| Educate, Motivate, Activate for Justice in the Americas! | | Witness for Peace New England | |  | | | School of the Americas Watch/Witness for Peace New England Delegation to Colombia Terror and Trade: Resisting Violence in Colombia December 1-13, 2006 Colombia
Terror and Trade: Resisting Violence in Colombia
December 1-13, 2006
Economic violence and military violence in Colombia are closely linked. Countless small farmers have been forced off their land to make way for industrial farming, mining, logging, oil drilling, and hydro-electric dams. A new Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Colombia is likely to increase the economic pressures that drive Colombia's civil war by making it harder for small farmers to make a living and increasing the involvement of foreign corporations in exploiting the country's resources.
The Uraba region which straddles the border of the departments of Antioquia and Choco have been hit especially hard. The expansion of palm oil plantations, mining, and hydroelectric projects have created strong economic pressures which have contributed to horrific violence and the displacement of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities that have called the region their home for centuries. But people have been resisting this violence, and peace communities have formed to try to present a sustainable, democratic, nonviolent alternative to the model of war and exploitation.
The peace community of San Jose de Apartadó in Antioquía and the newly formed humanitarian zone in the Curvaradó river basin of the Choco department need our support as they confront continued economic and military violence. Both communities continue to develop and implement new strategies to reclaim their rights as civilian population in the war torn region, thus giving delegates the opportunity to witness and support local campesino initiatives. 2005 was a difficult year in the Urabá region for these communities with the assassination of multiple campesino leaders,including Luis Eduardo Guerra and Orlando Valencia and these communities need the solidarity of the international community to continue their struggle for truth, ignity,land rights and recognition as a legitimate nonviolent proposal.
We will visit these communities to learn about their dreams and their struggles, and the competing visions for the future of Uraba and all of Colombia.
Cost: The price ofthe delegation is $1590 USD. The delegation fee covers all set-up, preparation, meals, lodging, interpreters, and transportation within Colombia, but does not include transportation to and from Colombia. The fee also covers extensive readingand activist tools both before and after the delegation
Deadline: ASAP. Application with a non-refundable deposit of $150 due November 1.
Contact: Sean Donahue, sean@pica.ws, 207-947-5631 Daphne Loring, daphneloring@hotmail.com, 207-266-5895 Witness for Peace is a politically independent, grassroots organization. We are people committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. Our mission is to support peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing US policies and corporate practices which contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean. We stand with people who seek justice. | | | |
