Colombia Support Network statement, September 15, 2003

Colombia Support Network statement, September 15, 2003
Colombia Support Network's Statement on President Uribe's Speech to the Military on Colombian NGO's

We at the Colombia Support Network reject the intemperate language and erroneous conclusions of President Uribe in his remarks about human rights organizations. Criticism of the Uribe administration's crack down on democratic rights of Colombia's citizens, and of the well-documented ties between the paramilitaries and state security forces cannot be dismissed as "terrorism". Opposition to Governor Uribe's policies which promoted conflict in Antioquia is not trafficking in human rights.

President Uribe must know the danger in which he places human rights leaders and their organizations with his unjustified attempts to link them to "terrorism". The Uribe administration's de facto approval of the lethal scorched-earth activities of the paramilitaries and its fumigation campaign which has destroyed food crops of peasants and brought health problems for residents in areas where the spraying campaign has occurred, have greatly contributed to the human rights emergency in his country. Human rights organizations attending the conference in London, where the Colombian Support Network was privileged to be represented, far from being supporters of terrorism showed their commitment instead to work for peace and the protection of life, which are so severely threatened by President Uribe's policies.

We reject the suggestion that those who point out the negative consequences of the Colombian government's policies are "terrorists" and we call upon President Uribe to retract this poorly conceived, erroneous and dangerous equation of much of the the human rights work in Colombia with "terrorism".

Colombia Support Network
P.O. Box 1505
Madison, WI 53701-1505
phone: (608) 257-8753
fax: (608) 255-6621
e-mail: csn@igc.org
http://www.colombiasupport.net