life. No to gringo dollars for arms and fumigation.
Two men wearing army green and brown, and US State Dept. hats, said hostilely to the reporters who were with us, “You better watch out because we have authority to arrest you and confiscate your cameras.” After hearing this, the reporters left.
Then the US State Department representatives calmed down, and after some further conversation, agreed with us that the farmers here are just caught by all the armed groups who are often forcing them to grow coca. As long as there is such high demand for drugs in the US, efforts to reduce drugs by any means will prove futile. They said too, “Changes have to happen in US legislation. We have to dry up the demand. We are just doing a job.”
As Nancy Long, one of the delegates, who is an Illinois drug counselor said, “We have good US drug treatment programs that work, but we don’t have enough programs to meet demand. People are always waiting for treatment. This all works to keep the drug prices up, which keeps the armed groups forcing the farmers to grow coca.”
This destructive fumigation is funded by US tax dollars--1.6 million a day to Colombia in aid. This spraying kills food crops, poisons livestock, fish and water supplies, and causes all sorts of health problems. Since 2002 the US Embassy in Colombia has received more than 8000 complaints of damage from overspray. As of March 2004, only five cases have been compensated.
Please join me in prayer for an end of fumigations, and let your government representatives know about the suffering this spraying program is causing.
Peace, Jim
Eight CPT delegates walked down the Barrancabermeja airport ramp, knelt, and prayed for an end of Plan Colombia aerial spraying to eradicate coca. They prayed facing the helicopters and airplanes used in that destruction, as you can see in the photo. This “War on Drugs” is much more a war on Colombian farmer families, often destroying their food crops indiscriminately while aiming for coca planting. In many ways this makes the farmers more economically dependent on coca.
The banner reads: Yes, to development, self determination, and life. No to gringo dollars for arms and fumigation.
Two men wearing army green and brown, and US State Dept. hats, said hostilely to the reporters who were with us, “You better watch out because we have authority to arrest you and confiscate your cameras.” After hearing this, the reporters left.
Then the US State Department representatives calmed down, and after some further conversation, agreed with us that the farmers here are just caught by all the armed groups who are often forcing them to grow coca. As long as there is such high demand for drugs in the US, efforts to reduce drugs by any means will prove futile. They said too, “Changes have to happen in US legislation. We have to dry up the demand. We are just doing a job.”
As Nancy Long, one of the delegates, who is an Illinois drug counselor said, “We have good US drug treatment programs that work, but we don’t have enough programs to meet demand. People are always waiting for treatment. This all works to keep the drug prices up, which keeps the armed groups forcing the farmers to grow coca.”
This destructive fumigation is funded by US tax dollars--1.6 million a day to Colombia in aid. This spraying kills food crops, poisons livestock, fish and water supplies, and causes all sorts of health problems. Since 2002 the US Embassy in Colombia has received more than 8000 complaints of damage from overspray. As of March 2004, only five cases have been compensated.
Please join me in prayer for an end of fumigations, and let your government representatives know about the suffering this spraying program is causing.
Peace, Jim
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