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Drug war has come under fire

Localização: 
Apatzingan
Mexico
Publication/Source: 
Chicago Tribune
URL: 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0705170834may18,1,3948220.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Press Release: Home of the Free???

For Immediate Release: May 16, 2007 Contact: E.C. Danuel D. Quaintance, Church of Cognizance at (928) 485-2952 I ask for nothing more than open minds to examine the possible consequences of putting scriptural interpretations of a recognized religion to a test, in order to decide if that religion qualifies for First Amendment protections. It is not uncommon amongst followers of various faiths to interpret their common faith in different ways. The Supreme Court stated, in Thomas v. Review Board, “Intrafaith differences of that kind are not uncommon among followers of a particular creed, and the judicial process is singularly ill equipped to resolve such differences in relation to the Religion Clauses,” then went on to instruct that “Courts are not arbiters of scriptural interpretations.” This human freedom to interpret the scriptures as we see them was something most Americans take for granted. This freedom is not something small churches can take for granted any longer. The attack against a small church, and religious interpretations in general, has begun in a U.S. District court in New Mexico. New Mexico follows prior decisions of the 10th Cir. Courts. The 10th Circuit upheld the use of a test in the District of New Mexico, which originated in deciding if the beliefs of a newly established, one-man, religion qualified to receive First Amendment protection. The test has become known as the Meyers Matrix. The use of the Meyers Matrix test was never challenged in the Supreme Court of the United States. Now the Meyers test has been inappropriately used to test if a religious group of a recognized religion deserves protections under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, RFRA. Testimony of cultural anthropologist Dr. Deborah Pruitt, PhD, who specializes in many non-mainstream religions, revealed the Meyers test is highly skewed against a great number of recognized religions. Government, in an attempt to avoid the requirement of showing “a compelling government interest” for burdening the free “Exercise of Religion”, has chosen a new and innovative path of getting around that requirement. First government attorneys declared the religion was “a Bastardized form” of the religion. Then went on to declare, what synonymously amounts to claiming because the leader of a Christian church was no Christ, the church did not deserve the constitutional protection a religion enjoys. This wasn’t enough insult to freedom of religion, government turned to a Priest of another sect of the religion, as an expert witness, in an attempt to prove another religious group incorrectly interprets the teachings, practices, and modes of worship of their common faith. This move showed a total disrespect for prior decisions of the Supreme Court, like the one quoted above. In the end it didn’t matter that government attempted to test one sect against another. Government’s hoped results from such an attempt backfired. The testimony of government’s expert witness from the common faith ended up showing the small group might actually more correctly interpret many elements of their common faith. With the prior method failing it was up to the, recently appointed, Federal Judge to put the hammer down. U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera had her own methods of depriving religious freedoms. She decided to count the elements that were not met in the Meyers test, and then call that which was met “dicta,” which allowed her to not count that part of the test when arriving at a deciding average of whether or not the beliefs qualify for religious protections. By that move, and a determination that the “mantra” considered the “moral and ethical compass,” of this recognized religion, provided no moral or ethical guidance, the judge ruled that not enough factors of the Meyer Matrix were met to qualify for religious protections under RFRA or the First Amendment. End of story, the beginning of the end of a once highly honored protection amongst Americans. The only hope now is through contacting your representatives and asking them to investigate and put a halt to this disregard for cherished human rights. For more information visit http://danmary.org
Localização: 
NM
United States

Mexico takes a risk using soldiers in drug war

Localização: 
Apatzingan
Mexico
Publication/Source: 
Los Angeles Times
URL: 
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexarmy17may17,1,5927313.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Opinion: A devastating link: prisoner rape, the war on drugs in the U.S.

