CPTnet May 5, 2004 COLOMBIA ACTION ALERT: U.S. Congress to vote on sending
more troops to Colombia
"We love because he first loved us. Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate
their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or
sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The
commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their
brothers and sisters also." 1John 4: 19-21
The Christian Peacemaker Team in Colombia sees clearly through its work in
the Barrancabermeja area that the Colombian government has chosen to finance
violent solutions to the challenges the country faces. The armed conflict in
Colombia continues to put civilians in situations of high risk through
killings, death threats and displacement.
As Christians, we believe peace cannot be reached by violent means. Out of
our love for our Colombian brothers and sisters and our brothers in the U.S.
military, we urge you to encourage your U.S. Senators and Representatives to
vote against any increase in the number of U.S. troops and military
contractors allowed in Colombia. At the moment the U.S. Congress has fixed
the number of U.S. troops at 400 and military contractors at 400, but as
part of the 2005 defense authorization bill the Bush administration and its
congressional allies would like to raise that number to 800 troops and 600
contractors. In the next couple of weeks Senators and Congress people will
vote on this bill.
Please call or fax your representative and senators before May 12th, when
Congress begins discussion on the 2005 defense authorization bill, and ask
him or her to oppose any effort to lift the troop cap in
Colombia. Ask him or her to support efforts that would direct U.S. tax
dollars toward aid and development rather than toward support of the armed
conflict in Colombia. To reach your representatives and senators call the
congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 or toll-free 800-839 5276 and ask
to be connected to their offices.
If you don't know who your representative or senators are, see
http://www.house.gov and http://www.senate.gov. The website will ask you to
enter your zip code and will then take you to the web page of your
representative/senator. Click on the "contact" tab for phone, fax and
e-mail numbers.
_______________
To stop receiving messages from CPTNET on MennoLink, send a message with
only the word, "suspend," in the body to server@MennoLink.org.
Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches
(Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and
membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations.
Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate.
Contact CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680; Telephone: 773-277-0253 Fax:
773-277-0291; e-mail: guest.903627@MennoLink.org.
To receive news or discussion of CPT issues by e-mail, fill out the form
found on our WEB page at http://www.cpt.org/subscribe.php
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jun 01 2004 - 09:29:08 EDT