Carol Mosley USA Director Co-founder & Former Coordinator of Nature Studies program at Miami Dade College

Ana Maria Vasquez Co-Founder and Coordinator of Darien & Mexico projects. Eco-artist and musician

Michi Regier Violinista who volunteers with our Music Across Borders program in Mexico

Larry Abdullah Richard Allen John Alvarez Herb Bazur Betty Bazur Rosalie Beloff Shelley Berkowitz Sidney Bertisch Margaret Betz Nancy Blattner Richard Boren Laura Bradford Cindy Brown Barbara Buck Darlene Charneco Malcomb Chubb Ruth Velma Clark Noel Cleland Maria Cobian Jaime Colon Lois Congdon Diana Marie Cram James Crooks Kathleen Crow Sylvia Davis Don Daughtry Kathy Daughtry Margaret Day Julian J. DiBenedetto-Colton

Shawna Doran Mary Earley Beth & Tony Ehrlich Mary Elmendorf Henri A. Fourroux Elizabeth Fussell Al Geiger Julia Geiger (dec.) Wendy Geiger Maurice Gioseffi Katie Goldey Roy Goodman Jean Grosbach Jennifer Hale David Hartgrove Joanne Herrmann Stephen Hodges “Smitty” Hooper William J. Hopkins Warren Hoskins Delene Iacono Antoinette Jackson Jennifer Jen Stephen Jens-Rochow Alberto Jones/CACF Allen Joseph Margaret Kary Leon Katsir Stetson Kennedy

Eleanor Kenyon Sooyong Kim Lisa Kiser Sean Landon Dwight Lawton Ted Leitho Dan Liftman Ivone Lima Cynthia Lunine Sally Luther Sr. Miriam MacGillis Diana Marengo Susan Mastin Sonia Maxwell Ross McCluney Elizabeth McGee Tim & Katie McGuirl Metanoia Comm. Don Micklewright John Neumaier Kelly O’Sullivan Jocelyn Peskin Jessica Phillips Shirley D. Poore Paula Pred (dec.) Stanley Pred (dec.) Ruth Ragsdale Gladys Restrepo Jennifer Restrepo

Anne Richter Eric Ridenour Adriana Salinas Frank Schiavone Kristin Segelke Peer Segelke Connie Shearer Jane Sheffield Jorge & Karen Silva Kena P. Sliwa McGregor Smith Marla Suiter Aisha Taylor Maralyn Teare Jackie Turchick T.D.N.P. at UT Ruth Uphaus Judith Villar Ted Warmbrand Kenneth Weeks Kurtis Weeks Sue Williams Robert Winchester Louise Winchester Sakkony Yeang Betty Younger Michelle Zacks Ron Zamora Mary Lea Zamora

What do we really want from the whole of our lives but to leave a legacy? We want to be thought of on occasion and remembered kindly. We hope that with our life we have made this planet just a little better off. This is the legacy we want to leave for the children of the future.

Much of what we do at BRIDGES honors the foundation left by those who’ve come before us. We know these real life heroines and heroes live on through our thoughts and actions we take. We want them to be proud, and we are grateful for their gifts.

This Memoriam section honors the memory of people who have been near and dear to us in various ways, whether through direct support for BRIDGES or our members, been related through the work of our projects, or by the influence their life has had on our passion for creating a more just and peaceful planet. We all know the deep pain of loss and we grieve also for those who have lost loved ones recently in these violent times across the planet. We ache as we watch the news. The tendency is to feel hopelessness with such vast suffering all around us. But if we take a step, any little step at all, we set in motion a dynamic of creating a critical mass that will bring in a paradigm shift from competition to cooperation.

If you wish to honor a loved one by support for one of our projects or general support for Bridges Across Borders, please let us know. And thank you for the legacy you are creating by the way you live your life each and every day.

Frank Schiavone— It is with sadness for his passing and joy for the powerful impact of his life that we report the loss of South Florida activist and BRIDGES Advisory Board member Frank Schiavone. Frankie was a courageous, lifelong pacifist who served prison time as a conscientious objector during WWII. He was famous for his annual holiday ritual of dressing up as Santa Claus and hitting the malls with his “Don’t Buy War Toys” sign. Click here for more about Frank

Peg McIntire— North Florida and the world have lost a courageous, dedicated “peaceful warrior” for social change with the passing of our dear friend, Peg McIntire. Peg was a lifelong member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, a co-founder of Grandparents for Peace, and a strong supporter of BRIDGES, to name just a few of her many accomplishments in the movement for worldwide peace and justice. In this picture, Peg is receiving BRIDGES’ “Rock” Award.

Arlyne Goodwin— Our pilgrimage to the School of the Americas protest at Ft. Benning in Columbus, GA was not the same this year without the chance to see our friend Arlyne, who made the vigil annually along with her husband, Archie.

In the United States, BAB gives presentations in order to raise awareness about the ongoing tragedy in this region and how the US policy “Plan Colombia” contributes to the suffering.

Worsen Colombia’s devastating war and human rights crisis:
Plan Colombia bolsters Colombia’s military despite its persistent ties to right-wing paramilitary forces who represent the gravest threat to peace and democracy in that country. The paramilitaries commit the vast majority of human rights abuses and actively engage in drug trafficking. In early 2001 the paramilitaries increased their massacres of civilians and violently took control of territory in southern Colombia ahead of fumigation operations. The escalated war effort also undermines fragile peace negotiations, which are widely recognized as the only hope for lasting peace and a reduction of the violence associated with drug trafficking. Plan Colombia has emboldened efforts to solve the 35-year internal conflict on the battlefield while undermining government and civil society leaders seeking a peaceful resolution.

Poison food crops, and damage human and environmental health:
Last month, governors from four of Colombia’s southern states came to Washington to demand a halt to the U.S. backed campaign of aerial defoliation in their region. They described how subsistence farmers – not large coca plantations – were the most common targets of fumigation. Many families in the southern states have lost some or all of their food crops and been forced to leave their land. U.S. and Colombian officials insist that the defoliant chemicals being sprayed do not threaten human or environmental health. Yet the governors, as well as human rights monitors, report widespread respiratory and skin problems among people who have been directly sprayed. Environmentalists warn that defoliation threatens plant-life and animals in the fragile Amazon ecosystem.

Force drug production into neighboring regions:
As Colombia suffers the consequences of Plan Colombia, the economic and social factors will remain unchanged: massive poverty and a nearly inexhaustible supply of cultivatable land that guarantee new supplies will emerge to meet undiminished U.S. demand for drugs. Cocoa cultivation is already moving to new areas within Colombia and across its borders.

Three years later, the critics of Plan Colombia have been vindicated on all accounts. Plan Colombia has worsened the human rights situation in Colombia, poisoned people and the environment and failed to reduce the supply of narcotics into the United States. Take action today by urging your legislators to end this failed and counter-productive policy

Adapted from an article on the Washington Office of Latin America website: www.wola.org