SIGN LETTER TO OBAMA ON
HUMAN RIGHTS IN COLOMBIA

The staff of 8^th Day Center has been working with partners in Colombia for more
than ten years to stop human rights abuses in that country. To this end, the staff has
traveled to Colombia seven times to learn, first-hand, about the struggle of the
Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities for their land, culture and the environment.
Staff members also have been present in Colombia as part of Solidarity Accompaniment
Projects to provide security and stand in solidarity with communities threatened by the
Colombian military, paramilitary and guerilla forces, as well as the environmental threats
due to the policies of multinational corporations.

Our partners in Colombia awaited the results of our presidential election with great
anticipation given the enormous influence the U.S. President has on their lives. Barak
Obama's election provides an opportunity for changes in U.S. policies with Colombia.
The following letter written by our partners to Obama requests a meeting between him
and representatives of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities for the purpose of
 forming a special bi-national committee aimed at the renewal of cooperation and
friendship between the United States and Colombia.

These partners are requesting your help in the following ways.

ACTIONS

1. Add your name to this letter to Barak Obama, personally or as an organization, no
later than December 15, 2008. (See letter below)

Email your name and address, and/or the name and address of your organization, to
Scott Wright at EPICA (Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Carribean)
swright@EPICA.org

2.Distribute this Bulletin to your networks and encourage them to sign the letter.

MR. BARACK H. OBAMA
President-elect of the United States of America

On behalf of our African-descendant organizations and communities,
of the ancestral land of Africa bringing us together and from which we
were brought as slaves and we now share a legacy in the territories of
the Americas in the search for freedom and justice with fraternity; on
behalf of our victims of murder, forced disappearance and crimes
aggrieving the deepest part of our humanity and offending our roots,
please receive our congratulations for being elected president by the
peoples of the United States.

As victims of violence and dispossession perpetrated by the Colombian
state and its paramilitary groups, we have followed as closely as
possible the whole situation of your country. We have seen how racist
terms have been used against you, which offends human and afro-descendant
dignity. We know about the economic crisis facing your country and the
situation faced by African-Americans, the poor, and the working and middle
classes in the United States.

Your election is a sign of change and hope for humanity and us. It means
we may build new relationships among countries, fraternal relationships
and cooperation, respectful relationships regarding traditions and cultures,
diverse religious practices, and respect for nature and the biodiversity of the
planet. We believe that for these changes to be an asset for humanity and
African-descendant communities it is important for you to know our initiatives
and the extreme, infrahuman violent situation we are experiencing due to the
unconditional support of former US governments to former Colombian
President Pastrana and current Colombian President Uribe.

We believe that if we evoke our ancestors and a global sense of democracy,
you could contribute to peace with justice in Colombia and the achievement
of justice for Afro-Colombians. This presumes redefining the relationship
the US government currently has with the Colombian government, which
means directly knowing and supporting the initiatives of the Afro-Colombian
communities. This also means a cessation of military aid to the Colombian
Army Forces since they continue to be responsible for the violence and
paramilitarism attacking our communities. Aid cannot be for war, rather
instead for harmony. Investing in war generates unemployment in the US
and in Colombia.

It means to open a new dialogue between your government and indigenous
peoples, peasants, trade unionists, and the poor, who have been suffering
from violence and exclusion by the Uribe government.

It means the cessation of any trade agreement that destroys our territories,
denies the possibility of the right to determine the use of our lands, prevents
us from preserving the environment and therefore generating more global
warming. Likewise, this means revising energy policy between Colombia and
the United States.

It means justice and the cessation of the extraditions of the paramilitaries until
they tell the truth and return the land taken from us at the expense of the blood
of our sons and daughters.

It means developing a common agenda between your government and our
communities to invite the guerrilla groups to start a peace dialogue. We do
not want there to be any more war.

It means the redefinition of all the USAID policies so they support and
respect the food we produce and encourage the exchange and delivery of
our surplus production to the poor in the United States. It means supporting
the African-American communities and the proposals of such organizations
as the Poor People's Campaign for Economic Human Rights to start exchanging
experiences on community corner shops, fair trade and community education.

We are very pleased with your election. We dream and hope about your future
work in government and believe that changes for the United States, Colombia
and humanity can begin with you. There are ways and proposals that only
require the will of your government, the understanding of your advisors and
the contribution of private enterprises to change the way that the economy works.

We evoke our common roots and our ancestors who speak to us of unity and
the slavery from which we have raised to experience freedom. As Martin
Luther King said, today we have a dream. You are part of our blood and you
can allow another kind of humanity.

We invite you to listen to our proposals and establish a mechanism for dialogue
between our communities and our peoples -- with the participation of Noam
Chomsky, François Houtart, Representative D Peyne, Representative McGovern,
Representative J. Jackson, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, P. Pier Luigi, the Poor
People's Campaign for Economic Human Rights, School of the Americas Watch
and US organizations that support our work in Washington and Chicago -- with
yourself and your advisors in order to promptly define a working group. We
wish to meet with you and your advisors to establish a working group as soon
as possible.

After this meeting, we propose to define a mechanism for dialogue with your
advisors to create a CIVIL SOCIETY WORKING GROUP FOR DEMOCRACY
AND PEACE IN COLOMBIA with the participation of your advisors; members
of the US Congress, and the participation of two delegates from indigenous
organizations, two trade union delegates, two environmentalists; two women,
two from black communities and organizations, 2 from the Victims' Movement,
2 from Alternative Networks; Senators Piedad Córdoba, Carlos Gaviria; Alvaro
Leyva, Cecilia López and two intellectuals and organizations from the US Civil
Society supporting us in Colombia.

For the peace and well being of our communities and on behalf of our ancestors,
we hope for a prompt reply, comunidadescolombiaobama@gmail.com,
phone 571 3463613 Yahaira Salazar

Yours sincerely,

YAHAIRA SALAZAR
Communities of Self-Determination, Life, and Dignity of Cacarica, CAVIDA

LIGIA MARIA CHAVERRA
Humanitarian and Biodiversity Zone of Curvaradó

ISABELINO VALENCIA
Community Council of Lower Naya

YEDNNY DAJONES
Young People United for Well-Being in Calima, JUBCA,

LEONARDO RENTERIA
Young People from the Pacific Coast

JULIO CESAR VALENCIA
Youth in Progress

MANUEL BEDOYA
National Association of Traditional Fishermen, ANPAC

TRISMILA RENTERIA
Association of Working Women from the Pacific Coast, ASOMUTRAL

RAFAELA HURTADO
Plantain Growers Cooperative of Buenaventura, COOMPLAT

GERMAN TULIO SOLIS
Fishing Port Users Association
Support Network
Justice and Peace Commission
Network Alternatives

ACTIONS (as indicated above)

1. Add your name to this letter to Barak Obama, personally or as an organization, no later than December 15, 2008.

Email your name and address, and/or the name and address of your organization, to Scott Wright at EPICA (Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Carribean) swright@EPICA.org

2. Distribute this Bulletin to your networks and encourage them to sign the letter.