Latest news with #Afro-Colombian
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Peace has long been elusive in rural Colombia – Black women's community groups try to bring it closer each day
It's been almost nine years since Colombia celebrated a landmark peace agreement between one guerrilla group and the government, and three years since President Gustavo Petro vowed 'total peace.' But in reality, the country's decades-long internal conflict continues – making it one of the oldest in the world. Violence surged in early 2025, the most intense uptick in years. Fighting between two armed guerrilla groups in the northeastern Catatumbo region killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands more. Since the largest armed group – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC – signed the 2016 peace accord, more than 400 signatories have been killed. Meanwhile, more than 1,200 social leaders and human rights defenders have been assassinated. We often define peace as the absence of war. The problem with thinking about peace and war as an all-or-nothing binary, however, is that it obscures the violence that takes place in 'peaceful times.' For Colombians, that paradox is nothing new. In many communities most affected by the violence, thinking about a 'post-conflict era' feels utopian. As a Colombian researcher who has collaborated with Afro-Colombian leaders for over a decade, I have noticed that emphasizing peace talks and accords erases the historical violence that is still present, especially for racial minorities. Colombia has the largest Black population in Spanish-speaking Latin America. In Chocó – a region on the Pacific coast where I conducted my research – Afro-Colombians form a majority. Communities there are contending not only with the contemporary conflict, but also ongoing challenges from the legacies of slavery, colonialism and extractive industries. Many residents, particularly women, work together every day to try to bring peace and justice within reach. Colombia has been mired in war for over six decades, as legal and illegal armed groups across the political spectrum fight for territories and resources. The conflict is estimated to have killed around 450,000 people and displaced around 7 million. Black and Indigenous communities have disproportionately suffered the brunt of the war – especially in rural areas, where their lives and territories have been threatened by armed groups and companies alike. In Chocó Department, the site of my research, the region's remoteness and biodiversity have attracted illegal groups and practices like drug trafficking, as well as mining and other types of resource extraction that threaten traditional livelihoods. Mercury from industrial mining poses an additional danger to people's health and the environment. Black rural communities in the Pacific lowlands, where most of Chocó is located, have a legal right to collective ownership of their territories and to be consulted about development plans. In reality, land grabs and targeted killings over illegal crops, mining and other extractive practices have become the norm here, as is true throughout rural Colombia. The conflict has intensified racism and gender hierarchies, with Black women, particularly activists, especially vulnerable. Vice President Francia Márquez Mina, for example – who has won awards for her activism against illegal mining – survived an attack near her home in the nearby department of Cauca in 2019. She and her family have received other threats on their lives since then. Even in 'postconflict' times, peace is a challenging task. It requires social change that does not happen overnight. Rather, it is the accumulation of tiny sparks in people's daily commitments. In my book 'Postconflict Utopias: Everyday Survival in Chocó, Colombia,' I write about how Black women's organizations care for their territories and communities. The 'comisionadas,' for example, belong to one of the largest such groups in Colombia, called COCOMACIA. These women travel the Atrato River and its tributaries to lead workshops about the organization, as well as territorial rights and women's rights. Everyone in the community is welcome to participate in dialogues about issues such as women's political participation, land ownership and related legislation. Comisionada María del Socorro Mosquera Pérez, for example, wrote a song to share the importance of Law 1257, a landmark 2008 law against violence and discrimination against women. In her story for the research project that I discuss in my book, 'Mujeres Pacíficas,' comisionada Rubiela Cuesta Córdoba says it best: 'The best legacy that one leaves to family and friends is resistance.' One focus of these women's groups' work is the Atrato River itself. Since 2016, the same year of the peace accords, Colombian courts have recognized the river as a legal person, with rights to protection, conservation, maintenance and restoration. The river is a source of food and transportation between many basin communities where potable water, electricity and other amenities are scarce. But it is also intertwined with politics and spirituality. Pilgrimages like 'Atratiando,' a trip along the river and its tributaries that has taken place multiple times since 1999, highlight that there is no life without the river. Participants travel through areas where paramilitaries and guerrillas are active, showing solidarity with