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Aid Colombian Women

The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re. "Crisis in Colombia as Civil Strife Uproots Peasants" (front page, Oct. 21): The vast majority of Colombia's refugees are children, and an estimated 39 percent of displaced families are headed by women whose husbands, fathers and sons have been killed, are off fighting or seeking work.

When I interviewed many such women last year, they told horror stories of watching their loved ones threatened or killed by paramilitaries. These women have been forced to move to cities, but cannot find regular work or enroll their children in school, and have difficulty finding health care. Many are turning to begging, and some to prostitution.

The United States lawmakers' proposed three-year, $1.5 billion package for military aid to Colombia is misguided. We should instead support humanitarian assistance and development programs.

Mary Diaz

New York, Oct. 21, 1999

The writer is executive director of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children