Elizabeth Garcia Carrillo speaks at the CRLN Luncheon

By Carol Hansen, USLEAP

On Thursday, November 6, I had the pleasure of attending the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN) Luncheon. The luncheon featured Elizabeth Garcia Carrillo, a Colombian human rights activist and attorney, who addressed the issues of violence and injustice in Colombia. She discussed how Afro-Colombians are defending their territorial, cultural and human rights. She spoke of the constant state of warfare within the rural areas of Colombia and the issue of crop fumigations and the American war on drugs. In Carrillo's response to violence due to the growing of coca, she cleverly stated, "Coca is not cocaine just like a grape is not wine." Carrillo works to spread the voices of those that live the war in Colombia, to end the military strategy of silence.

Carrillo reported that since the beginning of the indigenous protests in September, 40 indigenous activists have been murdered, military officials are responsible for 300 murders of indigenous youth, and that the protesters were to march to Bogotá on November 10th to speak with Colombia's president, Uribe. Carrillo concluded that the indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations of Colombia resist oppression not with violence, but with love, solidarity, hope and dreams.

In March 2008, Elizabeth Garcia Carrillo testified in front of US Congress to explain the negative impact of the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement on indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations. According to Carrillo, 98% of the indigenous population in Colombia disapproves of the agreement. She confessed her experience in front of Congress was "marvelous" because it was an opportunity for the people of Colombia to share their story. Carrillo congratulated the crowd on the newly elected US President, followed by a roar of applause, and stated that the chance to change US policy in support of Latin America is "at our fingertips".

Comments

[Jim]

Thanks, Carol, for this blog entry about Elizabeth, and I'm so glad you came to the CRLN luncheon!

Jim