Dear friend,
When it comes to Pentagon spending, Washington is a disaster. Amid costly and immoral wars and a fiscal crisis, the White House and Congress continue to increase the bloated military budget.
But there are signs that some squeaky wheels crying for less militarization are getting a little grease.
Earlier this year, tens of thousands of people around the country sent to President Obama postcards distributed by FOR, saying that "We want a budget for our communities, not guns in Latin America". Tucked into the White House proposed budget released in February was this: cuts of more than $100 million in assistance to the Colombian military and more than $250 million in military aid to Mexico, relative to last year. (1) The policy is still very militarized, but this part of the budget, at least, is a move in the right direction.
Yet Congress could easily reverse this trend, unless we act. Now is the time to distribute postcards in your community to be sent to your U.S. senators to let them know what we want in the budget. Order your postcards to U.S. Senators today.
Today we turned in a petition to Secretary of State Clinton with 800 signatures, urging action to support justice in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. And not a moment too soon: on Friday, three armed men shot and killed a San José resident (not a Peace Community member), not far from where police were patrolling.
Yesterday afternoon, after combat between army troops and guerrillas that put Peace Community members in cross-fire, army soldiers detained four local farmers, accused them of being guerrillas, and claimed the peace community grows coca (ingredient of cocaine), according to a community statement.(2) The soldiers also reportedly threatened the farmers, should they tell the community what the soldiers said.
Our partners in Latin America are urgently calling for us to take the guns out of U.S. policy, to put life above war and money, so that the farmers in the Peace Community, in all of Colombia, in Mexico, and the rest of the world can live without this country's machinery of war.
Please order postcards to U.S. Senators with this message today.
In peace,
Mark C. Johnson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Fellowship of Reconciliation
(1) http://justf.org/All_Grants_Country?year1=1996&year2=2012
(2) http://cdpsanjose.org/?q=node/191
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