Report to IACHR on Human Rights Violations Against Afro-Colombians During the National Strike

An update on Colombia from Charo Mina Rojas of BAP affiliate organization Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN, or Black Communities’ Process):

We would like to share the report presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) delegation by several organizations during its working visit to Colombia, to collect information on the human rights abuses by state forces during the repression of the National Strike that initiated on April, 28th, 2021. Although there have been some agreements and national and international pressure brought the Commission to Colombia, repression hasn't stopped. During the delegation, police and ESMAD the anti-riot force continued attacking the demonstrators. Yesterday two other people were killed and apparently several police injured.

The immediate step to follow up the IACHR visit is to make this report to reach the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and encourage the Commissioner to include the information in the report she has to present to the UN HR Council in the context of the Resolución A/HRC/RES/43/1 this month. We expect to count with your support.

Thank you.

You can read the report here.

Banner photo: Afro-Colombians meeting with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) delegation which arrived in Cali. Acts of gender-based violence, racism & repression by the Colombian state during the National Strike were denounced. (Proceso de Comunidades Negras - PCN, or Black Communities’ Process)

Talks to end protests and uprisings in Colombia suspended

Originally published in Colombia Reports by Adriaan Alsema, May 31, 2021

Talks to end protests and uprisings against Colombia’s far-right president Ivan Duque were suspended on Sunday after the government backed out of previously made agreement.

The suspension of the talks further deepen the crisis and increase the risk of more violence that has killed dozens of protesters, two policemen and one prosecution official since April 28.

The National Strike Committee, which has organized peaceful protests, said the government refused to sign off on a previous draft agreement to end the violent repression of protest.

The social organizations reiterated they will continue to be available for talks to end the protests and uprisings that have expanded and become more chaotic in response to extreme police brutality.

The government said in a press release that it wanted the National Strike Committee to lift roadblocks that have been spontaneously been put up by people throughout the country without the knowledge of the social leaders.

Ahead of the talks, Duque ordered the militarization of eight Colombia’s 32 provinces where these often illegal roadblocks are seriously affecting the transport of food supplies or the free movement of ambulances.

In its statement, the social organizations demanded the withdrawal of the presidential decree ordering to expand the militarization contrary to the previously made agreement.

The National Strike Committee called for “huge peaceful demonstrations in the entire country” for Wednesday in another attempt to break the latest deadlock.

According to analyst Elizabeth Dickinson of the International Crisis Group, “nascent trust” between the protest organizers and the government was “shattered” after the breakdown of talks.

The social organizations said they agreed to resume talks on Tuesday. Contrary to evidence, the government said it “has been and will be fully motivated to sit down and seek agreements,” but didn’t confirm whether it would resume talks on Tuesday.

Instead, the government said “we hope that the community leaders accept out invitation to… talk, but without strike or blockages.”

Banner photo: Leaders of the National Strike Committee (Twitter)

Review of BAP Webinar on Afro-Colombians' Role During National Strike

Write-up by Sarah Soanirina Ohmer, Lehman Envision Anti-Racism Collective, CUNY Lehman College, Bronx, New York. 

Luchar por la vida: Voces Afro-Colombianas sobre el Paro Nacional

“Death is the only space that we are given in this country. The state defends paramilitaries, it’s very clear who has a right to live in this nation. We are fighting for a life of joy! Much more than the “reforms” proposed! This is about the blood running in our veins. This is about the joy beating in our hearts.”   

Vicenta Moreno, Casa Cultural del Chontaduro 

Event description: “Colombia is a country striving to reach peace for more than 50 years. Despite the signing of the Peace Accord with FARC-EP in 2016, during the last three years, under right-wing president Ivan Duque, hundreds of social leaders and human rights defenders have been killed, violence against women has increased 20%, massacres and armed confrontations in ancestral territories are generating new internal displacement. Social and economic disparities have exacerbated. Since April 28 Black people have mobilized in the National Strike demanding social and economic change, peace and respect for their collective rights. The Colombian government met the strike with brutal violence killing 47 people, 35 from the city of Cali, in neighborhoods that were primarily Black, poor, and working class. While the strike is not completely called off and now armed civilians supporting Duque’s government are also shooting the protesters, how is this affecting and will affect Black/Afrodescendant people?”

On Wednesday April 12 2021, 7:30pm, I logged onto Zoom to catch up and check in with comrades in Cali, Colombia. Black Communities Process in Colombia (PCN), Afroresistance, and Black Alliance for Peace. 

