Jim's Peacemaking

New US War, US Military Bases in Colombia July 30, 2009 Hello Friends, I am very concerned about the US recently announced plans to construct military bases in Colombia. As you know, I have been a volunteer with Christian Peacemaker Teams since 2002, accompanying Colombian farmers who are threatened by guerrillas, paramilitaries, and Colombian military forces. As we have often told these armed groups, “You have been trying to resolve the conflict in Colombia for the last 50 years with a gun. Can’t you see it just does not work? It just results in more suffering and death of people each day.” To build military bases in Colombia is continuing this same false assumption that the conflict in Colombia can be solved with a gun. Lasting resolutions to conflict always are resolved with negotiations. Let’s support President Barak Obama’s proclamation to make diplomacy central in US foreign policy. I sense this is a very pivotal point in US Colombian foreign policy that could go the wrong way ...

Dear friends, Whether you are new to my updates and newsletter or you have been a subscriber or supporter for a long time, greetings from our new home in Chicago. A big change for Lyn and I this year was our move here in December to a rented apartment from our rural farm home of 27 years at Plow Creek Fellowship near Tiskilwa, IL. An important part of my peacemaking efforts has been this an nual reporting of my activities of the last year and a forward projection, with openness to the Lord’s leading, of my hopes and plans, along with a budget for the coming year. This exercise, I have found, is good for me as it lends perspective to my work and also holds me accountable to all of you who are praying and supporting the work and me financially. I’ll begin with some recent photos and commentary: This is one of five presentations to 300 Elkhart high school students in Indiana this April. The teacher noted, “This fueled a half hour of really powerful discussion.” Some of students response...

--by Stewart Vriesinga "I thought you were dead! I had orders to kill you! I knew you were a good man –a man of integrity — and I couldn't carry out those orders, but I thought another one of my colleagues would!" –a demobilized paramilitary Reverend Salvador Alcántara, from Garzal township of Simití municipality in the southern Bolívar province, is a remarkable, exemplary and inspirational man. He is a husband, father, grandfather, pastor of a local church, farmer, president of the Garzal town council, and vice-president of ASPROAS – Association of Alternative Producers of Simití. That he is able to take on all these tasks and do them well has earned him the respect of both the larger community of Simití and his own smaller community of Garzal. His interpretation of his pastoral duties has led him to become involved in his community's struggle to stay on their lands in the face of constant threats of forced mass displacement. The much-heralded achievements of the Ur...

Dear Friends, Imagine being told that the home you built, or were born in, or lived in all your life is no longer legally yours and that you must leave. Further imagine that all of your relatives and neighbors are being told the same thing, and that failure to leave will result in death. This is what is happening to the communities of Garzal. These people are now being pressured by a former owner to abandon their farms. This former owner, a cocaine producer, is using paramilitaries to threaten them. Their leader, Salvador, who is a Pentecostal pastor and their school teacher, has asked us to accompany them in their struggle to get land titles and resist expulsion from land on which they grow cacao (chocolate), bananas, and yucca. These crops are their livelihood. So, as a way of supporting them, a CPT delegation spent three days in Garzal. We followed this with a public witness action to raise awareness of the plight of these people. It was finalized with a letter that we signe...

Dear Friend, “There must have been 40 or 50 soldiers from the Colombian Army who came through here. They accused Jorge, my son, of being an informer for the guerrillas. I was so scared. They took his picture and asked him a lot of accusing questions. I was afraid to let him go fishing like he often does. They were all around the house. I was afraid that if there was a confrontation with the guerrillas, bullets might hit any one of my children.” “They asked our first and last names and checked them, with lots of others from the community, against their list of supposed guerrilla sympathizers. We are not guerrilla sympathizers, but there is nothing we can do to convince them otherwise. They have guns, so I don’t argue with them. Someone must be singling us out. I was so scared that I called Pierre of CPT to let you all know about it. Then I was scared that they might be listening in on the call. Pierre said it is was ok and wondered why the army keeps using these fear and intimidation ta...

Dear Friend, Land mines are one of our biggest problems here. You know how children are. You tell them to stay on the path, but it is so hard for them to realize the danger and obey. Just for them to go to help find some firewood or go to school, it is so dangerous. One was badly injured and we took him to the hospital in San Pablo, and they said they could not treat him there. Then we had to take him to Bucaramanga, all at our expense. There doesn't seem to be any help from the government," shared one of the farmers. Delcy, from the Vice President's Office of Human Rights, answered, "If they cannot treat a person in San Pablo, they are responsible for transporting him to where he can be treated. I will have that looked into." Another farmer shared, "The Army treats us like dirt. They have check points on the paths to our fields, and they stop us and accuse us of being guerrillas and detain us for hours at a time. They entice our children with candy and then...