Sample Letters to the Editor

HELPFUL HINTS:

• Letters to the editor are more likely to be published if they are closely linked to your local community. Use these sample letters as guides while personalizing your statement.
• Keeping your letter as brief as possible, most papers will not publish anything over 250 words.
• When your letter is published send a copy of it to your representatives in Congress, and to info@peaceincolombia.org.
• Op-Ed opinion articles are encouraged for submission by many papers. Consider using the models below and composing a more lengthy article for submission. Op-Eds are most often between 500 and 800 words.
• Call and ask the Op-Ed editor for the submission guidelines at your newspaper. After you submit your article, call the newspaper to ensure that they received it.
  

SAMPLE - PLAN COLOMBIA HAS FAILED

Dear Editor,

Plan Colombia is a failure. It is time to cut military aid and support a plan for peace not war. Despite pouring over three billion dollars into Colombia's military since Congress passed Plan Colombia in 2000, the U.S. has failed to reduce the availability of illegal drugs on U.S. streets and help Colombia move toward an end to its embittered 40-year old conflict.

Plan Colombia is set to expire in 2005. Yet the Bush Administration wants to continue with the same levels of funding and to maintain failed strategies. This is a waste of taxpayer dollars in a deficit crisis. Over 80% of Plan Colombia funding is military and police aid in the form of cash, armaments, combat helicopters, fumigation equipment and chemicals, U.S. military personnel, and training of Colombian forces.

Current U.S. policy in Colombia undermines food security, causes human health and environmental damage, aggravates the crisis facing over three million internally displaced persons, and worsens the human rights situation.

Tell your members of Congress that you want to support peace and development in Colombia not war and degradation. Urge Congress to reduce military aid in the proposed $742 million package slated for Colombia in the 2006 budget.

The U.S. should support a negotiated end to the conflict, social and economic development for Colombia, while providing treatment for drug addicts at home.

Sincerely,

SAMPLE - SUPPORT A TRUE PATH TO PEACE IN COLOMBIA

Dear Editor,

In 2000 Congress passed "Plan Colombia" with stated five year goals of: strengthening democracy, promoting human rights and the rule of law, fostering socio-economic development, and reducing coca cultivation in Colombia. Five years later, we see tragedy where we should see success.

Colombia is now home to what the U.N. calls the worst humanitarian crisis in our hemisphere. Over 3 million people have been forced from their homes and are now internally displaced. Women, children, Afro-Colombian and indigenous people disproportionately face violence, hunger, and impoverishment, all impacts of over 40 years of armed conflict.

Despite these difficult circumstances, incredible community initiatives, leadership from the church and many areas of Colombian civil society have illustrated that peace is possible in Colombia. Peace requires the alleviation of human suffering, sustainable development, and a common agenda for a hopeful future.

The U.S. should support a new path toward peace in Colombia.

Instead of continuing the pattern of a failed policy that allocates 80% of U.S. monies to military and police and offers paltry social and economic support, Congress should emphasize humanitarian and development assistance for the creation of a lasting peace.

Please call your members of Congress and ask for a new Plan Colombia that prioritizes human need, sustainable development, and a negotiated end to the conflict.

Sincerely,