Activists protest Colombian aid at Sikorsky
factory
By CLAIRE
SCHAEFFER-DUFFY Special to the National Catholic
Reporter
Eighty-five peace activists, including a priest, two nuns and
members of the Catholic Worker movement, demonstrated Feb. 12 outside Sikorsky
Aircraft Corporation in Startford, Conn. A subsidiary of United Technologies,
Sikorsky manufactures the Blackhawk, a combat assault helicopter currently
deployed in Colombia.
Twenty-five demonstrators knelt and locked arms, while others
across the street chanted, Plan Columbia equals Plan Death and held
banners that read, Violence is the Worst Drug, and Black Hawk
is the Angel of Death.
According to an Army Aviation fact-sheet, the Blackhawk is
used in the performance of air assault, air cavalry and aeromedical
missions. As of 1999, the Colombian military owned 15 Blackhawks. An
additional 18 -- 16 for the Colombian army and two for the Colombian National
Police -- are scheduled for deployment under the Clinton administrations
controversial Plan Colombia. Supporters say the $1.3 billion dollar
initiative of mostly military aid is to assist the Colombian government in
efforts to eradicate cocaine production and restore peace to that war-torn
country. Opponents say the play will exacerbate human rights violations and
worsen the war.
The Colombian Commission of Jurists reports that for the year 2000
an average of 14 Colombians died daily in combat or were victims of political
violence.
U.S. helicopters assist in aerial fumigation of fields of coca,
the base ingredient of cocaine. However, activists believe the Colombian
military is using the Blackhawk to provide surveillance for paramilitaries
before and after massacres. Activists cite reports of a recent massacre in the
northern Colombian village of Chenque where suspected guerrilla
sympathizers had their heads crushed with stones. According to the
Washington Post, survivors told journalists they saw military aircraft survey
the area days before the killings and in the hours immediately following.
The demonstration at Sikorsky comes at a time when Colombias
civil war seems to be intensifying. The key players in the 37-year-old
conflict, which has left 130,000 people dead and 2 million displaced, are the
Colombian military, guerilla forces (who rely on cocaine production for
funding) and right-wing paramilitaries, many of whom are financed by drug
dealers and landowners.
The New-York based World Policy Institute reports that in January
2001, 23 massacres, all attributed to right-wing paramilitaries, have
taken place, killing 170 unarmed people. The institute also states that
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a 17,000-strong guerilla army, have
stepped up preparations for an all-out war and, according to some
military experts, have acquired shoulder-fired missiles capable of
downing Black Hawk and Huey helicopters.
In mid-February, Colombian president Andres Pastrana met with
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia leader Manuel Marulanda and agreed to
resume peace talks.
Activists at Sikorsky questioned Plan Colombias focus on
coca-producing peasant farmers, the poorest player in the drug war.
With 90 percent of the profits from the illegal drug trade being made in
the United States, with dozens of U.S. banks laundering drug money, and
with a shortage of treatment facilities for addicted users, why are we
insisting on a military solution focused on Colombia? their leaflet
read.
National Catholic Reporter, February 23,
2001
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