Fernando Botero´s Abu Ghraid

• Just the Facts has a summary of recent statistics on violence in Colombia, particularly urban violence in Bogotá and Medellín.

• Semana, a weekly newmagazine, has an analysis of the recent bombing in Bogotá.  Was it far – right wing or far – left wing?

• All threats in Colombia are not from violence.  How climate change and rising sea levels will affect Colombia´s coast. (from Colombia Reports)

• Here is an Op-Ed from the Washington Post (Edward Schumacher-Matos) about the now-prevailing view that the US- Colombia Base Agreement, which was struck down by Colombian courts, is best left alone.  Call it a mulligan for two new presidential administrations…

• Colombia´s investigation and prosecution lacks funds to persue paramilitaries – that means 145,000 un-investigated, un-prosecuted, un-incarcirated persons.  (from Colombia Reports)

• A new round of paramilitary threats, mostly in the south of the country.  (from Colombia Reports) Here is a key description of the new groups:
  

“It is the same pattern the [demobilized paramilitary organization] AUC used in the 1990s to consolidate in the regions; a ‘social cleansing’ to justify their presence in the towns and capture the local economy,” an anonymous investigator told newspaper El Tiempo.

“The only difference with what you see now is that the AUC initially tried to end subversive influence in certain regions,” Mauricio Romero of left-leaning think tank Corporacion Arco Iris told the same newspaper.

A note from Linda Eastwood, Coordinator of the Colombia Accompaniment Program ~

The accompaniment program, run by Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, is a joint program of the PPF, PC(USA) and IPC (Iglesia Presbiteriana de Colombia, Presbyterian Church of Colombia).  The IPC requested this accompaniment back in 2004, when their human-rights work had led to harassment and threats which had reached a level that was hard to bear alone.  We’ve sent volunteer accompaniers in pairs, a month at a time, almost continuously since that request, and the need to continue this ministry of presence and witness was affirmed at a PPF / PC(USA) / IPC week of discernment in Colombia during Holy Week of this year.

Requirements for service as an accompanier include:

• Mature Christian faith

• Commitment to practice non-violence

• Demonstrated faith-community backing

• Ability to raise funds for volunteer service

• Spanish skills strongly preferred, but not required

• 21 years of age and a valid U.S. passport

The training / discernment process is a pre-requisite to going to Colombia as part of this program.   I’m pleased to announce that the next training and discernment event will be held October 7^th (5pm) to October 11^th (1pm), at Stony Point Center in New York.  (Also, FYI, the dates are tentatively set for next spring’s training / discernment as March 10-14, 2011.  So no harm recruiting people who might not be able to make it in October.)

You can find more information about accompaniment, including the current brochure, a set of “Frequently Asked Questions” and reports from former accompaniers, at the web-page: http://www.presbypeacefellowship.org/two/colombia/accompaniment After reviewing the information there, would you please send me an e-mail letting me know both whether you continue to be interested in the program, and, more specifically, whether you would like to be considered for the October 2010 training and discernment event?

If you do hope to attend the October event – and I would be delighted if you do! – then please send me a completed biographical questionnaire, using the attached form.  You should also understand that accompaniers go to Colombia as PC(USA) mission volunteers.  You will thus also need to get going as soon as possible on the “One Door” application for Presbyterian Mission Service (Go to One Door at http://tinyurl.com/2cwrz6p to create your online profile, including “supplemental profile information”.  Apply to the Short-Term IPC Accompaniment Volunteer position at  http://tinyurl.com/247quto )   This all takes a while, especially as you need to get references, but you still have time before the October training.  Then, assuming you’re approved, you’ll book your travel to Stony Point.  (If you’re flying, information on shuttle services from Newark airport can be found at http://tinyurl.com/23lams4. You’d need to arrive in time for the 2pm shuttle from Newark to Stony Point.)  We cover the cost of (simple) accommodation and food, but ask that you pay your own transportation.

I do hope that you continue to want to be involved in the Colombia Accompaniment Program.  Human rights workers in Colombia continue to be threatened, and our presence is a source of strength and protection to our friends in the Colombian church.  Our accompaniers come back filled with enthusiasm, wonder and gratitude at their experiences with our partners in the Colombian church – and you could too!

