“La gente la estan matando, por que?”i By Charo Mina Rojas1 October 13, 2008 On October 7th, 2008 Armenio Cortes, an Afro-Colombian leader, a member of the Community Council of Alto Mira y Frontera, in Tumaco, Nariño was murdered by an unknown man. Only three months ago, another leader from this Community Council, Felipe Landazuri, was assassinated by paramilitaries in Candelilla de la Mar (Tumaco), and Martha Cecilia Obando Ramos, representing an organization of internally displaced women, was murdered in Buenaventura. No one has yet been arrested or prosecuted for these crimes. Armenio was a leader highly recognized by his strong commitment to defend Afro-Colombian rights, and improve the difficult situation of his community.

Armenio’s is the fourteenth life taken this year by violence in an attempt to terrorize communities and silence the voices of the Afro-Colombian community leaders who stand up to protect their collective lands from legal and illegal mono-crops, which are dangerous to the environment and soil quality, and to their culture. The Community Council of Tumaco, in the department of Nariño, has been continuously harassed and threatened since 2007, due to their strong opposition to the legal and illegal large scale projects imposed in their collective territories. Despite their constant denunciations of the situation, the communities and leaders have not received

protection, and crimes against them have been committed with impunity. The Community Councils along the Pacific Coast are especially vulnerable to attacks and death threats because of their decision to oppose the economic developmental projects imposed on them – such as large scale cultivation of oil palm– which affect their territorial, environmental, economic and cultural rights; rights that they continue defending at the cost of their lives. The situation of the Community Council and their leaders illustrates the severity of the problem facing the Afro-Colombian communities because of the economic ambitions external forces have for their collective territories, countered only by their determination to exercise their autonomy, defend their rights, and to define their own future. Since the Pacific Coast Region was identified as the “door to the 21st century”, and the Afro-Colombian communities were empowered by Law 70 of 1993, this ethnic group has been permanently harassed and had its physical and cultural integrity threatened. Since the first collective titling of their ancestral lands in 1996, they have seen massacres, massive displacement, assassination of their leaders, fumigations, and financial losses. These relentless persecutions are happening under the impassive, many times complicit, attitude of 1 Member of the Association for the Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians –USA (AFRODES USA), and the Network for Advocacy in Solidarity with Grassroots Afro-Colombian Communities (NASGACC). charo@io.com

the government and the insensitivity of the broader society. The plight of the Afro-Colombian communities in the Pacific Coast – and everywhere else where their rich lands are the target of the legal and illegal economic drive – is becoming an unbearable and immoral situation that the Colombian government and the international community and its legislatures must condemn. The President Uribe’s government has consistently shown that it has no political will to bring effective solutions for the situation the Afro-Colombian communities have endured for centuries. There are sophisticated legal instruments and sufficient resources available for the government to sit at the table with legitimate Afro-Colombian organizations, and to define development projects that respect, enhance and guarantee the economic, social, political and cultural advancement of the black people. Nevertheless, the Colombian government, under the President Urbe’s administration, disregards these opportunities to support Afro-Colombian rights and protective legislation. Several legislative and economic projects have been passed completely without consultation of the ethnic group, in violation of both national and international law and even the Colombian Constitution. The Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. is a clear evidence of President Uribe’s disinterest in Afro-Colombian rights. The current situation of Afro-Colombian Community Councils in the Pacific Coast, their constant harassment and murder of leaders, is proof of the structural discrimination and exclusion of the Afro-descendants in Colombia, particularly those that have not acquiescence to the despotic regime of President Uribe and the intolerance of armed groups. As the song says “los de izquierda y de derecha, los del centro y los de afuera, los hijos estan matando, quien sostiene la bandera?”ii (those from the left and the right, from the center and the outside, are murdering (our) children, who will holds up the flag?). It seems there is a systemic strategy to make sure Afro-descendants in Colombia do not hold up the flag of peaceful resistance, building their own lives and standing up for democracy and freedom. We must stand up in support of the Afro-Colombian communities’ struggle. We must condemn the genocide of Afro-descendants in Colombia. Murder, massacres, threats and fumigations must stop! We must tell to our representatives and members of Congress to urge the Colombian government to act timely and effectively to guarantee the protection of Afro-Colombian communities, Community Councils, organizations and leaders, as the law and the Constitution mandate. We must urge our representatives to NOT vote the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Genocide, impunity and anti-democracy in Colombia must end before fare trade can happen. i“ The people are being murder, why?” From the song “Resistencia”, in the album “Una pruebita” produced by the Church World Service and the Asociacion de Mujeres Afrodescendientes por la Vida (AMAV). Pacifico Colombiano. ii “Como llora mi Colombia”. Yalile Quiñonez (Afro-Colombian composer, singer and community leader). From the album “Una pruebita”.