Sometime during the week of July 21, your representative will be voting on
an amendment to the 2004 foreign aid bill that would cut or reduce military
aid to Colombia. The last time an amendment was offered to cut Colombia
military aid, it lost by only seven votes—we are very close! Please help
make it a reality this time-- send an e-mail to your representative asking
them to support the amendment.
To send an e-mail to your representative go to:
capwiz.com/voice4change/issues/alert/?alertid=2882061&type=CO
If you have trouble with our Action Center please copy and paste the
following sample letter and E-mail to Representative.
If you need to find out who your Rep. is go to
www.house.gov
Sample Letter:
The Honorable__________
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative _______________,
As a constituent concerned about US military aid to Colombia, I urge you to
support any amendment to the 2004 foreign aid bill that will cut or reduce
Colombia’s military aid. I also ask you to support treatment and
prevention programs at home and alternative crop assistance for farmers who
grow drug crops abroad. I believe these are more effective ways to address
drug abuse and violence.
When Congress passed Plan Colombia three years ago, it was supposed to be a
plan to curb drug abuse in the US. But drugs are just as available on US
streets today as they were three years ago. Our fumigation policy has
moved drug production in the Andes around, now back into Bolivia and Peru.
The brutal armed groups take advantage of fumigated farmers’ desperate
circumstances by actively recruiting. I do not believe that our policy is
making Colombia or the United States more safe.
Last year, the US mission in Colombia expanded to include
counter-insurgency efforts. Representative _________, I am gravely
concerned that our policy is spiraling out of control, and that our goals
in Colombia are so broad and vague that it will be difficult to know when
to stop. We have already given more than $2.5 billion in taxpayer dollars
to Colombia, with few tangible results. The truth is that even billions
more dollars in military aid will not solve the problem of drug abuse at
home or violence abroad—and given the brutal record of Colombia’s military,
it may make things worse.
I believe that there are positive ways in which the United States can help
Colombia, but not through fumigation or more military aid. I urge you to
support any amendment to the 2004 foreign aid bill that will cut military
aid to Colombia. Please also support drug treatment and prevention
programs at home, and alternative development programs in Colombia, so that
farmers can switch to growing legal crops. I look forward to seeing how
you vote on this issue.
Sincerely, [Name and address]
Warm Regards,
Voice4Change.org
