Stand by Colombia's Victims of Violence

Major changes in the U.S. Congress. A new government in Colombia that’s more open to dialogue, but threats against human rights defenders and community leaders still on the rise. Pressure building to move forward with a harmful U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

With everything that’s going on right now, we can tell that we’ll need a lot of help from you to promote peace and justice in U.S. policy towards Colombia this year. So while you’re filling in your calendar for the next six months, we wanted to make sure you get these Colombia to-dos on the list:

In this winter moment when we begin to think of “peace and good will to all,” we thought you might like to see this report by our colleague Virginia Bouvier of the US Institute for Peace. Her insights offer a bit of cautious hope for the prospects for peacemaking in Colombia.

How do you unearth the many narratives of violence, repression, and displacement of families and communities that have never made it into Colombia’s official history? How do people who have experienced so much destruction and death even find the strength to tell these stories, relive this pain? And how do you make sure that these people, if they do speak out, are heard?

Click here to find out how you can amplify the voices of Colombia’s silenced.

We’ve got just one simple, but crucial action for you to take today:

Join our new Facebook campaign “Stand for Land Rights in Colombia” and help us grow the movement for change in U.S.-Colombia policy.

We know that Juanes’ good looks and smooth voice holds a special power over throngs of fans worldwide, but it wasn’t until last month that we learned that he can actually stop bullets. When Juanes returned to his hometown of Medellín to join local musical and civil society groups in a concert on International Peace Day in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, Comuna Trece, they convinced hundreds of members of the city’s violent gangs to commit themselves to peace.

Afro-Colombian communities in the past year have faced increasing threats of displacement and violence. On September 21st, LAWGEF joined the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and other partner organizations in organizing a public event in DC where Clemencia Carabali Rodallega, a prominent Afro-Colombian leader, spoke about the dire situation that many communities are in today. The following video and quotes were taken from that event.