S.O.S: Urgent action needed from the world from the people of Colombia
Colombia is in a profound crisis. As each hour passes, young people are being killed simply for protesting and demanding better lives. This egregious level of government repression is unjust and it demands the attention and action of our community and the world. The below call to action is the result of an autonomous initiative from our friends at Asociación Casa Cultural el Chontaduro, a popular cultural and education initiative in West Cali led by Black women. These women work with the Center of Afro-Diasporic Studies CEAF in Icesi University; CEAF is one of our partners in Colombia.
Their call to action has three primary components:
To contact your congresspeople to highlight the need for effective actions in Colombia.
To forward, share and support the below S.O.S. with using these hashtags on social media. #SOSColombia, #NosEstanMasacrando, #Colombiaalertaroja, #ParaNacional, #Queparelamasacre, #NoEstanMatando
To attend or organize a rally in solidarity with the protestors.
It is urgent that communities around the world understand what is happening in Colombia and it is urgent that we all take part in protecting communities at the margins. The young people, women, and activists who are in the streets facing death need our support now more than ever. Read and share el Chontaduro's S.O.S below and follow us on social media to amplify our urgent call to action.
Asociación Casa Cultural “el Chontaduro” Santiago de Cali-Valle Colombia
S.O.S: Urgent action needed from the world from the people of Colombia
We are reaching out with an urgent call for international support from friends and human rights organizations because the Colombian State is massacring us. Community leaders, young people and minors have been victims of public force by order of the president of the republic, Iván Duque Márquez, the defense minister and local leaders, who have deployed armed forces against the protesters of the Civic Strike, regardless of the fact that the latter are unarmed and protesting peacefully.
The Civic Strike began on April 28, 2021, organized mainly by young people, students, Black communities, indigenous, peasant and community organizations, who, outraged by the systemic injustices of the governments, have raised their voices. They have faced their fears to say, “enough!”
We protest to prevent a tax reform that squeezes us and makes us pay for the embezzlement of corruption and bad governments; to dismantle labor reform that continues to widen the gap between rich and impoverished; to undo health reform that lets us die, deteriorates, and closes public hospitals; to prevent a pension reform that, instead of promoting well-being, leaves the elderly vulnerable and unprotected. The voices of the community demand reforms built with the participation of the people. We demand the resignation of the president and other corrupt leaders who do not have the criteria to govern.
The State does not listen to the voice of the people. The State only murders in the name of public order. In the words of General Luis Fernando Navarro Giménez, they are on a “Military assistance mission,” which aims to save lives, enable coexistence and protect the right of citizens to essential services. We, women from community organizations in Eastern Cali, ask\ the general: who are the ones with the possibilities that you are talking about?
According to data recorded on the GRITA1 platform, between April 28 and May 3, 2021, there are 1,181 cases of police violence in Colombia that are expressed in physical violence, homicidal violence, arbitrary detentions, sexual violence and disappearances. In the particular case of Cali, the newspaper "Q'hubo" reports in its May 4 edition that there are already 22 homicides.
Between Monday and the early hours of Tuesday, May 4, the leaders at the points of concentration and resistance to the strike have reported witness accounts showing how the police are attacking them with tear gas and firearms, regardless of the fact that they are unarmed, with their hands raised as a sign of defenselessness. The images show the many people who have been injured and killed.
Whose lives are you saving, General Navarro? Who are you protecting, if more than half of the people on the streets are raising their voices, with songs, music, performance, demanding justice?
President, defense minister, governor of Valle del Cauca and mayor of Cali are we your enemies of war? When are the helicopters, tear gas, machine guns, rifles going to stop? We demand that you stop killing us!
We call for international support because the public armed forces of Colombia are not even respecting the national humanitarian mission that accompanies the social mobilization; they are committing acts of vandalism and then blaming the protesting population. Members of the police and ESMAD have burned houses, buildings, cars, motorcycles, and even public marketplaces. In Cali, for example, they burned Santa Helena, one of the marketplaces where poor people go. The videos show that they are shooting to kill and that they are even going into people’s houses shooting.
It is urgent that the whole world find out what is happening in Colombia and that they help us protect our communities, young people, women, and social leaders who are in the streets facing State terror. Please support us by spreading these messages and providing medical treatment for the people injured at points of concentration and resistance.