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<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Forgotten in the Jungle: Victims of
Colombia’s War<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>
<img width=166 height=120
id="Picture_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x0020_2"
src="cid:image001.jpg@01C91D78.B752D5B0"
alt="P:\fotos para imprimir\consuelomaria.jpg"> <img
width=137 height=114
id="Picture_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x005f_x0020_4"
src="cid:image002.jpg@01C91D78.B752D5B0" alt="iProfesor Moncayo.jpg"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Two courageous Colombians, Gustavo Moncayo and
Consuelo González de Perdomo will be in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Boston</st1:City></st1:place> area next week - September 25-27,
2008. During this visit they will discuss concern for the remaining
hostages held by <st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region>’s
illegal armed actors, the struggles of the victims’ families, and how we
can all be part of helping to attain a humanitarian accord to secure the
hostages’ release, and a path towards peace in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>There will be <font color=black><span
style='color:black'>three</span></font> public presentations:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Thursday,
September 25 6:00<font color=black><span style='color:black'>pm</span></font></span></font></b>
<st1:place w:st="on"><font color=black><span style='color:black'>Dudley</span></font></st1:place><font
color=black><span style='color:black'> House Common Room, Harvard Yard, Harvard
</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-weight:
bold'>Friday, September 26 1:00pm </span></font></b><font color=black><span
style='color:black'>Cargill Hall, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Northeastern</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Law</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">School</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> (look for signs
for exact room) <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Friday, September 26, 7:00<font
color=black><span style='color:black'>pm</span></font></span></font></b> Family
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Institute</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Cambridge</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>, <st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street
w:st="on">51 Kondazian Street</st1:Street>, <st1:City w:st="on">Watertown</st1:City></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>617-924-2617; info@familyinstitutecamb.org.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Gustavo Moncayo</span></font></b>, a high school teacher from
the southern province of Nariño, led a walk of approximately 600 miles through
Colombia to promote the “humanitarian accord” to secure the release
of the many persons held by the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia),
including his son Pablo Emilio. Pablo Emilio is a member of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s National Police
who was taken prisoner in 1997 by the FARC and remains in captivity today.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Consuelo González de Perdomo </span></font></b>was trained as
a social psychologist, and has devoted her entire life to political and social
work in the department of Huila, where she is from, and where she has served in
elective office at the local, regional, and national levels. Most recently she
was elected to serve in the Colombian Congress. As a member of Congress she was
kidnapped on September 10, 2001, by the FARC. For 6 years and 4 months she was
part of a group of hostages who the guerrillas proposed to release in the
“humanitarian accord.” During her captivity she lost her husband,
but at the same time became a grandmother. On January 10, 2008, she was
unilaterally released by the FARC, yet from that day on she has said that she
will not be free until all those who continue to suffer the tragedy of
kidnapping have returned to their homes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Colombia
Vive is the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Boston</st1:City></st1:place>
organizer of their tour. Their <st1:City w:st="on">Boston</st1:City>
visit is part of a national tour organized by the Colombia Human Rights
Committee, Lutheran World Relief, the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Manuel</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Zapata</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Olivella</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType>, Periodico Impacto Latino,
Accion <st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region>, Movimiento
Por <st1:City w:st="on">la Paz</st1:City> en <st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region>,
United Steelworkers Associate Member Program and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Benedict</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><b><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Colombia</span></font></b></st1:country-region></st1:place><b><font
size=2><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'>’s humanitarian
tragedy<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>According to the nongovernmental organization País Libre, from 1996 to
2007 illegal armed groups in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
(left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries) kidnapped some 14,233 persons.
In addition, thousands have been forcibly disappeared, mostly by pro-government
forces, many killed and buried in mass graves. According to the Washington
Post, “the number of disappeared has eclipsed the tallies in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Chile</st1:country-region></st1:place> and other countries where the
practice was widespread. And if estimates by some investigators turn out to be
correct, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region> will soon
count more disappeared victims than <st1:country-region w:st="on">Argentina</st1:country-region>
or <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Peru</st1:country-region></st1:place>.”
The Post also notes that the continued disappearance of tens of thousands of
farmers “has been largely overlooked,” as has the existence of the
alarming number of hostages in the hands of illegal armed groups (August 28,
2008).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>Other gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law include
politically-motivated individual assassinations, and massacres of civilian
populations. Such assassinations have continued this year, with killings of
trade unionists, for example, up from last year. Another example:
Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities have been especially targeted,
driving them off of lands to which they have won legal title, which are taken
over for “development” by business interests based on Bogotá and
Medellín.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Human Rights Violations and the <st1:country-region
w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> Role in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>In the early 1990s, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region>
became the third-leading recipient of <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
military aid worldwide, after <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region> (and, after 9/11, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:country-region></st1:place>). Such aid was
sharply increased at the end of the <st1:City w:st="on">Clinton</st1:City>
administration with the introduction of Plan <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>, originally touted as an
anti-drug program, but since then re-sold as a counter-terrorism initiative.
Yet despite the more than $5 billion spent on aid to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region>
in the last 9 years, the flow of cocaine from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region>
to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>
has risen, the total acreage planted in coca leaf has increased, and gross
human rights violations by official forces persist. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>Approximately 80% of that aid has been for the military and police
forces, who have been implicated in a continuing string of human rights
violations, both committed directly by the military, such as the February 2005
San José de Apartadó massacre, and by the paramilitary alliance Autodefensas
Unidas de Colombia, which for years has worked closely with many mid- and
high-level military officers, according to international and Colombian human
rights reports.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>Until last year, <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
policy towards <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
largely reflected a bipartisan consensus in favor of more of the same, with few
in Congress raising a critical voice. However, that situation has begun to
change. Colombians need you to become involved to see to it that the
human rights and humanitarian tragedy is accorded higher priority in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> policy as a new administration takes over
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State></st1:place>.
This includes the need for the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United
States</st1:country-region></st1:place> to insist that the Colombian government
pursue a peaceful end to the conflict, so that all may return safely to their
homes. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<div>
<p><font size=1 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Verdana'>Colombia
Vive is an all-volunteer human rights organization that supports efforts for
peace, human rights, and social justice in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>. We defend and support
civilian groups in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
that share our perspective.<br>
We condemn all forms of political violence and therefore do not
support any of the armed actors in the Colombian conflict.<br>
<br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
Vive<br>
<st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">31 Holden Street</st1:address></st1:Street><br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Lowell</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">MA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">01851</st1:PostalCode></st1:place><br>
978-441-9488<br>
</span></font><a href="mailto:colombiavive@mindspring.com"><font size=1
color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>colombiavive@mindspring.com</span></font></a><font size=1
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Verdana'> <br>
</span></font><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'> </span></font>
<br>
<font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'> </span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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