Press Release

"Let us deactivate all the accoutrements of war,
those of iron as well as those of words
that incite war, and those of forgetfulness."

It is with profound dismay that we are witnesses to a new act of barbarity. This time it is the men and women of Madrid who are victims of the schizophrenia that conceals sinister faceless international actors operating under the guise of many supposed names.

Our planet suffers yet another wound, darkness would seem to condemn it to despair, leaving it at the mercy of arms traffickers and warmongers. Today in Spain, there are over 200 dead; 11 September 2002, there were 2,976 victims in New York; in May 2002, there were 117 deaths in Bojaya, Colombia; the numbers in Iraq are distressing. The victims cannot be counted: women made widows, children orphaned, people mutilated, people wounded. These wars have no limits.

Now, in the midst of our grief, we must once again insist on non-violent ways to emerge from this snare that endangers all countries and all peoples. It is the time for solidarity - for sisterhood, to close off the path to the holocaust that threatens the human species and this planet.

The women of Ruta Pacifica do not believe in the power of weapons; we do not believe in warriors. We call out for the need to strengthen democracy and to not close the path to liberty and civil rights, to not permit that people be pursued, incarcerated and killed in the name of fighting 'terrorismˇ'.

We stand with the men and women of Spain, in their grief and their actions to re-establish hope. War will not snatch away our dream of a possible world that includes diversity, respects differences and utilizes dialogue to resolve multiple problems.

"We do not want a war that kills us nor a peace that oppresses us."

Irma Ortiz A. Comunicadora 310.503.83.36   comunicaciones@rutapacifica.org.co

Translated from Spanish by Trisha Novak, USA