Colombian rap came on as we all entered the online conference room, bobbing our heads as we expressed gratitude in the chat - we were clearly grateful for the opportunity to commune, gather, touch base, virtually, as a global Black community. #elpueblonoserindecarajo, Props to BAP, and a family vibe came through the chat to everyone, as familiar faces got ready to address us from the webinar stage. 

As the second song ended, Executive Director Janvieve welcomed the community with a reminder of the importance of language justice. For Black Alliance for Peace, linguistic access to all participants of African descent is central to building international solidarity and global equity. The entire event offered live interpreting from Spanish to English, by Flor and Argelis. 

As I sit here reflecting on the event, I find that the panelists left us with three crucial points:

1. we need to educate our Black masses quickly on the current situation in Colombia from intersectional perspectives, 

2. in order to present facts on our siblings in Colombia, our comrades have to create their own collection of data, reframe all of the articles and reports from the perspective of Black Colombians, and hunt down missing pieces of information, since everything related to Black Colombians is either silenced, filtered through white supremacist media, or absent. 

3. The comprehensive presentations also zoomed into the most consequential impacts of the police repression onto Black Colombians and specific needs for solidarity and international support: the brutal repression, the hundreds of disappeareds, and the absolute invisibility of the victimization of Black mothers and their resistance. 

Each speaker made it very clear that the most vital participants in the strike were young Black Colombians, and they were the hardest affected by the violence. We also learned that the violence came from police and military out of uniform, working as militia, targeting specific individuals of African descent in the peaceful protests, committing homicides and assassinations.

Before introducing the first speaker, Charo Mina Rojas spoke from the locus of enunciation of African Diasporic religions, anchoring the gathering to the spiritual activism of our ancestors, the strengths of our orixás, especially Obatalá. A moment of reflection and prayer connected us with our foremothers and forefathers, to our loved ones who have disappeared, asking our orixás for help that they return to us, and recognition to all of the young people who have been fighting in the streets for our freedoms. 165 people were in the room, plus more on Facebook live, from Canada, Colombia, Brazil, the United States, and other parts of the world, listening to the Yoruba Nigerian language of resistance and Candomblé from Bahia, communing with the orixás offering us strength so that we may continue to resist, and live, engaging so that the orí of our young brothers and sisters be protected, asking Obatalá that we may have peace and land that is ours, not a capitalist land. 

Out of 47 people who had died already, 35 were from Cali (Indepez), the majority of whom were young adults and 4 of whom were minors.

Of 1,876 acts of violence, there had been 12 cases of sexual violence, and 28 eye injuries reported by Wednesday, along with 963 arbitrary detentions, 548 forced disappearances, 7 Indigenous injured by paramilitary in Cali, and 7 Afro-Colombians killed in Cali.

Harrinson Cuero presented the context of the national strike for people of African descent in Colombia. The explosive cocktail, he explained, made it so that the streets and the government became more dangerous than the virus: structural racism and social alienation, extractivism and inequality, pandemic and death, unemployment, poverty, along with the tax reform. The order of the items on the list, with structural racism at the top, underlined the explosive contents of the cocktail from the most impactful and urgent need to address, to the least. He went on to present each ingredient in the cocktail, to offer the Black Alliance for Peace audience a clear image of the factors that have led to the social unrest of Afro-Colombians from May 5 through the current day. 

Cuero listed the facts and the statistics to counter the stigmatized disinformation in mainstream media in Colombia and international news outlets. First, the Black population on the census is about 10% of the population who actually identifies as Black - he showed a map of the census representation in contrast to the actual presence of Black Colombians. Later in the event, Esther Ojulari presented a parallel between the concentration of Black Colombians in Cali, and the points of highest occurrences of police brutality in the past week. Both highlighted the racialization at work over the course of the 20th and 21st century, including in the dire state of affairs in Colombia.

To offer further examples of systemic racism in Colombia, Cuero presented the data of the Black population in Colombia in terms of the age of the Black population from 2005 to 2018 (major decrease in the 0-14 age), the unequal levels of education between Black Colombians and national averages (considerable difference in upper school), and poverty (considerable difference between Black Colombians versus national). He showed us, in numbers, the ingredients of the explosive cocktail.