Localização: 
Los Angeles, CA
United States
Publication/Source: 
The Clarion-Ledger (MS)
URL: 
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/OPINION/705160306

Second Annual Days of Prayer and Action for Colombia

Join thousands of people of faith from Colombia and North America to pray for an end to violence and suffering in Colombia, and act to end unjust U.S. policies that contribute to the humanitarian crisis! More than 100 congregations in the U.S., Canada and Colombia have already confirmed their participation - will you join the list? Send Jennifer an email to let us know if you're participating at [email protected]. The Latin America Working Group is actively working with coalition partners to organize this event. We will ask Congress to: * Shift the balance of aid to Colombia, in order to prioritize aid for sustainable solutions to Colombia's humanitarian crisis, rather than more military training and assistance. * Not support the Colombian Free Trade Agreement (FTA). More labor union leaders are killed in Colombia each year than the rest of the world combined. To participate in the Days of Prayer and Action, visit www.peaceincolombia.org. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe visited Washington recently to lobby policy makers for a Free Trade Agreement and more military aid for Colombia. These requests are particularly concerning right now for a number of reasons: * The war rages on in Colombia. Plan Colombia was initially intended to support the rule of law in Colombia, improve the human rights record of the Colombian military, and reduce coca production. But after 7 years and more than $5.4 billion of U.S. taxpayer dollars spent, we see just the opposite! At the end of May, the foreign operations appropriations subcommittee in the House of Representatives will consider Bush and Uribe's proposal for "Plan Colombia 2," and it's time that we call for a major shift in U.S. priorities in Colombia. Keep an eye out for emails from LAWG in coming weeks to take further action. * The U.S.-Colombia FTA will increase drug production and violence against labor union leaders. Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world to organize labor unions. Furthermore, the flooding of the market caused by an FTA will put many small farmers out of business, likely causing many to turn to more lucrative drug production. Presidents Bush and Uribe have already signed the FTA, and the ball in now in Congress' court. This will heat up in the summer, so again, keep an eye out from LAWG! * Numerous members of Pres. Uribe's party have been implicated in an unfolding scandal in Colombia in recent months. The "para-politics" scandal has revealed that some government officials - and military officials as well - have had close ties to the right-wing paramilitary group the AUC, which is on the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. In protest of the human rights crisis in Colombia, including the murders of labor unionists, LAWG supported a demonstration in downtown Washington - organized by Public Citizen - before one of Pres. Uribe's events. You can read more about Pres. Uribe's visit and Colombia's para-politics scandal on Adam Isacson's blog, of the Center for International Policy: http://cipcol.org/.
Data: 
Sun, 05/20/2007 (All day) - Mon, 05/21/2007 (All day)
Localização: 
United States

Colombian Group Urges Retooling of US Aid

Localização: 
Colombia
Publication/Source: 
Voice of America (DC)
URL: 
http://voanews.com/english/2007-05-09-voa23.cfm

Colombia aid gets new scrutiny

Localização: 
Washington, DC
United States
Publication/Source: 
St. Petersburg Times (FL)
URL: 
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/05/04/Worldandnation/Colombia_aid_gets_new.shtml

GWU Panel Event: The Humanitarian Crisis in Colombia

The GW Latin American and Hemispheric Studies Program, the Latin America Working Group, the U.S. Office on Colombia, the Center for International Policy, and the Washington Office on Latin America present: The Humanitarian Crisis in Colombia: Realities On the Ground and How the United States Can Play a More Constructive Role Colombia is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis in which internal displacement, human rights violations, and paramilitary and insurgency violence stubbornly persist in many areas outside of the country’s major cities. The United States plays a key role in Colombia through its provision of military aid, its massive aid program, Plan Colombia, and its continued effort to fight a militarized supply-side drug war. Join an esteemed delegation of human rights experts for a panel briefing and town hall discussion on the humanitarian crisis in Colombia. No RSVP necessary. This event is free and open to the public. It will be conducted in Spanish with consecutive English interpretation. Esteemed guests include: Eduardo Zuñiga Eraso, Governor of Nariño province, Colombia. Mr. Zuñiga has governed Nariño, a province currently at the epicenter of Colombian conflict, since January 2004. Governor Zuñiga previously was rector and professor of anthropology of the University of Nariño, and has received the national prize for anthropology applied to indigenous communities. Father Maurizio Pontin, coordinator, Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees (Movilidad Humana) section, Pastoral Social. Father Maurizio coordinates programs and policy for IDPs and refugees carried out by the Colombian Catholic Bishops’ Conference. He will describe the problem of violent land takeovers by armed groups, the needs of displaced communities, and the church’s response to the crisis. Marco Alberto Romero, President of CODHES, the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement. Mr. Romero is a political science professor affiliated with the National University of Colombia, where he has held posts as director of political science, vice dean and director of the political science journal. He has been an investigator affiliated with CODHES since 1995.
Data: 
Wed, 05/09/2007 - 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Localização: 
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC
United States

