CRS AND U.S. CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS CALL ON PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TO REFOCUS U.S. POLICY TOWARD COLOMBIA

October 15, 2004, Baltimore, MD - Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has joined a coalition of ecumenical organizations calling for President Bush and Senator Kerry to reassess their respective strategies toward Colombia. In a letter delivered to the Bush Administration and the Kerry campaign yesterday, the group called on both candidates to "envision a new strategy" in U.S.-Colombia relations.

The faith-based organizations call for a focus on a negotiated resolution of the country's violent conflict; a commitment to sustainable peace through greater investment in development, humanitarian aid and human rights; and increased attention to the drug treatment and prevention in the U.S. as more sustainable, humane and pragmatic alternatives to addressing real needs of both Colombian and U.S. communities.

The letter, signed by more than 700 representatives of faith communities across the United States-including the Presiding Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church, U.S.A.; the Presidents of Catholic Relief Services; Lutheran World Relief; the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, the national Jesuit Conference, and Church World Services, notes that "strategies that rely primarily on military aid or fumigation, and provide only limited social investment in local communities, will not create lasting change."

This past Wednesday marked the kickoff of an international campaign for peace in Colombia by Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of 162 Catholic humanitarian organizations around the world. The "Peace is Possible" campaign will last for three years and is based on the position of the Colombian Bishop's Conference that "peace can only be obtained through negotiations and peace can only be sustained through social justice." The campaign calls for greater involvement of the international community in supporting negotiations between the armed actors, international aid policies that contribute to social justice and the creation of an environment in which peace negotiations are possible, and national and international recognition of and response to the humanitarian crisis.

Colombia is experiencing the worst humanitarian crisis in the western hemisphere with the third highest rate of internally displaced persons in the world (three million Colombians have been internally displaced since 1985). Colombia has become one the most dangerous places for human rights workers, journalists, union leaders and church leaders. In the last decade 57 Catholic representatives including bishops, priests, nuns and seminarians have been killed; the number is even higher for Protestant pastors.

The current conflict in Colombia is rooted in a long history of economic inequality, a weak state presence in much of the country, political exclusion, impunity and social fragmentation. In recent years the conflict has intensified dramatically due in large part to the infusion of new resources-from both drug-related profits that many of the armed actors currently receive, and more recently from a significant infusion of U.S. military aid.

CRS has worked in Colombia since 1954. The agency's "In Solidarity with Colombia Program," launched in 2000, is a response to the request by the Colombian Church and social organizations, to work in partnership toward a peaceful, secure future for the people of Colombia. CRS/Colombia focuses activities on providing an integral humanitarian response to the victims of the conflict and natural disasters, and supporting church and civil society efforts to defend human rights and work for peace in the country.

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the U.S. Catholic community. The agency provides assistance to people in 94 countries and territories on the basis of need, not race, creed or nationality.