Esther Ojulari’s presentation focused on the localization of the national statistics: the racialization of Cali and how racial segregation instructed police bruality during the strike in Cali. She traced the segregation back to the nineteenth century forced displacement of “free Blacks” to Cali, followed by the forced displacements during the civil war and the “peace treaty.” The connections to the previous centuries also showed the consistent use of stigmatizing discourse to justify the dehumanization and deaths of young Black people, and to displace the blame of the government and authorities towards young Black people. 

The protests and repression, she showed, were happening in the Black neighborhoods of East Cali. “The use of force occurs based on the racialization of the city and on the ethnicity of the protesters,” she noted. Piecing together photos taken by civilians and shared on social media, newspapers, reports, and the cover of the Q’Hubo newspaper which showed the faces of the victims, Ojulari confirmed that out of 36 people who died in the past week, 11 were visibly Black, 1 Indigenous, 6 Mestizo, and 17 were unidentified. “This,” she emphasized, “is an issue. We cannot report the state of affairs and the extent to which it actually affects our people, because no one is tracking the ethnoracial data.” There is an absolute lack of access of data across institutions which needs to be addressed immediately. 

Equally indispensable and urgent: an immediate report and follow-up on the inordinate amount of civilians who have disappeared, and an immediate stop to the unjustified kidnappings: 187 as reported from Buscarles hasta encontrarles. More than half of the disappeared from come from areas of Cali that are half to majority Black neighborhoods. 

Arleison focused on the police brutality in Cali. He underlined that the police was directly involved in the assassinations of young Black people, children, and women in Cali. 35 out of 47 who have died in the strike, died in Cali. “Two students from our school were injured while making art in their neighborhood.” He went on to list the names of the eight young Black men murdered by the police and their accomplices. The mayor shows no consideration or concern to address the deaths and disorder. The “Primera Línea” and the students are not the ones creating the disorder. The right-wing is directly related to the vandalisms. The dialogues are not effective, as there is no assembly to engage the community’s voices. Arleison underlined the sexual torture as a weapon used against civilians of African descent: “Women are raped in our streets,” Arleison emphasized: “This is the worst human rights crisis in Santiago de Cali.” 

Vicenta Moreno, founding member of the Cultural House of Chontaduro in the district of Aguablanca, Cali, spoke on the impact of police repression in 2020 through May 2021 on the lives of Black women. “400 of our children have died this past year! Why haven’t we talked about this?? Tell me. We marched yesterday to demand to bring our children home, and to stop killing them in the streets, when all they are doing are protecting our basic rights. Have you heard about this? Do you know why not? Us, Black mothers of East Cali, we are tired of seeing our children’s blood in the streets.” 

70% of the Black population in Cali lives around the Cultural House of Chontaduro. Of the thirty five years that Vicenta has lived in this district, this past year is by far, and remember, she is referencing three decades of known violence in the history of Colombia, this past year is by far the worst in the history of Aguablanca. The district of 23 neighborhoods in East Cali is witnessing excessive numbers of premature death and massive deaths in the area. More so than they have ever witnessed. 407 assassinations of young people in one year.

“Why such silence? No one talks about this genocide?! Just us, hugging each other and embracing each other. We march, we strike, against the tax reform, health reform, pension reform, that we live from a state of precarity. We have already died, for centuries we die due to these policies and to the precarity, the neglect, and the militarization. We are witnessing this on the daily in Aguablanca. Premature death is permanent in our existence. So we march.” 

Moreno echoes Cuero and Ojulari on the absolute lack of a focused analysis in Colombia. She adds that the lack of focus is systematically keeping Black women out of he picture: “we march and it’s not seen - as if we aren’t a part of this? Our reality is much deeper, and so we march.” And, she adds, they analyzing the situation for themselves, as a situation lived daily, a state of permanent social death: “Death is the only space that we are given in this country. The state defends paramilitaries, it’s very clear who has a right to live in this nation. We are fighting for a life of joy! Much more than the “reforms” proposed! This is about the blood running in our veins. This is about the joy beating in our hearts.”   

For more information on femicide and global accumulation: https://abyayala.org.ec/producto/feminicidio-y-acumulacion-global/

Towards the end of the question and answer, we concluded that alliances across ethnicities have always existed, that we share experiences and have many moments of working together, and that the establishment knows this, which is why they make sure to divide us and hide our solidarities, for example with Cauca and land rights, and by negating one ethnic group’s rights over the other. But we understand this. We have examples of alliances in our own version of history, we can remember this and continue this. Harrison Cuero offered the last words: Political control, economics, and education. These are the three axes we can develop in order to strengthen and empower people of color. Boycotts won’t resolve this - let’s strengthen ourselves. 

