Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network Statement of Concern

Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network Statement of Concern:

Recent Increase in Violence Against Afro-Colombian Communities on the Pacific Coast

February 22, 2013

In anticipation of the upcoming visit of Minister Fernando Carrillo to Washington, DC, the Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network (ACSN) would like to express serious concerns with the current situation facing specific Afro-Colombian communities and leaders.

We are especially concerned with recent increase in violence against Afro-Colombian communities on the Pacific coast.

Click to read more ...

Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network Calls for Inclusion of Afro-Colombian Issues in Victims' Law

Afro-Colombian Victims Ignored in Development of Victims’ Law

Colombia Contradicts Intent of Law by Disregarding Participation of Victims

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed Law 1448, better known as the Victims and Land Restitution Law, on June 10, 2011. The law offers a historic opportunity to provide reparations to more than four million victims of the internal armed conflict in Colombia, and the United States has expressed its support by pledging considerable financial and technical support for its implementation. However, if the law fails to include the perspectives of the victims themselves, Law 1448 will deepen the structural disadvantages and obstacles confronting the very people that it intends to help. 

Click to read more ...

Broken Promises and a Broken Deal: NO on Colombia FTA

We are concerned and dismayed that President Barack Obama has submitted the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to Congressional leadership for a vote.  This agreement, as well as the other trade agreements, continues a failed model that will hurt the people of the US and in Colombia.    Support of Colombia Free Trade Agreement is a cynical act, which will cause increased suffering, especially for Afro-Colombians and other marginalized groups in the South American country.

Years of protest from human rights, labor and environmental activists in Colombia and around the world have stopped the FTA from moving forward at this point.  Despite the abuse and displacement of Afro-Colombians, the Indigenous and trade unionists, despite the profound impunity and a lack of justice the Administration has decided to move forward the FTA.  Presidential candidate Barack Obama promised that he would not consider supporting a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia with the country’s current state of lawlessness and continuing human rights violations.  The conditions in Colombia remain dire with little improvement since Obama made the pledge but now the President is reneging on the promise to protect the lives of Colombia’s under served.

Click to read more ...

Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network Calls for Protection of Afro-Colombian Communities in Cacarica, Choco

The Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network (ACSN)* is concerned for the safety of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities in the Cacarica river basin. The Community for Self-Determination, Life and Dignity of Cacarica (CAVIDA) warns that paramilitaries are mobilizing in nearby towns including Carmen del Darién, Turbo, Apartadó and Chigorodó in order to secure territorial, economic and social control over the civilian population.  The presence of illegal armed groups, including the guerrillas and paramilitary groups that did not disarm or give up territorial control of the strategic Darien/Lower Atrato area put the lives of communities at risk.  Information provided to CAVIDA indicates that the villages of Vijao and El Limón, and the Humanitarian Zone of Nueva Vida may be targeted.

Click to read more ...

Take Action to Protect Afro-Colombian Activists, Religious Leaders and Trade Unionists

The Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network (ACSN) strongly denounces the following security incidents that have taken place in Afro-Colombian communities since July:

Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó (Chocó)
Last week, two persons from the communities of Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó, Everto González and Francisco Pineda, were presumably disappeared and their whereabouts remain unknown. Another 32 members of these communities are facing death threats. Among those threatened is leader Enrique Petro who has provisional protection measures from the OAS. In this area, paramilitaries continue to act with impunity despite the presence of members of the Army’s 17th Brigade, who have taken no action against the estimated 300 paramilitary troops who have been seen repeatedly in the locality in recent weeks.

Click to read more ...