Blind To Toll From Colombia Violence: Lieberman Ought To Meet Victims

[Judi Lynn]

Blind To Toll From Colombia Violence
Lieberman Ought To Meet Victims
By DAVIDA FOY CRABTREE, ALLIE PERRY And CHARLIE PILLSBURY
July 27, 2008

'Violence in Colombia has dropped markedly," Sen. Joseph Lieberman opined in a July 13 letter send to Davida Foy Crabtree. It arrived after the three of us returned, as did the senator, from visits to the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Our planes landed in Cartagena within hours of one another on July 1. The similarities between our visits and our impressions of violence in Colombia end there.

Sen. Lieberman, who traveled with Sen. John McCain's entourage, was hosted by Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, stayed in Colombia less than 24 hours, and did not leave Cartagena.

Traveling as members of the United Church of Christ, we were hosted by our longtime mission partner, Ricardo Esquivia, Mennonite lawyer and director of Sembrandopaz, a peace and development initiative of Protestant churches on the north coast of Colombia. Over eight days we traveled to several locales, including Maria La Baja in the province of Bolivar, Sincelejo in the province of Sucre and Montelibano and Tierralta in the province of Cordoba.

Before our trip, we contacted Sen. Lieberman's office imploring him to meet with human rights defenders. To our knowledge he did not; we did.

We met with human rights defenders who are working with the people of Caribbean coast communities who have been displaced, forced off ancestral lands by the violence — leaving behind their homes, their crops and their source of livelihood. Close to 4 million Colombians, according to current estimates, are now "internally displaced persons."

More:
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/commentary/hc-commentarycrabtree0727.artjul27,0,1867481.story