To support current efforts of solidarity and help young Black people and Black women, send your contributions to the following: 

CASA CULTURAL EL CHONTADURO

Account #82900011573

Type: “ahorros” or checking –

Bank: BANCOLOMBIA.

Swift code: COLOCOMBCL1

Bank ID: COLOCOBMXXX

ESTUDENTS UNIVERSIDAD DEL VALLE - FOOD SUPPORT –

make your donation here:

https://vaki.co/es/vaki/q3GE4kJDrxTZz8ZA0Tl9?skip=true#summary

BLACK AFRO-COLOMBIAN COMMUNITIES SOS
– solidarity with community assemblies and Guardia
Cimarrona – make your donation here:

https://gofund.me/b07ffc78

Colombia’s Military Allegedly Aiding Armed Civilians and Vandals

Originally published in Colombia Reports by Adriaan Alsema, May 19, 2021

Evidence indicating that Colombia’s military is taking part in violence and vandalism to justify violent crackdowns on anti-government protests is further isolating President Ivan Duque.

A video showing soldiers with armed civilians in the city of Yumbo, where protests turned violent on Sunday, was met with indignation from Valle del Cauca Governor Clara Luz Roldan.

Yumbo Mayor John Jairo Santamaria expressed fury with the government of President Ivan Duque on Sunday after he was forced to flee his own city.

The violence in Yumbo left at least one person dead and dozens injured, and incinerated the city hall, a local petrol plant and at least two gas stations.

Embattled Defense Minister Diego Molano said anti-government protesters were behind the deadly violence, but was contradicted by locals who said police were responsible for incinerating the plant.

The video of the military colluding with rioters adds credibility to the locals’ claim and further eroded the credibility of Molano, who was already facing a motion of no confidence.

Tengo mucha, pero mucha indignación al ver este video

¿Por qué hay hombres armados al lado de miembros de @Col_Ejercito en #Yumbo?

!!Por qué razón estos soldados no protegen a los ciudadanos y a la Alcaldía de Yumbo!! pic.twitter.com/Cq24WG3spa

— Clara Luz Roldán González (@ClaraLuzRoldan) May 18, 2021

According to the opposition, the defense minister is responsible for more than 2,000 alleged cases of police brutality and the deaths of more than 50 people during three weeks of protests.

The police chief of Cali resigned on Monday after evidence that police aided armed civilians who opened fire on native Colombians protesters who were on their way to the capital of Valle del Cauca.

The president has come under international criticism over his response to national strikes and the subsequent protests that have largely been peaceful.

Duque, Molano and the commanders of the National Police and the National Army were charged with crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court last week.

Ignoring calls for talks, the president ordered the “maximum deployment” of the security forces, claiming that “criminal interests” were behind roadblocks that have been set up throughout Colombia.

Strike leaders called for a new national strike for Wednesday, a week after protesters virtually took control over all Colombia’s major cities in rejection of police brutality.

Photo credit: Twitter

Ajamu Baraka + Charo Mina Rojas on Colombia Struggle

Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) National Organizer Ajamu Baraka and Afro-Colombian human-rights defender Charo Mina Rojas, a leader in BAP affiliate organization Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN, or Black Communities Process), lay the background for and discuss the contradictions in the Colombia struggle, how the corporate media covers it, and how Global North leftists should relate to it.

Learn more about BAP's work on Colombia.

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) organized this webinar on May 8, 2021. Watch the whole webinar here.

AfroResistance Stands in Solidarity with the Black Community of Colombia

For Immediate Release
Para publicación inmediata
Para divulgação imediata

Contact/Contacto/Contato
Elida De Aquino (Coordinadora de Comunicaciones)
elida@afroresistance.org

AfroResistance Stands in Solidarity with the Black Community of Colombia
AfroResistance se solidariza con la Comunidad Negra de Colombia
AfroResistance se solidariza com a Comunidade Negra da Colômbia

May 4, 2021—After a mass strike and mass mobilizations that began on April 28th due to a proposed tax reform, the Colombian government has lashed out with a military styled repression against the millions of protestors currently in the streets. The intention of the repression is simple, to drown and silence the collective demands. This criminal action has led to at least 37 murdered people by armed forces, over one thousand injured including life-altering eye injuries, and at least 10 reported gender based violence, including sexual violence. It also included over 500 detained and multiple aggressions against human rights defenders and observers and journalists. According to reports from Campaña Defender la Libertad Asunto de Todas.

