Voices

"Who is responsible for prolonging the life of the planet?"

Who is responsible for prolonging the life of a planet? We humans are—but if we come to agreement. If we do not…. we begin to ignore ourselves and do not recognize the success of other cultures in the realm of the environment…. It’s a mission….of taking care of the planet, of taking care of the world, of maintaining order. It’s come to me to take care of this planet….It would be a disaster for this to not be taught to the children… as if we cut ourselves from the umbilical cord.

"We count... we are important."

[When lobbying], you have to be aggressive… define your goal and reach it… do not give up. By chance I met with a senator in the cafeteria. Our T-shirt stating ‘We are not the problem, we are the solution’ caught his attention. I informed him of our cause – he wanted us to know that he and many senators worry about the problems faced by immigrants. He invited us to eat lunch with him as a show of affection and wanted us to know that he supported us 100 percent. I took this as a sign that our cause does matter…and that there is hope.

"We would like to make the body the first territory for peace."

Human rights belong to everyone regardless of a person’s color of skin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. However, it is difficult to promote this idea in Colombia where people’s lives are guided by stereotypes of what it means to be a man or a woman.

"We have taken the most difficult path, but also the most just."

Victims can play a very important role in reconciliation. . . . Victims have a moral authority to speak out because having been assaulted, we have not taken the armed path, nor have we taken the path of vengeance to claim our rights. . . . We have taken the longest and most difficult path, but also the most just, which is the path of justice and truth.

"When a farmworker dies, they cry 'Victory! Victory!'"

We could say that it was a way to inflict terror on the farm workers. They had no other choice but to flee and save their lives. Those who died, died. Regrettably, CONIC (Coordinadora Nacional Indígena y Campesina) could not do anything. That same day we witnessed many houses being burned. An entire village was burned down.

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"Who is responsible for prolonging the life of the planet?"

"We count... we are important."

"We would like to make the body the first territory for peace."

"We have taken the most difficult path, but also the most just."

"When a farmworker dies, they cry 'Victory! Victory!'"

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