American Friends Service Committee
Peace Mobilization Team for Colombia
Background
The people of
Colombia have been severely affected by a 40-year conflict -the longest, bloodiest civil
war in Latin America. Massacres and
displacement are used as military tactics; civilian non-combatants account for at least
two-thirds of casualties and 1.6 million people are internal refugees.
Under the guise of fighting a war on drugs, the United States
government is actually escalating the civil war in Colombia. The $1.3 billion US aid package to Colombia draws
the U.S. deeper into Colombias conflict, intensifying the war and making the U.S.
complicit in wide-scale violations of human rights.
As long as the US military can define the issues to the US
public, the prospects for peace are dim. As
the U.S. increases military involvement in Colombia, an active and informed US
constituency is needed to work with Colombian civil society to advocate effectively for
alternatives to current policies.
Peace Mobilization Team
The American Friends
Service Committee Peace Mobilization Team for Colombia (PMTC) has been organized in 15
offices around the U.S. to maximize the ability of AFSC to activate an informed and
diverse US constituency through public education, networking and policy impact work.
Activities:
� develop
clear and concise educational packets for activists
� organize
speaking tours to the United States of Colombians, particularly from Afro-Latino and
Indigenous communities
� support
peace efforts of the Colombian people through AFSC staff based in Colombia
� develop
educational materials that highlight the links between
certain economic and military policies
� maintain
close coordination with Washington, DC based groups working on Colombia in order to inform
and guide our grassroots strategies on US policy issues
� work
with the Quaker United Nations Offices in New York and Geneva on international human
rights issues pertaining to Colombia.
For more information contact
Natalia
Cardona or Angela Berryman
AFSC
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 241-7162
[email protected] or [email protected]