“They continue killing us and nobody cares”: the message from three social leaders

*This blog post is a translation of an article published by El Espectador on June 28th, 2019. A link for the article can be found at the bottom of the post.

Erlendy Cuero, Francia Márquez and Audes Jiménez this week attended the General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS) to raise the issue of the systematic killings of human rights defenders in Colombia and report the most recent case, that of María del Pilar Hurtado.

Audes Jiménez, Francia Marquez & Erlendy Cuero

“There is an extermination occurring”: Erlendy Cuero, vicepresident de AFRODES (National Association of Displaced AfroColombians)

I cannot find the words to express what I felt when I saw the images of Maria del Pilar Hurtado´s son crying by her body and when I heard that the government, quite deliberately, announce that she was not a social leader simply because she was not part of a well known organisation. Yet this was a woman who had been working for her community, a victim who was forced to leave Cauca simply to protect her life. And this is yet another murder which doesn’t seem to matter.

If this had occurred in another country, there would be an outcry and a rejection of such acts of violence. What will be of this boy? Will he ever be capable of forgetting the sight of his mother in such a state? All we social leaders see today is indifference and a lack of solidarity from the Colombian people.

For as long as the Colombian government does not recognize that there is an extermination occurring of a population which supports this country, it is very difficult to see a possibility of stopping these killings of social leaders. How is it possible that Colombia has more than 700 leaders killed, and yet the government behaves as if nothing is happening; it is more concerned with events in Venezuela than the internal crisis which we are living.

I have protective measures granted by the International Court of Human Rights, having fought nine years for them to recognize that I was in a situation of extraordinary risk. A few days ago, they told me that they had an armoured car for me, but they did not provide gasoline because the National Protection Unit (UNP) has an economic deficit and this is impacting on security measures for social leaders. If there is not even money to fill the tank of a car, how are we to carry out our work?

The risk does not disappear. I have a security detail, but I live as if incarcerated 24 hours a day. I cannot go to the supermarket without two men accompanying me, I cannot go to buy underwear like any other women do. I rely on my security measures and I am thankful I have them, because I know that many leaders would still be alive if they had had similar protection. People often think that getting into an SUV is a luxury, but it (the situation) changes your life; you must sacrifice your intimacy.

“We are angry”: Francia Márquez, winner of the Goldman Enviroment Prize 2018

We are facing a criminal state, which by omission or intent, is permitting an ethnic, physical and cultural genocide of black, indigenous and rural communities in distinct social sectors, people who have believed in and put their weight behind the building of peace in this country.

It is structural racism which today allows that we women continue to be assaulted, or to be murdered as in the case of our companion, Maria del Pilar Hurtado. We are angry and we are brave, because it is not possible that a country which talks of peace has at the same time, such a hollow discourse towards peace, one which fails to stir those people from the cities who never had to endure the armed conflict, who do not know what it is like to experience bombardments nor comprehend what it means to have your children recruited. This is what is happening in Tumaco, Chocó and Cauca. This is what pains us. And for this I cannot applaud. I cannot smile.

We are the ones who said yes to peace and it is us who have provided the dead. Rivers run with blood, and end up being cemeteries as even our traditional ways of burying loved ones have been taken from us by the war. In spite of this pain, we are building peace, singing songs of life, and indeed defending our great home. We do not do this simply for the black population, but for humanity, and yet they continue to kill us.

Smoke screens: Audes Jiménez, coordinator for the Andean region of the Network of Afrolatinamerican, Afrocaribbean and the Diaspora Women

I ask the OAS to intervene and tell the Colombian government to stop using smokescreens to obscure the situation which the country is currently experiencing, and to concentrate on the serious problems facing social leaders in Colombia, in particular the problems (threats and violence) facing Afro Colombian women’s leaders in various regions.

We have a multitude of women being killed. The latest was Maria del Pilar Hurtado. We need that cases like these cease happening, that security measures are established and a true implementation of the peace agreements is made. No more. Enough is enough! We do not want to see the real reasons behind these killings continually subverted in an attempt to portray this violence as being unrelated to the issues of land restitution and rights.

Mr President, Ivan Duque, stop labelling these killings under different titles and searching for different causes. Maria del Pilar Hurtado and many more of those killed were claiming rights which the Afro population are entitled to. The government is looking at various ways to tear apart the peace agreement, legislatively and executively. Please do what the people are calling for, to really utilize what you have to complete your mandate as president. Don’t allow that lives continue to be lost in the country.

Many of the representatives assigned by the government to positions responsible for the guaranteeing of human rights do not fill us with confidence, above all the appointment (as Colombian representative to the OAS) of Alejandro Ordoñez, extremely conservative in his opposition to many of the gains made in terms of women’s rights and the rights of ethnic populations. His presence in the OAS is not marked by complying with the agreements the country is reaching, but by commenting on Venezuela, a country which of course has its problems, but Colombia has more.

*This article is a translation of an article from El Espectador which can be found at the following link https://www.elespectador.com/noticias/nacional/nos-siguen-matando-y-nadie-le-importa-mensaje-de-tres-lideresas-sociales-articulo-868283?fbclid=IwAR29G8vQ6NApz0tM0mJtuQO1ePam7YkuMrjFn4dwecVi9YPYwem12OCjGoo