“These manifestations are a just and collective response that many groups including Black groups throughout Colombia have been for decades organizing around, including structural racism, economic injustice, gender inequality, and environmental racism to name a few issues. These issues did not start on April 28th, or during the still existing COVID-19 pandemic. These issues are historical and have been exacerbated due to the pandemic” Says Janvieve Williams Comrie, Executive Director of AfroResistance.

The government has been militarizing several cities in the country, turning the main streets, where women, children and families frequent, into highly dangerous war zones. The deployment of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD), which is the riot control unit of the Colombian National Police specialized in preventing and/or controlling riots, has resulted in a series of deaths, injuries and disappearances. The Colombian military mechanism has publicly received the support of state officials, where, in the name of defending their integrity and material goods, they use their weapons against protesters, thereby justifying the abuse of force. For this reason, we urge the international community and other human rights organizations to take immediate action to defend the human rights of the people in Colombia and prevent the number of victims from continuing to increase; We also demand that the respective investigations of the various cases that have been presented be carried out in a transparent and immediate manner, avoiding impunity and demanding guarantees for the exercise of social protest in a peaceful and safe manner.

It is important to highlight the role that Black Colombian women have historically played in the struggle against oppression, death and extermination in Colombia. In Colombia, gender violence, is one of the most visible and least heard problems by the government. The rights of Women and Girls have been violated both inside and outside the protests, in urban areas, but also in peripheral (rural) areas where many cases have remained anonymous or have simply become a number. In Colombia, according to the organization, Somos Defensores, during the first quarter of the current year, 26% of the attacks by the security forces occurred against women, many of these cases have not yet been clarified. From AfroResistance, we reiterate once again our support for all Black Women and Girls and the call to respect and preserve their rights.

AfroResistance stands in solidarity with Colombian Black, Women, Trans, Youth, Indigenous, Human Rights and all Social Justice organizations in their call for international organizations and International Human Rights Mechanisms to accompany their demand to mobilize, to protect their lives and preserve their rights and dignity.

It is important to also add that 2012, Colombia signed a bilateral agreement with Haiti to help train and professionalize Haitian police officers.

The mission statement for AfroResistance, is to educate and organize for human rights, democracy and racial justice throughout the Americas. www.afroresistance.org

AfroResistance is a Black Alliance for Peace member organization.

———

ESPAÑOL

AfroResistencia se solidariza con la comunidad negra en Colombia

4 de Mayo 2021. Luego de las movilizaciones masivas que comenzaron el pasado 28 de abril en Colombia, debido a una propuesta de reforma tributaria, el gobierno colombiano ha arremetido con una represión de estilo militar contra los millones de manifestantes que se concentran actualmente en las calles. La intención de la represión es clara, ahogar, atemorizar y silenciar las demandas colectivas. Esta acción criminal ha provocado al menos 37 personas asesinadas por las fuerzas armadas, más de mil heridos, incluidas lesiones oculares con alteraciones de por vida, y al menos 10 denunciados de violencia de género, incluida la violencia sexual. También incluye más de 500 detenidos y múltiples agresiones contra defensores y observadores de derechos humanos y periodistas. Según informes de la Campaña Defender la Libertad Asunto de Todas.

“Estas manifestaciones son una respuesta justa y colectiva en torno a la cual muchos grupos en Colombia, incluidos los negros, se han estado organizando durante décadas visibilizando problematicas incluido el racismo estructural, la injusticia económica, la desigualdad de género y el racismo ambiental, por nombrar algunas. Estos problemas no comenzaron el 28 de abril ni durante la pandemia de COVID-19 aún existente; son históricos y se han agravado debido a la pandemia ”, dice Janvieve Williams Comrie, directora ejecutiva de AfroResistance.

El gobierno ha venido militarizando varias ciudades del país, convirtiendo las principales calles, donde las mujeres, los niños y las familias frecuentan, en zonas de guerra de alta peligrosidad.

El despliegue del Escuadrón Móvil Antidisturbios (ESMAD), que es la unidad de control de disturbios de la Policía Nacional de Colombia especializada en prevenir y / o controlar disturbios, ha dejado como resultado una serie de muertes, personas heridas y desapariciones.