Colombian Seeks to Persuade Congress to Continue Aid

Localização: 
Caracas
Venezuela
Publication/Source: 
The New York Times
URL: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/world/americas/30uribe.html?hp

WOLA/TransAfrica Forum: Aerial fumigation contributing to the worst recent humanitarian crisis in Colombia

[Courtesy of WOLA] Washington, DC April 7-- In the last 15 days, fighting between the Colombian military and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the activities of new illegal armed groups vying for control of drug routes is reportedly generating the internal displacement of an estimated 7,000 people. The Colombian Department of Nariño is experiencing one of the worst protection and humanitarian assistance crisis since Colombian President Alvaro Uribe began his second term in office. The U.S. financed aerial herbicide spray program (fumigations) compounds and exacerbates the myriad of hardships that Afro-Colombian communities are already facing: racism, disadvantaged access to state programs, food insecurity due to the internal armed conflict, internal displacement and vulnerability to human rights violations by the armed groups. “The current crisis in Nariño illustrates that the fumigation effort just makes matters worse for Afro-Colombians who wish to remain outside of the conflict,” argues Gimena Sanchez, Colombia Senior Associate at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). WOLA and TransAfrica Forum (TAF) visited Nariño in March to meet with local Afro-Colombian leaders who provided countless testimonies of how the U.S. funded fumigation effort fails to deter the cultivation of coca. Yet it does inflict tremendous damage on rural farmers’ food crops and their efforts to grow legal crops to sustain themselves. In El Charco area, the Association of Afrodescendant Women for Life (AMAV), an organization with hundreds of members who are attempting to ensure food security for their families and children and remain in their collective territories, informed the mission that fumigation planes destroyed their crops on six occasions in the months of February and March. WOLA and TAF were informed in numerous meetings that the combination of the internal armed conflict, drug related violence, human rights abuses committed by paramilitary groups that have re-grouped or not fully dismantled their operational structures, fumigation efforts, and declining respect for the land rights of Afro-Colombians linked to economic projects such as the cultivation of “African” oil palm is devastating for Afro-Colombian communities. “U.S. counter-drug policies are a failure, the fumigation program is destroying the livelihoods of Afro-descendants in Colombia. It is an outrage that anti-drug tactics used by the governments of Colombia and the U.S. destroy the lives of African descendants in both countries,” states Nicole Lee, Executive Director of TransAfrica Forum. Ms. Sanchez from WOLA points out: “U.S. policy makers must shift the Colombia aid package in favor of programs that support the land rights and alternative development proposals of ethnic minorities, as well as rights based durable solutions to the internal displacement crisis.” Since 2000, the U.S. has invested billions of dollars in aid to Colombia heavily skewed (an estimated 80%) towards security assistance and the aerial herbicide spraying of coca. Although one of the objectives of the aid is to curb drug production, the aid has not met this goal. Despite the spraying of over 2 million acres of illegal and legal crops in Colombia, cocaine production remains robust and cocaine is as available as ever on U.S. streets. According to WOLA Senior Associate for Drug Policy John Walsh, “The fumigation would be bad enough if it were simply wasteful and ineffective. What do the Colombian and U.S. governments suppose will become of these people? Fumigation isn’t the solution, it is part of the problem because it deepens reliance on coca by pushing poor farmers into even more desperate straits.” For more information contact: Joia Jefferson Nuri, Communications, TransAfrica Forum (240) 603-7905 Gimena Sanchez, Colombia Program, WOLA (202) 489-1702 ### To read more on Human Rights Issues in Colombia, and Foreign Aid Details, please go to the following link: http://www.wola.org
Localização: 
Colombia

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