The Mingas network is a solidarity network working for peace, justice and democracy in Colombia. It issued the following call to support a statement against the recent U.S.-Colombia agreement to establish multiple military bases in Colombia. They are seeking only organizational endorsers at this time. Go to this link to sign the letter: http://www.formspring.com/forms/noUSbases-Obama . Please support by February 1, 2010.
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The Mingas network call for support:
Dear friends:
We of the Mingas network are deeply concerned about the recently signed military agreement between the governments of Colombia and the United States. Under its terms, the U.S. is permitted to upgrade, expand and use seven Colombian military bases for the purpose of increasing the operational capabilities of U.S. armed forces throughout South America.
We believe the agreement will further exacerbate tensions across the entire region and aggravate armed conflict within Colombia.
The Mingas network opposes war and the exercise of violence as an instrument of political action. We believe that today the path of social transformation is democratic and peaceful mass struggle. We repudiate all forms of terror and State terrorism, including targeted killings, kidnapping, extortion, and armed attacks on the civilian population; none of these are legitimate expressions of the struggle of the people, and thus we condemn all such acts.
We call on faith communities, solidarity groups, students, academics, and other organizations in agreement with the above basic principles of nonviolence to come together in alliance to reject the U.S.-Colombia military base agreement — and we invite you to take action immediately.
Join us in signing the letter posted at: http://www.formspring.com/forms/noUSbases-Obama .
You can sign by filling out the online form at the foot of the letter.
Note that the current letter is a sign-on for organizations only.
Signatures must be received by February 1, 2010. After collecting signatures, we will send the letter to President Obama and other key government officials.
Thank you for your support.
Cordially,
The Mingas network
The sign on letter says:
President Barack H. Obama
Dear Mr. President:
On October 30, 2009, the government of Colombian president Álvaro Uribe signed a military agreement that ceded the sovereignty of Colombia’s land, sea, and air to the United States, under the pretext of a war on drugs that has been a resounding failure.
The Colombian government pledged to allow U.S. soldiers and contractors to use seven specified military bases as well as any others that “may be necessary to carry out joint operations,” thus heightening internal and external tensions in the region. Such a pact strongly contravenes the development of a new kind of relationship between the United States and Latin America. In fact, we ask you to annul the agreement because of the threats it poses to peace, regional stability, and Colombia’s sovereignty.
The signatories of this letter repudiate terror and terrorism in all forms, assassinations, kidnappings, and the exercise of violence as an instrument of political action. These acts of violence which have plagued Colombia are not legitimate expressions of popular struggle and impede citizens’ and organizations’ efforts to build a just society. As supporters of democratic processes in Colombia, we feel certain that a further entrenched presence of the U.S. military in Colombia will only intensify the internal armed conflict, interfere with efforts to find a peaceful solution to that conflict, and weaken rather than strengthen Colombian democracy.
President Obama, at the Summit of the Americas in April 2009 you promised to foster a “new sense of partnership” between the United States and the rest of the Western Hemisphere. But your administration has yet to address the grave concerns expressed by national leaders throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean regarding the U.S.-Colombia military base agreement.
With this agreement, Colombia may have allowed itself to become not just a training ground for U.S. troops but a platform to stage regional military operations. Many thoughtful Colombians fear that their territory will be used to threaten other nations and interfere in democratic processes in the hemisphere. Despite subsequent whitewashing, an Air Force document submitted to Congress in mid-2009 (the Military Construction Program, FY 2010 Budget Estimates, Justification Data Submitted to Congress, May 2009, pp. 215–17) confirmed that the originally envisioned purpose of the bases went far beyond narcotics control. The bases would provide “a unique opportunity for full spectrum operations in a critical sub region of our hemisphere” where “stability” is “under constant threat” by factors such as “anti-US governments” and “endemic poverty.” The document explicitly contradicts the avowal that U.S. use of the bases would be limited to narcotics control operations.
Further, the agreement grants immunity to U.S. military personnel, contractors, their family members, and other dependents, so that the Colombian justice system will be prevented from bringing them to trial and convicting them for any crime they may commit in its territory. Around the world, such immunity has been shown to correlate with an unconscionable level of sexual crimes against women and other abuses.
Clearly, then, peace and stability in Colombia and the hemisphere, a new direction for U.S.–Latin American relations, and respect for the national sovereignty of Colombia are ill served by this military bases agreement. We urge you to withdraw it altogether.
Very cordially yours,
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