FOR National Council member Zara Zimbardo hosts Access SF's Newsroom program, with a special segment on Colombia, that you can access here. Click on Episode #57; the segment on Colombia is 18 minutes in.

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Democracy Now! 27 July 2009
Tensions Rise in Latin America over US Military Plan to Use Three Bases in Colombia

The Colombian government has agreed to grant US forces the use of three Colombian military bases for South American anti-drug operations. The move has heightened tensions between Colombia, the largest recipient of US military aid in the Americas, and its neighbors, particularly Venezuela and Ecuador. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned that the US Army could “invade” his country from Colombia.

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John Lindsay-Poland at Seabeck 4th of July 2009 from toddboyle on Vimeo.

By John Lindsay-Poland

In the next few days, a retired Colombian colonel and School of the Americas graduate, Víctor Hugo Matamoros, will be tried for his role in facilitating the bloody takeover of the northeastern Catatumbo region of Colombia by paramilitary death squads in 1999. The takeover resulted immediately in a series of massacres, the displacement of more than 20,000 people, and paramilitary control of drug trafficking and other economic activities in the area.

U.S. Ambassador Curtis Kamman privately told Washington at the time that the army must be complicit in massacres in the towns of La Gabarra and Tibú. “How did seven massacres occur without interference under the noses of several hundred security force members?” Kamman wrote to Washington.

Volunteer in Colombia
Training in San Francisco

Note: The next openings on the FOR team in Colombia are in summer of 2010.

The Colombia Peace Presence is an accompaniment project begun in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, one of several rural communities in Colombia that have taken an extraordinary stand against war by refusing to support any armed group. FOR also has a team in Bogotá to support this accompaniment and to highlight other Colombian grassroots peace initiatives that youth, rural communities and others are building around the country. Volunteers serve for at least twelve months. FOR seeks committed and skilled volunteers, 23 years or older at the time of service, with sound judgment and proficient in Spanish.

By Chris Courtheyn

A reflection by a volunteer who lived with the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, upon leaving in late January 2009.

What a year it has been since I arrived in Colombia on February 1st, 2008. I have made so many memories during my time accompanying the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó: trenching through mud with Peace Community members in the beautiful Urabá countryside; last year's commemoration of the horrendous 2005 Mulatos massacre of eight people, including Peace Community leader Luís Eduardo Guerra and his wife and children; wonderful moments of playing and joking with the cute kids; hours with my teammates in our office analyzing threats against the community; and long nights of dancing Colombian-style to vallenato, merengue and salsa. As my departure date nears, while I am looking forward to returning to the US, I cannot help but reflect upon all the things I will miss in Colombia…