vulnerable communities. COCOMACIA's comisionadas are part of many other organizations – highlighting how survival is not only intertwined with lands and rivers, but other regions and countries. The struggle for women's rights has led the comisionadas to collaborate with other organizations, creating wider networks of care. These include La Red Departamental de Mujeres Chocoanas, a feminist coalition of women's organizations in Chocó; La Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres, a feminist movement of 300 organizations from across Colombia; and Women in Black, an anti-militarism network with members in over 150 countries. Their solidarity is a reminder that peace and justice are a collaborative, everyday effort. As Justa Germania Mena Córdoba, leader of the comisionadas at the time, told me in 2012: 'One cannot change the world by herself.' This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Tania Lizarazo, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Read more: Activism on foot: When Indigenous activists walk the land to honor their past and reshape their future Land acknowledgments meant to honor Indigenous people too often do the opposite – erasing American Indians and sanitizing history instead How Ecuador went from being Latin America's model of stability to a nation in crisis Tania Lizarazo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Ya Biladi
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Ya Biladi
South America : Morocco eyes countries still recognizing the «SADR»
Moroccan diplomacy, both official and partisan, has recently shifted its attention to several South American countries that recognize the «Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)». On Friday, May 23, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita welcomed Marta Lucía Ramírez, former Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, in Rabat. Ramírez, a member of Colombia's conservative party, now in opposition, also met the same day with Nizar Baraka, Secretary-General of the Istiqlal Party and Minister of Equipment and Water. «I shared with Minister Nizar Baraka our experience in successfully developing infrastructure concessions, enabling unprecedented construction over the past 50 years», she wrote on the platform X. This visit comes amid tensions within Colombia's left-wing government, in power since August 7, 2022. Vice President Francia Márquez, from the Afro-Colombian community, has publicly accused President Gustavo Petro's administration of «racism» and «patriarchy». President Petro reinstated Colombia's recognition of the «SADR» just three days after taking office—a move that sparked criticism from the upper house. On October 25, 2022, a majority of Colombian senators adopted a resolution expressing their «deep rejection and total disagreement» with the Foreign Ministry's decision to renew ties with what they described as a «separatist movement» claiming statehood, noting that «the vast majority of countries, including the United Nations, do not recognize it». Colombia is preparing for presidential elections in the summer of 2026. «The country needs a strong center-right candidate in 2026», Marta Lucía Ramírez told a Colombian media outlet last March. Ramírez's visit to Morocco coincides with that of Nabil Benabdellah, Secretary-General of the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS), who is visiting Venezuela and Cuba—two countries that also recognize the «SADR». In Caracas and Havana, Benabdellah is scheduled to meet with officials from the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and the Cuban Communist Party. The PPS has maintained cordial relations with these two leftist parties, currently in power in their respective countries. This renewed focus on countries recognizing the «SADR» follows a Moroccan diplomatic push in Mexico three months ago. That effort was marked by two key events: a speech by the President of the House of Representatives, Rachid Talbi Alami, in the Mexican Parliament, and a visit to Mexico City by Driss Lachgar, First Secretary of the USFP.
France 24
23-05-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Colombian VP accuses government of 'racism, patriarchy'
Francia Marquez, a trailblazing Afro-Colombian activist turned politico, launched an extraordinary broadside at her own colleagues, less than a year before a presidential election. "The role of vice president has not been easy," she told an event to mark the abolition of slavery Wednesday. "It hasn't been an easy task to govern in a country that has a racial state, and that has a government that practices racism and patriarchy." Her comments come as Gustavo Petro -- Colombia's first leftist president -- struggles to carve a legacy before he must leave office next year. His administration has been beset by cabinet resignations, infighting and a stalled legislative agenda. The president has called for a general strike later this month, in an effort to force hostile lawmakers to take his flagship labor and health care reforms. Marquez has had several public disputes with Petro, and was stripped of her role as equality minister earlier this year. But her barbed remarks went beyond previous criticism of Petro's administration. "When I arrived, I arrived with lots of wishful thinking," she said. "But I've had many obstacles put in the way of realizing the hopes and dreams of my people, my community and for this country."
