Activists Rally to Support Colombia’s Broken Hearted: We’ve Got the Pictures!

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Last week, a group of intrepid activists came together to raise awareness about the serious human rights issues that the Colombian government is seeking to hide with their recent campaign “Discover Colombia through its Heart.” Here are some great pictures shot of actions during the week by Brandon Wu from Public Citizen.

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  As the Colombian government handed out free coffee and 25,000 flowers to the public at Union Station, the No More Broken Hearts campaign organized a protest out in front to get their message out: the best way for the US to support the people of Colombia is to recognize their struggle, aid victims of the violence, and stand up for human rights, rather than passing free trade agreements or giving more military aid to their government.

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The Colombian government had their hearts.

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So did the protesters.

No FTA banner floating in Union Station.

 

That day, they launched the campaign–figuratively and literally.

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The teamsters came out to support murdered Colombian union leaders.

Some people set up a theatrical tableau to demonstrate how a free trade agreement would break Colombians' hearts.

They set the tableau up under the central banner for the "Colombia is Passion" campaign. The US government gives a FTA to US corporate interest.
Corportate interests pay paramilitaries who kill and displace innocent civilians.

US government feigns concern for fallen human rights defender.

The event attracted much media attention, drawing Spanish and English language news crews to the scene.

A representative from the Colombia Human Rights Committee talks to a reporter.

Near the end of the rally, the group created a memorial to victims of violence at the base of a heart using the flowers that had been handed out earlier that day and their signs that had pictures of victims, facts about Colombia, and religious symbols.

Protesters gather their materials for the memorial.

Creating the memorial at the base of a heart that talked about U.S.-Colombia trade relations.

Click here to view a video of them creating the memorial despite efforts to destroy the evidence by the "Colombia is Passion" representatives.

Final memorial.

For the rest of the week, the group continued to flyer and do street theater near the hearts. They will keep going until they pass the torch to their New York counterparts when the hearts move to Grand Central Terminal on September 22nd.

Activists handed out and posted hundreds of flyers around DC.

Click here to learn more about the "No More Broken Hearts" campaign.

Click here to join LAWG's efforts in raising awareness by writing letters to the editor with the truth about Colombia.