Blessings on whatever you do for the furtherance of God’s reign of peace and justice in this world,

Linda Eastwood,   Coordinator, Colombia Accompaniment Program

colombia@presbypeacefellowship.org

From Just the Facts – Adam Isacon´s blog – a description of the likely changes in current military cooperation between the US and Colombia.  Short answer – likely none.  But long term, there is much more doubt about the agreement.

Now, at first, I understood that this court ruling just implied that the agreement would have to go through the Colombian Congress for approval.  With parties closely allied with President Santos, who vocally supported the agreement in the campaign, controlling strong majorities in both Houses of Congress, that seemed like a foregone conclusion.

But not so fast…   Later last week the former commander of the Colombian Armed Forces General Freddie Padilla said that if the agreement has to go to the Colombian Congress, it will also have to go to the United States Congress as well.  He was the presiding General when the agreement was negotiated and signed, so one assumes he has some knowledge on such affairs.

What does this mean? Its not entirely clear, but if the agreement will need to face US Congressional approval, it will be an opportunity for US citizens to speak out clearly and loudly on the direction of the US-Colombian relationship.  The Presbyterian Church (USA) has taken a clear stand on the issue.  (See Mamie´s post here.)

How will you make your voice known?

Continue below for some more references on the US – Colombian Military Base Agreement, known in the US military as the Defense Cooperation Agreement.

The Fellowship of Reconciliation has an extensive listing of resources about the base agreement.

First- a primer on the origins of the agreement.  Documents were leaked to the press showing the scope of the base agreement in the eyes of the military.  These were appropriations requests for expansion of the existing facilities.  Particularly around the Palanquero Air Base, it describes the base this way “[the base provides for] full spectrum operations in a critical sub-region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies, anti-U.S. governments, endemic poverty and recurring natural disasters.”  The terms “full-spectrum”and operations against “anti-US Governments” set off many alarm bells.  The Air Force later retracted this document and issued another version without this language.  All press releases from the US Embassy reflect the newer, toned-down language.  We are left to wonder which more accurately reflects US intentions.

Original U.S. Air Force document, May 2009:

“Establishing a Cooperative Security Location (CSL) in Palanquero best supports the COCOM’s (Command Combatant’s) Theater Posture Strategy and demonstrates our commitment to this relationship. Development of this CSL provides a unique opportunity for full spectrum operations in a critical sub-region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies, anti-U.S. governments, endemic poverty and recurring natural disasters.”

The modified U.S. Air Force document of November 16, 2009:

“This project at Palanquero best supports the Combatant Command’s (COCOM) Theater Posture Strategy and demonstrates our commitment to this relationship [with Colombia]. Development of this project provides a unique opportunity to support an important partner in a region of the western hemisphere where security and stability are under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies, endemic poverty and recurring natural disasters.”

More analysis of the base agreement is here (from Venezuela Analysis)

“Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction.  Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit.”  Psalm 5:9

Recently the United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon announced in a press release that Colombia’s outgoing President, Alvaro Uribe, would be the Vice-Chair of the Panel of Inquiry into the flotilla incident between Israel and Turkey at the end of May.  I must admit to being more than a bit surprised at this decision, so I was glad to see I was not the only one.

Shortly thereafter a European Parliament Member Willy Meyer  said he was “completely indignant” that a leader of a country which “has the largest mass grave in Latin America” would be included in the UN panel, because “it is like leaving the fox to guard the chickens.”  According to Meyer, “a man who has not investigated what is going on in his own country is not going to do it now” in the UN investigation.

Meyer’s reference is to a mass grave that has been found in La Macarena in the Department (State) of Meta right next to an army installation.  It was supposedly reported by a number of citizens in the area, but no one followed up on it.  Richard went to a demonstration at that site about a month ago, and shortly afterward a denial of the grave’s existence by the government was released.  Officials stated that only individual graves were to be found at that site, and that the allegations were simply a ruse to get the European Union to cancel the Free Trade Agreement it has made with Colombia.