El mecanismo militar ha recibido públicamente el apoyo de funcionarios del estado, donde en nombre de la defensa de su integridad y los bienes materiales, hagan uso de sus armas contra manifestantes justificando con esto el abuso de la fuerza. Por esto instamos a la comunidad internacional y demás organismos de derechos humanos a tomar acciones inmediatas para defender los derechos humanos de la gente en Colombia y evitar que las cifras de víctimas continúen en aumento; así como también exigimos se adelanten de manera transparente e inmediata las respectivas investigaciones de los diversos casos que se han presentado, evitando la impunidad y exigiendo garantías para el ejercicio de la protesta social de manera pacífica y segura.

Es importante destacar el papel que históricamente ha venido desempeñando la mujer de manera activa, en sus luchas contra las fuerzas de la opresión, la muerte y el exterminio, siendo esta, otra de las razones de la marcha, ya que la violencia de género, es uno de los problemas más visibles y menos escuchados por parte del gobierno. Los derechos Mujeres y niñas vienen siendo vulnerados dentro y fuera de las protestas, en áreas urbanas pero también en áreas periféricas (rurales) donde muchos casos han quedado en el anonimato o simplemente pasan a ser una cifra más. De acuerdo con la organización, Somos Defensores, en Colombia durante el primer trimestre del año en curso, el 26% de las agresiones por parte de la fuerza pública ocurrió contra mujeres, y muchos de esos casos aún no han sido esclarecidos. Desde AfroResistencia, reiteramos una vez más nuestro apoyo a nuestras hermanas y el llamado a respetar y preservar sus derechos.

AfroResistance se solidariza con las organizaciones Negras, organizaciones de Mujeres, organizaciones Trans, organizaciones juveniles, Indígenas, organizaciones de Derechos Humanos y de justicia social Colombianas en su llamado a que las organizaciones internacionales y de Mecanismos Internacionales de Derechos Humanos acompañen su demanda de movilizarse, proteger sus vidas y preservar sus derechos y dignidad.

Es importante agregar también que en 2012 Colombia firmó un acuerdo bilateral con Haití para ayudar a capacitar y profesionalizar a los policías haitianos.

La misión de AfroResistance es educar y organizar por los derechos humanos, la democracia y la justicia racial en las Américas. www.afroresistance.org

———

PORTUGUÊS

AfroResistencia se solidariza com a comunidade negra da Colômbia

4 de maio. Após as massivas mobilizações iniciadas devido a uma proposta de reforma tributária em 28 de abril na Colômbia, o governo colombiano atacou com repressão militar milhões de manifestantes que atualmente estão concentrados nas ruas. A intenção da repressão é clara: afogar, amedrontar e silenciar as demandas coletivas. Esta ação criminal já causou pelo menos 37 pessoas mortas pelas forças armadas, mais de mil feridos, incluindo ferimentos nos olhos com impactos para o resto da vida e pelo menos 10 denúncias de violência de gênero, incluindo violência sexual. Também inclui mais de 500 detidos e vários ataques contra defensores de direitos humanos, observadores e jornalistas. De acordo com relatórios da Campaign Defend Liberty Affair of All.

“Essas manifestações são uma resposta justa e coletiva em torno do qual muitos grupos, incluindo pessoas negras na Colômbia, vem se organizando durante décadas, incluindo o racismo estrutural, a injustiça econômica, a desigualdade de gênero e o racismo ambiental, para mencionar alguns problemas. Esses problemas não começaram no dia 28 de abril ou durante a pandemia de COVID-19 ainda existente. Esses problemas são históricos e foram agravados pela pandemia”, disse Janvieve Williams Comrie, Diretora Executiva da AfroResistance.

O governo tem militarizado várias cidades do país, transformando as principais ruas, frequentadas por mulheres, crianças e famílias, em zonas de guerra altamente perigosas. A implantação do Esquadrão Móvel Antimotim (ESMAD), unidade de controle de distúrbios da Polícia Nacional da Colômbia especializada na prevenção e/ou controle de rebeliões, resultou em uma série de mortes, feridos e desaparecimentos.

O mecanismo militar recebeu publicamente o apoio de funcionários do Estado, onde em nome da defesa de sua integridade e bens materiais, usam suas armas contra os manifestantes, justificando o uso excessivo da força. Por isso, pedimos à comunidade internacional e outras organizações de direitos humanos que tomem medidas imediatas para defender os direitos humanos do povo na Colômbia e evitar que o número de vítimas continue a aumentar. Exigimos também que as respectivas investigações dos diversos casos apresentados sejam efetuadas de forma transparente e imediata, evitando a impunidade e exigindo garantias para o exercício do protesto social de forma pacífica e segura.

