Peoples Travel Advisory for Colombia

 

Please sign this People's Travel Advisory for Colombia. If you would like your organization listed as an endorser, please send an email to JAMES@AFGJ.ORG 

The Colombian government has launched many campaigns to change the image of the country and present it as a safe and fun place for all the family, indeed, a tourist paradise. That is a lie, given that one of the worst human rights crises is in Colombia.

We have two simple and sincere demands:

• An end to the genocide against the social movements and the rural, indigenous, and Afro-Colombian communities;
• Fulfillment of the government’s obligations with respect to the Peace Accord.

We know this, that Colombia IS NOT a safe country, but a dangerous country for every person who desires a just peace!

Colombia is dangerous:

• For the more than 730 human rights defenders and social leaders who have been murdered since the implementation of the Peace Accord in 2016. They are being killed at a rate of one victim every 30 hours. The assassins are military and paramilitary troops that act with impunity.

Colombia is dangerous:

• For the ex-insurgents who have laid down their weapons in order to participate in the peace who, since the implementation of the accord, have lost more than 130 persons murdered by enemies of the peace.

Colombia is dangerous:

• For the indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities who constitute more than 40% of the victims of right-wing violence.

Colombia is dangerous:

• For the Marcha Patriótica popular movement for peace, whose members also are more than 40% of the victims.

Colombia is dangerous:

• For the more than 6,100 indigenous children in the Department of La Guajira, who have died from hunger and thirst, and the Wayúu communities who do not have food security while foreign mines rob their water and the Colombian and US government ignore them to invest in militarization and use their territory to foment interference and prepare for war against Venezuela.

Colombia is dangerous:

• For the more 8 million forcibly internally displaced and the more than 5.5 million of Colombian refugees in Venezuela. The majority of these are rural families and social leaders displaced due to the threats and assaults against them by the military and paramilitaries, and from the dispossession of their territories to satisfy the greed of big landowners, narco-traffickers, and foreign corporations.

Colombia is dangerous:

• For the tourist who dares to deviate from the official path. If a tourist wants to see the beautiful mountains and forests of Cauca, she may find herself in the midst of a military incursion against a rural community. If a tourist wants to learn about the rich traditions of the Wayúu people in La Guajira or César, he can find himself in the line of fire of paramilitaries assaulting an indigenous leader. If someone wants to celebrate the Afro-Colombian culture in Buenaventura, they will find themselves in a place without emergency medical attention, in a place where union leaders are under constant threat.

We are activists who have marched and demonstrated repeatedly for Colombia’s peace. We have written letters, called the authorities, visited their offices, signed declarations. But the Colombian government does not listen to us and does nothing to stop the genocide. The US government adopts policies that undermine the Peace Accord even more and enlist Colombia in internal wars and threats against her Venezuelan neighbors, but does nothing to support the peace.

Therefore, September 27, at Colombian embassies, consulates, and offices of tourism, we will observe the International Day of Tourism with international demands for Peace in Colombia.

Our message is: Colombia will not be safe for tourism, neither for the Colombia people, until the right-wing violence against the peace is terminated and Colombia becomes a land at peace.

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobe Prize Winner (Argentina)

Noam Chomsky, Author and international peace advocate (United States)

Daniela Gonzalez, People’s Human Rights Observatory (International coalition with headquarters in Oaxaca Mexico)

Bob Brown, All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party-GC (International)

Nidia Quintero, Treasurer for FENSUAGRO (National Unified Federation of Agricultural Workers Unions – Colombia)

Rodrigo Vargas Becerra, Director de Comité Permanente de Derechos Humanos, capítulo Cali (Colombia)

Héctor Marino Carabali, Consejo Comunitario Cuenca Río Timba Marilopez de Buenos Aires Cauca (Colombia)

Stella Calloni, Journalist and correspondent for Mexico City’s La Jornada newspaper (Argentina)

Carlos Romainville, Director of the Alpha and Omega Movement (Peru)

Dan Kovalik, Human Rights Defender and Author (United States)

Alice Loaiza, Marcha Patriótica, California Chapter (United States-Colombia)

Banbose Shango, National Network on Cuba (United States)

James Jordan, Alliance for Global Justice (United States)

Raquel Mogollón, Camino Común (Colombia-United States)

ORGANIZATIONS:

Permanent Committee for Human Rights (CPDH – Colombia)

People’s Human Rights Observatory (International coalition with headquarters in Oaxaca Mexico)

Alliance for Global Justice (United States)’

ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism – United States)

Fundación Lazos de Dignidad (Links of Dignity Foundation – Colombia)

Coalition Against Foreign U.S. Military Bases (United States)  

Task Force on the Americas (United States)

Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (United States)

Camino Común (Colombia – United States)