Event Information

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Since April 28, Colombia has mobilized against the Duque administration in what started as a national strike and became a nationwide mass mobilization. The state has responded to the mobilizations with militarization of the major cities, with tanks lining up along the streets and avenues. The riot police, ESMAD are now responsible for at least 37 murders and over 1700 cases of documented police violence. 

What is the historic and political background behind the massacres, intensified militarization, and unleashed state violence? How are working class people, activists, and movements organizing and resisting? What are the diverse demands being made? Join us Friday, May 14 to hear directly from Colombian activists about the unfolding situation on the ground and how we can stand in solidarity. 

Join Statement from AfroSoc Chicago and DSA IC: https://international.dsausa.org/statements/dsa-denounces-state-violence-suppression-of-national-strike-colombia/

Speakers: 

Héctor Marino Carabalí Charrupi: an Afro-Colombian activist, co-founder of the victims’ rights organization Asociación Renacer Siglo XXI in Northern Cauca, and the Committee of Human Rights of the Municipality of Buenos Aires. He has been a spokesperson for the National Ethnic Coordination for Peace (CENPAZ) and the national movement Marcha Patriotica. He is also a key figure in founding the Cimarron Guard in Cauca, an unarmed, community self-protection group, inspired by ancestral practices.

Lizeth Montero, longtime frontline activist and lawyer from Cauca. Currently working for the Colombian Jurists Commission (CCJ), a leading people’s rights organizations in defense of dissent and social protest.  

Ana Erazo, councilwoman for POLO in Cali, city where mass mobilizations and murders by riot police have concentrated since the strike began.

Alejandro Parra, anti-war activist, conscientious objector, member of ACOOC, a national organization advising youth to become objectors and resist the obligatory military service. 

Spanish / English simultaneous interpretation available.