Colombia

Peaceseeker Award Recipient, 2012

Alice Winters

In honor of Alice Winters' retirement in June 2011, the IPC composed the following booklet, which includes a full biography of her work in Colombia.

Click here to download the booklet

 

Labor Rights at Risk under Santos Administration

from Washington Office on Latin America

On October 12, the same day that the U.S. Congress passed the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), a group of over sixty Afro-Colombian victims protested in Bogotá. The marchers, internally displaced leaders from the conflict areas of Chocó, Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Nariño and Bolivar, had a clear message, “We are marching for our right to life. The government does not protect us. We are killed, threatened and displaced so that Colombia and outside investors can make a profit off of the natural resources found in our lands. We say no to the U.S.-Colombia FTA.” While it was not uncommon to hear such statements under President Uribe’s reign, it was sobering to hear it under the Santos Administration.

by Shannan Vance-Ocampo

"Guillermo de Jesús Ariza."

That was the name on the cross that I was given to carry at the School of the Americas Vigil last weekend.   The SOA research team writes this about the massacre that Guillermo was killed in thirteen years ago:

“On 11 November 1988 heavily armed men drove in trucks into the center of Segovia, opened fire and threw grenades indiscriminately, killing 43 people, including three children, and wounding over 50 others. The regular garrisons of the police and military (belonging to the Batallón Bomboná of the 16th Brigade) stood by while the killers moved freely through the town for over an hour.