Originally, folks from CUSLAR (the Ithaca based Committee on US-Latin American Relations) asked me to write a reflection for their newletter on the Witness for Peace retreat I attended the first weekend of April.

If you want peace and justice,you’ll have to work for it.

Witness for Peace (WfP) held it’s annual retreat deep in the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania. Over seventy activists and Latin America enthusiasts convened to discuss what the Obama presidency portends for U.S.-Latin America relations. In the 80’s, Witness for Peace brought hundreds of people to Nicaragua to expose the true nature of U.S. involvement in the Contra war. Today, WfP leads delegations of U.S. citizens to Latin America to witness the negative effects of U.S. military aid and trade policies on the lives of innocent people.

At the retreat, return delegates reflected on their trips. They met Colombian flower pickers that are exposed to toxic pesticides for $8 per in order to supply the U.S. with cut flowers. The coffee grower in Nicaragua complained of poverty level wages, even for coffee that is certified Fair Trade. Mexico migrants said that since NAFTA flooded the Mexican market with cheap corn, they can no longer earn a living wage growing corn and thus have to seek employment in el norte. Their stories are distinct, but their message is unified: “Please tell your government that its policies cause us great suffering.”

The retreat focused on specific policy changes we can work to achieve this year. These include: ending the travel ban to Cuba; closing the School of the Americans; debt cancellation for impoverished countries; halting military aid to Colombia, and renegotiating NAFTA and CAFTA. Although the current political climate seems favorable, significant change requires sustained efforts across the country. Witness for Peace provides the tools for citizens to inform their communities and engage their elected officials to pursue a policy in Latin America that values human rights and sustainable development.

At the recent Summit of the Americas, Obama made plans to meet with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to discuss military aid and the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement. Colombia is the largest recipient of US military aid in the Western Hemisphere and, currently, has the world’s largest population of internally displaced persons. Through ‘Plan Colombia’, the U.S. has given over six billion taxpayer dollars to Colombia. Most of the money goes to arm and train the country's military, notorious for killing innocent civilians and then dressing them to appear to be guerrillas. Drug War policies implemented thus far have proved futile. Coca fumigation has destroyed the food crops of subsistence farmers yet, today, Colombia grows more coca than when the fumigations began seven years ago.

In preparation for the annual ‘Days of Prayer and Action for Colombia’, retreat attendees made paper dolls - each one representing one thousand of the 4 million displaced Colombians. Ben, our tireless organizer, convinced us that people around the country were making the dolls and talking to their Congressional representatives about the humanitarian crisis in Colombia. On April 20th, 2009, four-thousand dolls arrived en masse in front of the White House, asking Obama to make a “radical” change in policy towards Colombia and to help eradicate the displacement crisis. Organized advocacy efforts such as these, in conjunction with lobby visits, call-in days, letter writing, and other educational efforts, guarantee that politicians will no longer be able to feign ignorance regarding the human cost of our foreign policies.

To learn more about Witness for Peace, visit their website, www.witnessforpeace.org. It’s full of educational resources, action opportunities, and first-hand analysis of the adverse effects of U.S. policy in Latin America.