AUGUST 12th to 20th IN COLOMBIA We invite every solidary individual to accompany us during this summer's Caravan for the Defense of the Land. This year's caravan will take place in the east of Antioquia, a region particularly affected by the Colombian armed conflict. The objectives of the caravan are to give visibility to the problematics related to mining and energy exploitation projects which threaten the living of populations on the territory, and to reinforce initiatives defending life, water, and the territory, in addition to the construction of true peace.
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The Civic Strike in Buenaventura had reached an agreement with the national government and the strike has been suspended. This is a major and historical moment not only for the people in Buenaventura but for the Black movement and people in Colombia. The strike showed the indifferent racist Colombians and Colombian government that people who has been suffering for centuries the racism and exclusion and the excruciating situation of poverty and violence eventually raises up and turn things around. The agreement has four important components:
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Such has been the lot of thousands of labor leaders, environmentalists, and public investigators in Colombia's oil-rich state of Casanare, where for decades British Petroleum and other multinationals have hired military groups to brutalize community dissent and shut down opposition to the most egregious models of their extractive economics.
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- OPEN LETTER TO COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT MANUEL SANTOS - BUENAVENTURA IS IN A STATE OF HUMANITARIAN CRISIS -
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There are striking parallels between Indigenous Peoples in Canada and Colombia. This is a hemisphere where efforts have been made since contact to eliminate Indigenous Peoples through policies of physical and cultural genocide. While there are clear differences, the shared experiences are of structural discrimination and destructive policies leading to marginalization, displacement, and barriers to obtaining title and effective control over ancestral territories.
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January to March 2017 PBI’s quarterly human rights update calls attention to critical security situations affecting the persons, organisations and communities, accompanied by Peace Brigades International (PBI), whose work in the defence of human rights results in threats to their personal safety and to the work itself. This publication is of limited distribution and cannot be reproduced without prior authorisation. To consult the document
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The PDF / paper version of La Piedra here.
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Since February 15, 2017, communities in the municipalities of Yopal and Aguazul, in the department of Casanare, peacefully gathered and blocked a road opposite the oil block project El Porton, run by the Canadian oil company Gran Tierra. Since the beginning of the mobilization, social leaders have received threatening calls, have been followed by different vehicles and three have been charged for obstructing the transit way. Regional Context
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April 10, 2017 Canadian miner Gran Colombia Gold has filed a US$700 million lawsuit against Colombia under the Colombian-Canadian free trade agreement after the government ordered the company to cease operations at the El Burro site in Marmato until it has further consulted with local residents. The Marmato project has been plagued by controversy ever since operations began 10 years ago, with heavy resistance from traditional mining communities of the 500 year-old town.
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