Japan Times
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
USAID suspension shutters Colombia programs, endangering FARC peace deal
The global suspension of nearly all funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is shuttering peace and anti-gang programs in Colombia's most impoverished places, endangering the implementation of the country's 2016 peace deal with leftist FARC rebels, according to officials, people working with the agency and beneficiaries. The Trump administration's freeze of nearly all USAID funding has thrown humanitarian initiatives around the world into turmoil. In recent years, Colombia received as much as $440 million annually in USAID assistance for more than 80 programs, making it the largest recipient of the agency's funds in the Western Hemisphere, according to U.S. government data. Cuts will endanger implementation of the accord with the leftist FARC rebels, which includes efforts to cut the production of cocaine, said Colombia's former foreign minister, a lawmaker, an official who worked on USAID programs and another source with knowledge of the funding. Aid has funded reintegration programs for former rebels, including economic projects to employ ex-combatants. Even with international support for reintegration, some rebels, alleging failure to implement the FARC deal, began returning to armed groups as early as 2019. Parts of the country are still plagued by violence. President Gustavo Petro had pledged to end the country's war, but he has less than 17 months left in his term and has yet to ink any deals. Major armed groups like the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and former FARC who formed dissident organizations have internally fractured during Petro's term, undermining most negotiations. Luis Gilberto Murillo, who until January was Colombia's foreign minister and previously served as the country's ambassador to the U.S. and an adviser to USAID, said the cuts would affect numerous organizations focused on human rights, democracy, peace-building and helping Indigenous and Afro-Colombian people. People prepare their boats to navigate the Atrato River, in Quibdo, Colombia, on Saturday. | REUTERS "I think it will create more risk of violence and more vulnerability because the role of USAID programs in those regions has been decisive," he said. Cocaine production and trafficking — carried out by a constellation of rebel groups and crime gangs descended from former paramilitaries — are a top driver of continued violence. Cocaine's principal destinations are the U.S. and Europe. The Colombian government did not respond to a request for comment on the cuts and the effect on peace prospects. Neither did USAID or the State Department. The U.S. provided 42% of the foreign aid for implementation of the deal — which includes land reform and a transitional justice system to sentence combatants for war crimes — between 2018 and 2024, totaling some $1.26 billion, according to figures from Colombia's government. "The USAID cuts will have a significant, negative impact on the implementation of the peace accords," said James Hermenegildo Mosquera, a lower house lawmaker from Choco province who occupies a seat specially reserved for conflict victims. He said victim reparations and land reform will be affected, "increasing the risks of violence stemming from drug trafficking." Elizabeth Dickinson, senior Crisis Group analyst for Colombia, said: "A number of the projects that were canceled focused on providing alternatives to former farmers who had cultivated coca." Colombia's government was forced to reduce spending last year, and it could not be determined whether the country will make up for canceled aid or raise it from other donors. Choco, which boasts both Caribbean and Pacific coastline and borders Panama, has long been a strategic hub for drug trafficking and a stop for northbound migrants. It is the country's poorest province, according to the national statistics agency, and is populated mostly by Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities. People walk along a street in the El Reposo neighborhood in Quibdo, Colombia, on Saturday. | REUTERS Luz Mely Moreno, 25, now a student, grew up in a gang-controlled neighborhood in the provincial capital Quibdo. She says she was on the verge of joining a criminal group before taking part in a mentorship program at USAID-funded national anti-gang program Jovenes Resilientes, or Youth Resilience. The organization has had contracts with USAID every year since 2021, mostly for programs categorized as "conflict, peace and security" and for as much as $14.3 million total annually. It was set to receive more than $3 million in funding in 2025 but, instead, has closed its doors and let all its staff go. "Before, I didn't study, I didn't know what to do, I was rude, undisciplined," Moreno said. Youth Resilience's mentorship gave her a chance to imagine a different life, and now she is studying psychology at a local university. "Today, I am a