CROP-DUSTING RESUMES, AFFECTING SUBSISTENCE CROPS IN ARAUCA
(Translated by Peter Lenny, a CSN volunteer translator)
Thursday, 12 June 2008
by: Prensa - Colectivo
(Colombia) (Author: Asociación Municipal de Usuarios Campesinos)
The Fortul Municipal Association of Peasant Users (Asociación Municipal de Usuarios Campesinos de Fortul) rejects this sixth crop-dusting campaign carried out once again in the province of Arauca. President Álvaro Uribe Vélez’s disregard for our lands and their people is manifest in his Democratic Security Plan (Plan de Seguridad Democrática), which is based on warfare and consumes our nation’s budget and swells its foreign debt.
Aware of the social and political contradictions that the planting of coca has generated in our province, we peasants decided voluntarily to stop planting this crop, as we have stated publicly on a number of occasions. Nonetheless, in response, our province is being poisoned once again. Contrary to all the political, social, ecological, economic and health reasons given and demonstrated by the communities as to why this is a gross error, and acting as tyrants do, Uribe Vélez – in complicity with the provincial and municipal governments – has renewed his onslaught, turning his back of the people and a deaf ear to their proposals.
We peasant farmers reject this policy of repression and once again reaffirm our decision to put an end to this social problem of “coca plantations” and to embark on a social campaign to demand that the State improve farm production and commercialization, prepare and harmonize debt relief plans with credit institutions, improve public service provision, improve highway infrastructure, improve health care and educational quality and coverage, defend food sovereignty, and respect and guarantee human rights and environmental conservation.
We invite other progressive democratic forces to support this decision and to claim the rights that have been denied by the Colombian State.
IN DEFENCE OF LIFE, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RIGHT TO REMAIN ON OUR LAND.
Colombia Support Network
P.O. Box 1505
Madison, WI 53701-1505
phone: (608) 257-8753
fax: (608) 255-6621
e-mail: csn@igc.org
http://www.colombiasupport.net
Thursday, 12 June 2008
by: Prensa - Colectivo
(Colombia) (Author: Asociación Municipal de Usuarios Campesinos)
The Fortul Municipal Association of Peasant Users (Asociación Municipal de Usuarios Campesinos de Fortul) rejects this sixth crop-dusting campaign carried out once again in the province of Arauca. President Álvaro Uribe Vélez’s disregard for our lands and their people is manifest in his Democratic Security Plan (Plan de Seguridad Democrática), which is based on warfare and consumes our nation’s budget and swells its foreign debt.
Aware of the social and political contradictions that the planting of coca has generated in our province, we peasants decided voluntarily to stop planting this crop, as we have stated publicly on a number of occasions. Nonetheless, in response, our province is being poisoned once again. Contrary to all the political, social, ecological, economic and health reasons given and demonstrated by the communities as to why this is a gross error, and acting as tyrants do, Uribe Vélez – in complicity with the provincial and municipal governments – has renewed his onslaught, turning his back of the people and a deaf ear to their proposals.
We peasant farmers reject this policy of repression and once again reaffirm our decision to put an end to this social problem of “coca plantations” and to embark on a social campaign to demand that the State improve farm production and commercialization, prepare and harmonize debt relief plans with credit institutions, improve public service provision, improve highway infrastructure, improve health care and educational quality and coverage, defend food sovereignty, and respect and guarantee human rights and environmental conservation.
We invite other progressive democratic forces to support this decision and to claim the rights that have been denied by the Colombian State.
IN DEFENCE OF LIFE, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RIGHT TO REMAIN ON OUR LAND.
Colombia Support Network
P.O. Box 1505
Madison, WI 53701-1505
phone: (608) 257-8753
fax: (608) 255-6621
e-mail: csn@igc.org
http://www.colombiasupport.net
posted by CSN at 1:07 PM
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