Amidst a context of war, social and grassroots organizations throughout Colombia have generated diverse initiatives and experiences of peace, resisting permanent threats and attacks, building community, and creating through their actions and expressions the possibility for a dignified life. These experiences are diverse, and draw from indigenous, Afro-descendant, small-scale farming and urban traditions; they carry the traces and outlines of men, women, youth and workers, and they emanate from the territorial realities of the entire nation and with the colors of a multitude of emancipatory thoughts.

Today the Colombian people prepare to gather once more with the goal of consolidating a popular mandate not only to end the military confrontation, but also to resolve, once and for all, the historical causes that gave rise to violence, exclusion, and poverty—the elements that constitute the social and political conflict within the country.

For this reason, we are committed to a dialogue with multiple voices in addition to those of the government and the insurgency, including the proposals and decisions of rural and urban communities, churches, universities, political and economic actors, and of all those in our society who are committed to a negotiated political solution to the armed conflict in this country and for the construction of a dignified life for all men and women.
We must advance forward together in order to integrate the various social initiatives being proposed at a national and international level on this topic, as well as to further develop our common proposals and construct ties of fraternity between our communities through thought and action, being sure to include those who have had to leave the country and seek solidarity from other communities, and who have constructed alternatives from a distance while in exile.

For these reasons, the People’s Congress calls upon the international community, the peoples of the world, supportive governments, grassroots organizations throughout the Americas, political organizations with a vision of social transformation, and to all men and women to participate in all the aforementioned national and international scenarios, and in the Peace Congress, which will take place in Bogota, Colombia from April 19-22, with the goal of compiling all the proposals and discussing and defining a mandate for peace.

More information: cppinternacional-a-yahoo.com