Now I don’t know about you, but I am just not sure how you confuseindividual grave sites with a mass grave with over 2,000 bodies – many who are purportedly also victims of the false-positive scandals (citizens killed and later dressed-up as if they were guerrillas).  Then again, I am also not sure how you dig an 18 inch trench and proclaim that your investigation has proven there are no bodies buried in the area.

I am overwhelmed sometimes by the variety of disheartening news stories that can come from one country, but I am also keenly aware of the need to share them since they do not seem to make it into the US consciousness.  My fear is that so many tales of woe will cause people like you to sigh, flip to another website and begin to believe that things here will always be this way; that your compassion will be in lament but go no further.  That desensitization has happened in many quarters here in Colombia as a result of some 60 years of this news, not to mention as a coping mechanism.  My prayer is that it does not overcome you (and me) too.

There is an opportunity now for the United States to push the new Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos, to investigate further and to ensure protectionof human rights as central to his agenda.  There is an opportunity now for United States citizens to push our own government to investigate and comply more closely with the Leahy Law which prohibits U.S. military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.  There is an opportunity for Christians to act upon the gospel call to stand by the widow and the orphan…so many of them living here in Colombia.

“Declare them [my enemies] guilty, O God!  Let their intrigues be their downfall.  Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.  But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy.  Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.”  Psalm 5:10-11

Our experience here as parents-to-be has been full of wonder, confusion, grace, uncertainty, and love.  We have had an outpouring of support from folks in the United States, including pre-Peanut visits from the “abuelos” (grandparents), and tons of concern and care from people here too.

Some things we have gotten used to:

1.  Touching, kissing, listening to my belly.

I always heard about pregnant women in the United States who had folks they did not even know come up to them asking (or not asking) to pat their stomachs.  I always thought, “How can someone think that is okay?” and “Don’t people have any  boundaries?  I mean geesh….”  According to a friend of mine in the States, when men come up to her and touch her belly, she just reaches out and touches theirs in the same way and that pretty much ends that.  Well…wouldn’t work here.

Folks here tend to pat my belly and greet Peanut with a rousing “¡Hola Bebé!” before they even acknowledge me.  This is probably good preparation for when Peanut makes the grand entrance because I think Richard and I will fade from view once the Nutter is officially on the scene.  And that is fine really because we are blessed to have so many people concerned for us, and I am grateful that Peanut will have a village and a half to take care of him/her.  In fact, I think I am clearer here than I would be anywhere that I am merely a steward of the Peanut, because he/she will belong to everyone here and just hang out in our house I think.

2. Paying in cash.

As we are not part of a health system in Colombia, we have to pay for all of our medical appointments in cash and wait for reimbursements.  The system works well, and we get paid back for virtually everything, but I go to the doctor about a blue million times more than I ever have, and the float we manage adds up.  For a while we thought we were going to have to pay cash at the clinic for the delivery too.  Since we can only get out about $200 at a time from the ATM, we figured that September was basically going to be filled with daily trips to the cash machine to stock up for getting Peanut out of hock at the end of the month.  And our ‘hospital bag’ would have to have an accompanying ‘cash bag’ to truck it all there…

3. Being the weird ones.

Some of you may argue we have a head start on being used to this one, but we have found all new ways to fill this bill.  The primary one being that we are waiting to find out whether Peanut is a boy or a girl.  This is not, I repeat, not normal.  We get asked all the time about Peanut’s sex, and when we told the sonogram doctor that we did not want to see or know he asked us no fewer than five times if we were absolutely certain.  Yes, thank you.

That of course has not stopped the speculation (as it does not in the United States either).  I really should have started a pool just to see which side won out in the end, though I mostly just tell folks that I am confident half of them will be absolutely right.  Below is a video of Rev. Diego Higuita, Executive Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (think Stated Clerk) doing his own proof test.  My favorite part of this time we did not manage to catch on video – when Diego declared that while it was definitely a girl, if it happened to be a boy then it was because the needle was crummy…

We will certainly let you all know the actual results when the time comes.  Until then, we are just trying to ready ourselves for the launch of the legume!

Thank you to all who have written, prayed, sent sweet gifts, worried, and more.  We are truly grateful, and we hope you will keep our family in your thoughts a little extra in our last month out (…or in I guess)!

[For our original Peanut blog announcement you can click here.]