THE UNITED STATES AND COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENTS

ARE WAGING CHEMICAL WAR AGAINST COLOMBIA’S PEASANTS

IN ALL IMPUNITY

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−To Monsanto’s immense profit−

 

Colombian peasants have been subjected to fumigation −chemical war measures− since the 1970’s. Mama Coca has chosen at random a series of articles (dating from the year 1995) from the enormous amount of studies, reports, complaints, appeals from local communities, court orders demanding suspension of aerial spraying with chemical mixtures, and news coverage regarding the hazardous effects of fumigation on human health and ecosystems. We have also included US government and Colombian government documents stating the innocuous nature of these chemicals against what has been proven by visible effects: increased genetic defects in children born of fumigated parents, increasing number of cancers, eye irritation, skin rashes, livestock death, and many more still unknown repercussions.  The articles here presented show how we are a step away from biological war measures through the link between glyphosate and the destructive fungus Fusarium. Colombian peasants are fleeing from spraying to protect their children’s lives and current evidence signals that Colombia’s rich biodiversity will be nothing but a dream left behind and that the only crops that will grow on our soil will be those that withstand Monsanto’s pesticides: Monsanto’s genetically modified organisms.     

 

 We demand that, at the least, the Precautionary Principle be applied. We demand the right to our lives, our health and the protection of our natural environment, our subsistence.

 

 Pesticides effects_en:

• Pesticide drifts (1995)
• WWF: An Evaluation of Pesticides Disrupting the Hormone and Reproductive System (pdf) EDC Pesticides pdf

• Ted Schettler MD, MPH: "Consultation Review of the Use of Pesticide for Coca Eradication in Colombia" : The exposure assessment is incomplete because it is limited by unwarranted assumptions about spraying conditions and routes of exposure. As a consequence, the document provided by the EPA fails to provide data sufficient for determining the magnitude of the risks of the spray program and whether or not they are “unreasonable.”_pdf (August 19, 2002

• Reported Massive Exodus of Peasants from Putumayo with Health Effects from Aerial Spraying (September 2002)

• US Embassy: the Colombian government certifies thatthe aerial fumigation proram backed by the United Status is being carried out in due form.. (2002) (formatear página individual de docs en zip US Embassy)

• AIDA: Citing Risk to Human Health and the Environment, Colombian Court Orders the Suspension of the US-Financed Spraying of Coca and Poppy Crops _en PDF (June 26, 2003

• Astrid Puentes y Thomas Ruppert:  Provisions for Aerial Eradication of Coca and Poppy in Colombia Under U.S. Law _en -pdf (mayo 2003)

• Ignoring Pleas, Uribe Accelerates Fumigation_en 

• AIDA: Department of State report to Congress regarding aerial coca eradication in Colombia  This memo comments on the DoS report to Congress and outlines the main reasons for our conclusion that the DoS has failed to meet the conditions established by the chemical procurement provision (September 23, 2002)

• Scientists eye glyphosate-fusarium link

• Biowar in the Andes _en

• Monsanto & Genetic Engineering: Risks for Investors (report prepared by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors For Greenpeace_pdf) April 2003

 

 

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CORAZONES DE COLOMBIA ..........................................................................HEARTS OF COLOMBIA

Coca saludable/Healthy coca 
(foto Mary Barrr)

 

 
saving staple crops
foto Mary Barr

Spray operations...the politically correct term for bombing defenseless peoples with pesticides.

"--Conducting spray operations is dangerous work. All of the pilots in the spray program have extensive flying experience and receive specialized training for the type of flying and local conditions that they will face. We also provide advance survival training for our pilots in the case of a forced landing. Each spray mission is planned for maximum security, using all available intelligence. If a spray mission should face major risk, it is cancelled or conducted with pre-positioned counterdrug ground troops. There are armed security escort helicopters as well as at least one search and rescue (SAR) helicopter. We are constantly evaluating our operations to refine our procedures and improve security for our personnel."
(Distributed by the US State Department International Information Program. To see the full document:  
 

The question is, who will protect the Colombian  people from "our" personnel?

 

Please help us however you can to stop

 this Chemical War

waged in the name of the War on Drugs

 

This is an open appeal for US legislators, the international community and its transnational social movements to come to our aid in order to stop this massacre through an international law suit.

 

Further information can be found in:

 

Mama Coca’s Special Edition of November 2002 on Environmental and Human Rights Violations (enlazar Separata de Nov 2002)

 

US Fumigation Org (Jeremy Bigwood) (enlazar…www.us….).