É importante destacar o papel que as mulheres historicamente vêm desempenhando ativamente em suas lutas contra as forças de opressão, morte e extermínio, sendo este mais um motivo da marcha, já que a violência de gênero é um dos problemas mais visíveis e menos ouvidos pelo governo. Os direitos de nossas mulheres e meninas foram violados dentro e fora dos protestos, em áreas urbanas, mas também em áreas periféricas (rurais) onde muitos casos permaneceram anônimos ou simplesmente se tornaram mais uma estatística. Segundo a organização Somos Defensores, na Colômbia durante o primeiro trimestre deste ano, 26% dos ataques das forças de segurança ocorreram contra mulheres e muitos desses casos ainda não foram esclarecidos. Nos da AfroResistencia, reiteramos mais uma vez nosso apoio a todas as mulheres e meninas negras e nosso apelo ao respeito e preservação de seus direitos.

AfroResistance se solidariza com organizações negras, organizações femininas, organizações trans, organizações juvenis, povos indígenas e organizações colombianas de direitos humanos e justiça social em seu apelo para que as organizações internacionais e os mecanismos internacionais de direitos humanos acompanhem sua demanda de mobilização, proteção e preservação seus direitos e dignidade.

Também é importante acrescentar que em 2012 a Colômbia assinou um acordo bilateral com o Haiti para ajudar a treinar e profissionalizar os policiais haitianos.

A missão do AfroResistance é educar e organizar os direitos humanos, a democracia e a justiça racial em todos os países das Américas. www.afroresistance.org

Banner photo: Proceso Comunidades de Negras (PCN or Black Communities Process, an African organization in Colombia)

U.S. Peace Council Calls on Colombian Govt to Comply with Its Obligations Under the Colombian Peace Agreement

The United States Peace Council (USPC) calls on the Colombian government to uphold the peace agreement that it signed with the FARC-EP and to stop the move towards war and implementation of more repressive political measures.

Since signing the peace agreement, in November of 2016, the Colombian government has failed to meet its obligations under this agreement, and the US Peace Council notes with alarm that it now appears that this government is actually planning for further war and social conflict, rather than working for peace.

Pursuant to the long-negotiated peace agreement, the Colombian government agreed to carry out many reforms that would benefit Colombian Society. These reforms included the promise

• to forego the use of force for political ends,

• to stop the use of the poisonous weed killer glyphosate to eradicate sources of drugs,

• to invest in infrastructure in the countryside including a system to assist campesinos to gain title to their land,

• to invest in projects designed to assist the reincorporation into civilian life of former guerilla combatants,

• to release political prisoners and prisoners of war as part of the transitional justice system called the Special Peace Jurisdiction (JEP),

• to take responsibility and to be held accountable for its own violation of international humanitarian law and human rights law and

• to protect members of the opposition, among other promises. The USPC notes with alarm that there have been attacks on Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities to have state protection while the authors of the attacks have not been held to account.

It is widely accepted that the Colombian government has only completed 30% of their responsibilities under the peace agreement. The Colombian government continues to use glyphosate in drug eradication endangering the environment and the lives of its rural inhabitants. The Colombian government has failed to invest in needed community-oriented infrastructure in the countryside. The Colombian government has failed to protect leaders of the opposition with approximately 700 hundred social leaders and 135 former guerilla combatants assassinated since the signing of the peace agreement. There are still over 500 political prisoners languishing in prison who have not been granted conditional release as part of the Special Peace Jurisdiction as called for in the peace agreement.

One of the most concerning issues is described in a recent article in the New York Times detailing from the highest echelons of the Colombian Military to increase the killing of the opposition and “‘criminals,” (“Colombia Army’s New Kill Orders Send Chills Down Ranks”, by Nick Casey, May 18, 2019). “The head of Colombia’s army, frustrated by the nation’s faltering efforts to secure peace, has ordered his troops to double the number of criminals and militants they kill, capture or force to surrender in battle” stated the New York Times. If these orders are to be put in effect, it breaks the promise to renounce the use of force for political ends and marks a move towards intensified social conflict and war.

