Fumigation a tool for war

Last week, I stood on a hill in the community of Micoahumado admiring the sky and the countryside of Colombia. I almost forgot that I am living in a war zone with military personnel all around. Suddenly five helicopters and two planes occupied my vision and I was reminded where I was. With the U.S. made, Black Hawk helicopters at their side, the planes began to destroy the fields. I asked the man next to me, "Where is the coca that they are fumigating?" He replies, "There is no coca there... they are just farms with food crops."

During the past month, The Colombian government with the help of the United States has been fumigating the communities that CPT accompanies in the Magdalena Medio region. While in Barrancabermeja, the city where I live, I hear the planes and helicopters take off and land at the nearby airport. I cringe and say a short prayer at this sound because I know that in a few minutes another campesin@ is going to lose their land, which is also their livelihood. The chemical used in fumigations, Glyphosate, is extremely poisonous and kills everything it touches including livestock and food crops, which campesin@s grow to survive.

According to the “Witness for Peace,” “between 2000 and 2007, the U.S. government spent over half a billion dollars for the chemical spraying of approximately 2.6 million acres of land in Colombia--the world's second most bio-diverse country. Due to U.S. government pressure, Colombia is the only country in the world that allows this spraying--known as fumigation--as an anti-drug practice. Yet this practice has been a complete failure in its stated goal. Coca production--the raw material for cocaine and the "target" of fumigation--has actually increased by 36 percent since U.S.-backed fumigation began in earnest.”
“Witness for Peace” continues by saying, the chemical mixture being employed in Colombia has never been adequately tested for environmental and human health impacts. Yet people on the ground in affected regions indicate that the spray significantly harms both. At least 10,000 farmers have reported food crops killed by fumigations and the UN Special Rapporteur on Health said there is "credible and trustworthy evidence" that fumigations are harmful to human health.” You can read about the effects of fumigation in an CPT article entitled, “I am cold because I have no skin”

The US and Colombia governments can say that the reason for fumigations is to destroy drugs, but from what I have heard, fumigation is a tool for war against the campesin@s communities. If the governments can destroy the livelihood of the community, the food production, then we can displace the population and open the doors for multinational corporations. I continue to see the growth of large plantations of African Palm oil trees in the region. I have heard stories of buffalo farms being fumigated. I have seen platano and yucca farms being fumigated. The reason behind the fumigation is not the eradication of elicit crops but the elimination of the campesin@ culture to make room for the mega projects of the multination corporations.

If you are interested in helping end the fumigation in Colombia you can go to this website and sign this petition to President Obama asking him to end fumigation.



CLICK HERE TO END FUMIGATION NOW!!