[557] in peace2
Protest US Military Aid to Colombia
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David Strozzi)
Wed Feb 28 10:49:34 2001
Message-ID: <3A9D20A5.2B981B24@mit.edu>
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 11:00:37 -0500
From: David Strozzi <dstrozzi@MIT.EDU>
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To: mitai-announce@mit.edu, Greens Announce <greens-announce@mit.edu>,
The Thistle <thistle@mit.edu>, peace-list@mit.edu
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There will be a protest this Saturday, March 3 against Us Military Aid
to Colombia. People will be gathering from noon to 130 at the Park St.
T stop (green line) and then will march to the US military recruiter's
office and the Colombian consulate.
If you'd like to go as a group with other MIT students, the MIT Greens
and Amnesty International will be meeting at noon in lobby 10 and then
take the T over.
There has been a civil war in Colombia for the last several years.
Government forces, right-wing "paramilitaries," and leftist guerrillas
are all part of the bloody mix. However, the targets include indigenous
peoples, human rights workers, union leaders, labor organizers, and
women's social organizations. Many of the worst atrocities are
committed by the paramilitaries, many of whom have ties to the official
Colombia military.
The US government has been giving massive military support to the
Colombian government, with last year's "Plan Colombia" granting $1.6
billion in military aid. Ostensibly intended to fight the "drug war,"
most of this aid is going to security forces not responsible for
narcotics policing in Colombia. In response to human rights concerns,
Congress made the aid conditional upon the State Dept. certifying
Colombia on 5 separate human rights standards. Even though State could
certify none of these, Clinton waived these requirements in late August,
citing national security, drugs, economic reform - the usual suspects.
Thank god Clinton's a liberal!
You can learn more about the situation in Colombia and the protest at:
http://www.iacboston.org/action/action_files.cfm?id=9999
Hope you can come!
--
David Strozzi dstrozzi@mit.edu
home: 472 Putnam Ave., Apt. 2B office: Bldg. NW 16-223
617-876-4929 617-452-2343
Cambridge, MA 02139 http://www.mit.edu/~dstrozzi