woman who has achievements and goals," she said. Moreno fears without the program other young people will be lured by gangs: "They will fall back into drugs, they will fall back into criminal gangs because we have been rendered hopeless." Wilmer Serna, a coordinator for the Youth Resilience program, attends a meeting with members of his community in Quibdo, Colombia, on March 7. | REUTERS Funding of $60 million for "Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment in Central America" was cited by U.S. President Donald Trump in his recent address to Congress as an example of "appalling waste." Colombia is in South, not Central, America. The program mentioned by Trump is one of USAID's most successful in Colombia, according to former foreign minister Murillo, who himself is Afro-Colombian and from Choco. At least two current cabinet members have benefited from scholarships through the program, which has had bipartisan support from U.S. governments since the administration of George W. Bush, he said. "Young people have been left at the mercy of illegal groups and in a state of defenselessness," said Wilmer Serna, coordinator for Youth Resilience, which also provided entrepreneurship opportunities, sports and music lessons before it shut down. He said USAID was its only source of funding. Youth Resilience, which had 30 offices nationwide, reached about 60,000 young people with its programs, according to a post on LinkedIn by its former director, who did not respond to questions. The Quibdo office rehabilitated some 200 gang members, Serna said, and documents from the organization show it provided opportunities and mentorship to more than 3,100 youths. A ceasefire between three gangs has cut Quibdo's homicide rate by more than half since December, but officials say social programs such as Youth Resilience are as important as ongoing negotiations to continue the city's truce past a March 31 expiration. "We must, necessarily, move forward with the route of ... dialogue with the gangs, but at the same time, we must continue with other actions, including social ones," said Francisco Vidal, Choco's secretary of government. Thousands in the province have been displaced this year by clashes between the ELN rebels and the Clan del Golfo crime gang. The aid freeze undermines peace efforts in rural Choco, said one source who worked on a USAID program implementing the 2016 deal there, and production of cocaine and migrant flows could rise. The source, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said it was unlikely other armed groups would want to negotiate their own peace agreements if the FARC deal is not fully implemented.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
USAID suspension shutters Colombia programs, endangering FARC peace deal
By Alfie Pannell QUIBDO, Colombia (Reuters) - The global suspension of USAID funding is shuttering peace and anti-gang programs in Colombia's most impoverished places, endangering implementation of the country's 2016 peace deal with leftist FARC rebels, according to officials, people working with the agency and beneficiaries. The Trump administration's freeze of nearly all funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has thrown humanitarian initiatives around the world into turmoil. In recent years, Colombia received as much as $440 million annually in USAID assistance for more than 80 programs, making it the largest recipient of the agency's funds in the western hemisphere, according to U.S. government data. Cuts will endanger implementation of the accord with the leftist FARC rebels, which includes efforts to cut production of cocaine, said Colombia's former foreign minister, a lawmaker, an official who worked on USAID programs and another source with knowledge of the funding. Aid has funded reintegration programs for former rebels, including economic projects to employ ex-combatants. Even with international support for reintegration, some rebels, alleging failure to implement the FARC deal, began returning to armed groups as early as 2019. Parts of the country are still plagued by violence. President Gustavo Petro had pledged to end the country's war, but he has less than 17 months left in his term and has yet to ink any deals. Major armed groups like the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and former FARC who formed dissident organizations have internally fractured during Petro's term, undermining most negotiations. Luis Gilberto Murillo, who until January was Colombia's foreign minister and previously served as the country's ambassador to the U.S. and an adviser to USAID, said the cuts would affect numerous organizations focused on human rights, democracy, peace-building and helping Indigenous and Afro-Colombian people. "I think it will create more risk of violence and more vulnerability because the role of USAID programs in those regions has been decisive," he said. Cocaine production and trafficking – carried out by a constellation of rebel groups and crime