The Colombia Working Group (CWG) welcomes the news that the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have reached a historic, final and definitive peace accord. The CWG and its members, many of whom have been working with Colombian civil society groups for years in peace building, see this as an important milestone towards peace.
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Yes, there is a peace euphoria, producing slogans or clichés that you hear repeated everywhere, but when you dig a little deeper into what is behind the slogans or into the aspects that those superficial phrases are avoiding, you can see many things to worry about.
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The Agrarian Summit has announced that the National Strike, which started on May 30, has come to an end with the victory of peasants, indigenous people, Afro Descendants and the indigenous urban populations. Spokesmen of the Agrarian Summit announced the conclusion of the Strike after the signing the agreements to start negotiating the main points of the Unified National Statement.
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT 6 juin 2016 The Colombian authorities must ensure that the security forces, in particular the ESMAD anti-riot police, refrain from using disproportionate and excessive force against demonstrators, Amnesty International said today as a nationwide protest by rural communities enters its second week.
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Attending the Colombia Support Network call out we propose an open letter to sign online, you can modify it and click send !
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Letter to the President of the Republic June 2, 2016 President Juan Manuel Santos While spokespersons from the MINGA Nacional, Agraria, Campesina, Etnica and Popular were making an evaluation of the very serious violations of rights during the Minga and the lack of guarantees for the mobilization and for the call to President Santos for negotiations, the indigenous authorities of Northern Cauca – ACIN, reported the assassination by the Army of two members of the indigenous guard.
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According to the People’s Congress, there are 134 people detained in Santander*, 3 dead in the south-west part of the country and an undetermined number of injured people by actions of the public force against protesters. In Tolima the Black Eagles threatened the social organizations in the region. In addition, new information has surfaced about the assassination of two indigenous people in Cauca and the forced miscarriage of two women due to attacks by the Police.Detentions in Berlin
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Since Saturday, thousands of peasants, indigenous people and afro-Colombians have been mobilising for a nationwide strike called for 30 May. Amongst their demands are calls for improvements in health, education, access to land and a moratorium on extractive projects. While the government, emboldened by the progress in formal peace talks with insurgents, claims that the current model of economic development is not up for debate, popular social and political movements argue that any durable peace must include deeper transformations in society.
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In Colombia, on the evening of 28th May, peaceful protestors allied with the Congreso de los Pueblos (The Congress of the Peoples is a social and political movement born out of the “La Minga” indigenous mobilizations of 2008. The movement achieved national scope and was joined by students, workers, women, peasants, Afro-Colombians, community groups, and other sectors of society), were threatened with arson and physical violence by local police on their way to joining the national strike called for the 30th May.
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This bulletin consists of an electronic version (below), but also a PDF version that we invite you to print and distribute in your workplace. We also encourage you to invite your colleagues and allies to subscribe to this email list.
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