Colombia: the new wave of social protest and the dirty war against the people

Documentary Screening and Discussion with Javier Orozco, Colombian Refugee and Trade Unionist. Tue. 8th Nov. Galway Public Library, Augustine St., 6pm

Colombia: the new wave of social protest and the dirty war against the people

Documentary Screening and Discussion with Javier Orozco, Colombian Refugee and Trade Unionist

Tue. 8th Nov.

6 pm

Galway Public Library, Augustine St., Galway

 
Colombia has a reputation for the human rights abuses in the middle of the ongoing social and armed conflict. Little is known about the resistance movement and popular resistance to war-mongering and to the economic and political model structurally linked to war. At the heart of this popular struggle lies the key to understand the current conflict and the persistence of human rights violations in Colombia. This year has witnessed a dramatic increase in popular struggles all over the country: students, oil workers, peasants, poor communities, indigenous groups. As a result, the dirty war waged by the system has got even dirtier. Massacres are on the raise and so are military actions all over the country.
 
In February 2010 a human rights delegation from Asturias visited Colombia for the sixth time to record the humanitarian crisis in the country. They were harassed by the army sand they were denied access to interview political prisoners in the infamous prison of Valledupar, La Tramacúa, where a number of political prisoners have died this year out of ill-treatment, torture and deprivation. But the managed to cover the situation in the departments of Antioquia, Caquetá, Cauca, Cesar, Putumayo, Bolívar y Cundinamarca. In all of these places, they corroborated the dramatic humanitarian situation and the systematic abuse of the military and their death squads against the population.But most importantly, they give a voice to those who day to day struggle for a just Colombia, for a new country which belongs equally to all of its offsprings.
 
The results of the mission and many interviews were recorded in a docummentary (subtitled to English for the first time). This will be screened to open up a debate on the situation in Colombia.
 
The coordinator of this commission, Javier Orozco, a person with a deep knowledge of the Colombian conflict and with an international reputation for his work for human rights, will present the documentary and will be available for questions and answers from the public.  
 
Javier Orozco Peñaranda (50), is an ex member of the national executive of Colombia's main trade union (CUT), ex member of the national council of peasant and indigenous organisations of Colombia,  he's been a refugee in Spains since 2001 (after a death squad put a price on his head) and now he's the coordinator of the programme for temporary asylum for Colombians victims of violence in Asturias.