gangs descended from former paramilitaries – are a top driver of continued violence. Cocaine's principal destinations are the U.S. and Europe. The Colombian government did not respond to a request for comment on the cuts and the effect on peace prospects. Neither did USAID or the State Department. The U.S. provided 42% of the foreign aid for implementation of the deal - which includes land reform and a transitional justice system to sentence combatants for war crimes - between 2018 and 2024, totaling some $1.26 billion, according to figures from Colombia's government. "The USAID cuts will have a significant, negative impact on the implementation of the peace accords," said James Hermenegildo Mosquera, a lower house lawmaker from Choco province who occupies a seat specially reserved for conflict victims. He said victim reparations and land reform will be affected, "increasing the risks of violence stemming from drug trafficking." Elizabeth Dickinson, senior Crisis Group analyst for Colombia, said: "A number of the projects that were canceled focused on providing alternatives to former farmers who had cultivated coca." Colombia's government was forced to reduce spending last year and Reuters could not determine whether the country will make up for canceled aid or raise it from other donors. Choco, which boasts both Caribbean and Pacific coastline and borders Panama, has long been a strategic hub for drug trafficking and a stop for northbound migrants. It is the country's poorest province, according to the national statistics agency, and is populated mostly by Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities. Luz Mely Moreno, 25, now a student, grew up in a gang-controlled neighborhood in provincial capital Quibdo. She says she was on the verge of joining a criminal group before taking part in a mentorship program at USAID-funded national anti-gang program Jovenes Resilientes, or Youth Resilience. The organization has had contracts with USAID every year since 2021, mostly for programs categorized as 'conflict, peace and security' and for as much as $14.3 million total annually. It was set to receive more than $3 million in funding in 2025 but instead has closed its doors and let all its staff go. "Before I didn't study, I didn't know what to do, I was rude, undisciplined," Moreno told Reuters. Youth Resilience's mentorship gave her a chance to imagine a different life and now she is studying psychology at a local university. "Today I am a woman who has achievements and goals," she said. Moreno fears without the program other young people will be lured by gangs: "They will fall back into drugs, they will fall back into criminal gangs because we have been rendered hopeless." "APPALLING WASTE" Funding of $60 million for "Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment in Central America" was cited by U.S. President Donald Trump in his recent address to Congress as an example of "appalling waste". Colombia is in South, not Central, America. The program mentioned by Trump is one of USAID's most successful in Colombia, according to former foreign minister Murillo, who himself is Afro-Colombian and from Choco. At least two current cabinet members have benefited from scholarships through the program, which has had bipartisan support from U.S. governments since the administration of George W. Bush, he said. "Young people have been left at the mercy of illegal groups and in a state of defenselessness," said Wilmer Serna, coordinator for Youth Resilience, which also provided entrepreneurship opportunities, sports and music lessons before it shut down. He said USAID was its only source of funding. Youth Resilience, which had 30 offices nationwide, reached about 60,000 young people with its programs, according to a post on LinkedIn by its former director, who did not respond to Reuters questions. The Quibdo office rehabilitated some 200 gang members, Serna said, and documents from the organization show it provided opportunities and mentorship to more than 3,100 youths. A ceasefire between three gangs has cut Quibdo's homicide rate by more than half since December, but officials say social programs such as Youth Resilience are as important as ongoing negotiations to continue the city's truce past a March 31 expiration. "We must, necessarily, move forward with the route of (...) dialogue with the gangs, but at the same time we must continue with other actions including social ones," said Francisco Vidal, Choco's secretary of government. Thousands in the province have been displaced this year by clashes between the ELN rebels and the Clan del Golfo crime gang. The aid freeze undermines peace efforts in rural Choco, said one source who worked on a USAID program implementing the 2016 deal there, and production of cocaine and migrant flows could rise. The source, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said it was unlikely other armed groups would want to negotiate their own peace agreements if the FARC deal is not fully implemented.
