CPTnet
January 30, 2001
CHICAGO: CPT begins exploratory project in Colombia

On Sunday January 28, CPTers Duane Ediger (Dallas, TX) and Janet Shoemaker
(Goshen, IN) left for Colombia to explore the possibilities of establishing
an ongoing presence in a country that has averaged 35,000 murders a year for
the last decade. They will be joined in two days by Christine Forand
(Waterloo, ON) and Cliff Kindy (North Manchester, IN.)

The Colombian Mennonite Church and Justapaz--a human rights center sponsored
by the Mennonite, Mennonite Brethren and other evangelical churches in
Colombia--extended an invitation to CPT to come to Colombia more than a year
ago, but CPT lacked the personnel, especially Spanish-speaking personnel, to
do so.

In April 2000, a ten day CPT delegation talked with church workers from many
different locations within the country and learned of the dire state of
anarchy that exists there. There are more than 2 million armed combatants
in the army, guerrilla and paramilitary groups--all of which are funded by
drug trafficking.

Currently more than 10, 000 Colombian soldiers have been trained at the
School of the Americas in the United States--more than any other country. In
reports of atrocities such as murder, massacres, and kidnappings documented
by the U.S. State Department and Human Rights Watch, 50% of 247 Colombian
officials implicated in these atrocities were SOA graduates.

The Colombian Mennonite Church and Justapaz have been exploring ways to
bring the historic peace witness of their churches to bear on the
indiscriminate violence that continues to claim the lives of thousands of
men, women and children every year.

Ediger, Shoemaker, Forand and Kindy will investigate ways that CPT might be
useful to the work of the host churches and opportunities for a Lenten
witness over the next three months.