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[OPIRG-EVENTS] Colombia Forum/Dec.2-3/Ottawa
...you are invited to attend...
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THE COLOMBIA FORUM
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PEACE, CONFLICT AND INTERVENTION IN COLOMBIA:
A Public Forum for Canadian Solidarity
December 2-3, 2000
Theater B. Southam Hall,
Carleton University
Ottawa, Canada
* This forum will aim at examining the historical and structural roots of
the Colombian conflict as presented by Colombian and Canadian speakers and
establish a base for coordinated Canadian solidarity with Colombia.
For more information on the agenda, topics, structure and how to register,
see: http://www.gratisweb.com/colombiacrisis
or write to: colombiacrisis@latinmail.com
* A collaborative initiative of the Caribbean and Latin American Solidarity
Working Group (CLAS) with Research and International Support for Colombia
(RISC) and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG)
________________________________________
BACKGROUND:
Colombia remains embroiled in civil war almost 40 years old. The causes of
this conflict are rooted in a long-standing history of societal and
structural inequity. Violence, delinquency, poverty, displacement, human
rights violations and the disintegration of the social fabric are all
symptoms of this structural malaise and are problems which can only be
solved through patient, open, tolerant and democratic deliberation among all
of those affected by it.
However, the United States government has designed an intervention into
Colombia that will undermine any possibility of achieving lasting peace. The
intervention is called Plan Colombia, a US$1.3 billion military aid package
portrayed as an effort to combat drug trafficking and the “narco-guerrilla”
which is said to finance its activities through the drug trade. The US
government justifies its action through a simplistic claim that drugs are
the root of all of Colombia’s evils. The $1.3 billion package covers up the
true causes of the conflict by advancing military solutions to social
problems and threatens to give rise to quite possibly the most severe
humanitarian crisis the continent has yet to witness.
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