"Conscience Is the Same All Over the World"

The atmosphere regarding conscription as a matter of course is 'a brick wall'…Often denounced as narcotic traffickers for objection to military service 

Ricardo Pinzon, a conscientious objection movement activist, flew half way around the earth to Seoul.  In the evening of March 15^th, without any look of exhaustion, he vigorously explained to me about the conscientious objection movement, as we met at a Hotel in Seoul. As a conscientious objector, he participated earnestly in this movement as he became a member of the Christian Menonites in his mid twenties.

How do matters stand in Columbia?

Everyone at the age of eighteen is conscripted.  Those who went to high school or further should serve in the army for a year and those who did not attend high school for eighteen to twenty four months.  It is decided by lot whether someone may be conscripted or not.  The exempts must pay a tax between one hundred and fifty to ten thousand dollars.  The poor cannot afford to pay this.  Consequentially, the poor are forced to join the army.  The poor, such as farm youth, blacks, and aboriginals are protecting the rich.

You don’t have a hostile country.  Then, who is the main enemy?

Civilian organizations under arms like narcotic traffickers.  Objectors to military service are easily denounced as collaborators with such organizations.

How many conscientious objectors?

Without accurate statistics though, the number of objectors, called 'remisos' comes to several thousand.  They are some Catholic denominations, the Menonites, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and those with sociopolitical reasons.  Once anyone announces that he is a conscientious objector, he is imprisoned, cannot go to college, and cannot get a job at a public institution.

 How is the conscientious objection movement going in Columbia?

In 1990, an association of conscientious objectors (Colectivo por la objecion conciencia) was organized.  Those objecting due to religious, political, and environmental reasons are joining this association.  Mainly distributing printed materials and educating people in small groups, we often carry out direct nonviolent action like occupying official institutions.

 What was the most difficult obstacle in the course of movement?

In addition to suppression from the government, the general atmosphere regarding conscription was obviously the biggest obstacle.  It was really hard breaking into this brick wall.  Now many things changed.  Though rejected every time, the Alternative Service Act has been presented before the National Assembly seventeen times as a result of the movement.

How things are in the entire Latin America?

In the 1990s, the Alternative Service Act was enacted in Paraguay and Brazil.  We learn a lot from these countries’ experiences.  In 1993, a network was formed of conscientious objection movement groups in Latin America.  They meet every year or two.

What do you think is the meaning of conscientious objection?

  Conscientious objection is a practice of peace.  It is never an act of cowardice but a brave practice in the face of hardships.  The conscience of the peace-loving world is one, whether it is in Korea or in Columbia.

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