The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church in the USA affirmed their solidarity with the Episcopal Church and the suffering people of Colombia through prayer and witness. The council met mid-October in Wyoming.
In an effort to achieve a negotiated peace they urged the Episcopal Church to inform its members of the plight of the Colombian people and support policies and programs that "will alleviate their poverty and ameliorate the injustices."
Several resolutions were passed which focussed on combating policies and practices that result in the violation of human rights, the forced displacement of innocent persons, attacks on civilians and civic religious leaders, massacres, kidnappings, torture, the use of land mines, and the disappearance of large numbers of people.
Colombia suffers from the tragic human consequences of protracted civil conflict that has resulted in serious rupture in the fabric of its socio-economic life and the displacement of over 2.5 million people. The Executive Council has urged the Episcopal Church of Colombia to make a significant contribution to bringing peace and stability to the war-ravaged, impoverished people of Colombia.
It was also urged that the Episcopal Church lend full support to programs which will alleviate the suffering of Colombia's internally displaced persons, especially the Afro-Colombians and indigenous persons who have been severely victimised by Colombia's civil conflict.
Finally, the Executive Council resolved that the Episcopal Church actively associate itself with the policies and efforts of the National Council of Churches and other ecumenical bodies seeking to end human rights violations, civil conflict, and further displacement of many people.
Colombia's civil conflict has not been halted by military intervention despite increased investment in the Government's military capacity and has, in fact, impeded the peace process, observers have noted.
A major goal of the US Government in involving itself in Colombia has been the ending of narco-trafficking through a massive fumigation program which has had a harmful environmental impact while failing to address the economic circumstances that have caused poor Colombians to be engaged in the drug industry, said the Rt Revd Francisco Duque, new bishop of the Episcopal Church in Colombia.
Matthew Davies