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.
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.
The Colombian government had their hearts.
So did the protesters.
That day, they launched the campaign–figuratively and literally.
Some people set up a theatrical tableau to demonstrate how a free trade agreement would break Colombians' hearts.
The event attracted much media attention, drawing Spanish and English language news crews to the scene.
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.
Click here to view a video of them creating the memorial despite efforts to destroy the evidence by the "Colombia is Passion" representatives.
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.
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.