This chilling order reminds one of the “false positive” policy in effect under the government of former president Alvaro Uribe. The military were given monetary and other incentives to increase their body count. This resulted in over 3,000 additional deaths including innocent civilians who were assassinated and then dressed up in military fatigues to increase body counts. These assassinations are considered extra-judicial killings, and are international crimes under the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law.

The USPC is concerned that Colombia is on the precipice of renewed conflict. The peace agreement of 2016 was a brave attempt to end 54 years of civil war. The USPC calls on the Colombian government , and its ally the US Government, to being immediately to fulfill its obligations under the peace agreement, including the protection of human rights, and to recommit to working for peace.

Movement News: Solidarity with the Popular Movements of Colombia

This is the August 6, 2018 statement by the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases

The Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases declares our solidarity with the popular movements of Colombia who are currently the targets of a systematic operation of extermination and intimidation. On August 7, 2018, the right-wing candidate Iván Duque will take possession of the office of the presidency of Colombia, backed by every business and political interest, and every paramilitary organization that wants to undermine the country’s peace.

We denounce this right-wing violence and the efforts, whether legal or illegal, to break the peace and nullify accords that have ended more than 52 years of war between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army). As a result of this war, more than 220,000 persons have lost their lives, more than 92,000 persons have been disappeared, and more than 7.7 million have been forcibly displaced. From the beginning, the most impacted communities have been the Afro-Colombian, indigenous, and rural peoples. Also, from the beginning, the root of this conflict has been the greed of global capitalism for lands and resources that are abundant in their territories. Neither the big landowners, large agribusinesses, narco-traffickers, extractivist and transnational companies, nor the death squads who serve them, nor the militaries, business people, nor politicians linked with them, want peace. They do not want to return the displaced to their homes and farms. They do not want land reforms, nor reserves that protect oppressed communities and their access to land. They do not want peace – they want total domination and the dispossession of whatever community presents an obstacle to their excessive profits.  

The June 17, 2018 election of Iván Duque as President of Colombia was a victory for the enemies of peace. He won the vote in an electoral season marked by irregularities and a climate of threats and violent assaults against the Left and the Center-Left and their candidates. The situation was already deplorable before his election. Between January 1, 2016 and May 14, 2018, the Marcha Patriótica, a social movement for a just peace, had counted 385 victims of political violence. They were all members of popular and Left movements, ex-insurgents and ex-political prisoners and their families, unionists, human rights defenders, students, and/or ecological activists. The majority of the murders were committed by paramilitaries and other illegal groups. Many of the paramilitaries operate with impunity in places where there are located Colombian Armed Forces troops. The Armed Forces have also directly attacked popular movements and protests, and are being investigated for 14 murders of social leaders.

Of the 385 victims between January 1, 2016 and May 14, 2018, 161 came from the Marcha Patriótica and 62% were killed in rural zones. Of these, 33 belonged to just one labor organization, FENSUAGRO (the National Unified Federation of Agricultural Workers Unions). More than a third of the victims, 33.2% were indigenous (48, or almost 18%) or Afro-Colombian (41, o a little more than 15%). Since the election of Duque in June, the situation has gotten even worse, with leaders and members of social movements and ex insurgents and their families being killed at a rate of more than one person per day.

War and repression in Colombia are direct results of the policies of the United States and transnational capitalism. In 1962, the Pentagon’s Yarborough Commission pushed Colombia to unleash military and paramilitary “terror” against rural Colombians in order to achieve territorial control for national and international capitalism. Since 2000, the US has invested $11 billion through Plan Colombia. At least 70% of that funding has gone toward the Colombian Armed Forces, and  most the rest toward “security” apparatus and programs that benefit overall strategies of war and repression.

In exchange, the US military has been granted a presence on seven Colombian military bases. Colombia has not only given the US access to its military bases, it has converted into an important partner in US/NATO imperialism. Colombia has sent troops to Afghanistan and Yemen, and has patrolled Central American and West African coasts with the US military. Colombia has also given international training to more than 30,000 military, police, penitentiary, and court personnel. In an act of geographical discordance, Colombia has joined NATO, giving it a permanent presence in Latin America.

Thus, we of the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases not only denounce the political violence in Colombia. We denounce that the Colombian state has become an agent of Empire that threatens its own people, the region, and the planet. We recognize that what happens in Colombia has global repercussions. We stand with Colombia’s popular movements and say with them that: The Peace of Colombia is the Peace of the World!

Banner photo: Twitter/TelloJhonatan