The May 2019 Newsletter:

Colombian Social Movements: Resisting Extinction

Articles on

· 25 April National Strike

· Infrastructure, Corruption and Conflict in Colombia

· The Dirty War : 600 Assassinated in 30 months

Operación Dragon: At Last Some Accountability

Colombians Join XR Protest

The struggle against Cerrejón Coal

Colombia Solidarity Campaign meets monthly. Next meeting is at 6.30pm on Monday 20 May in Central London. For details, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

https://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/Colombia-Solidarity-Campaign-168664289837542/

Attachments:

Newsletter May 2019 Final.pdf

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URGENT ACTION: Black Eagles Death Threats to Wayuu Women’s Force

We denounce stigmatization, persecution and threats

We declare ourselves in permanent defence of

Wounmainkat – Our Land,  Wüinkat – The Water,

Kataa o’u  - Life and Anajirrra A'in – Peace.

This time the threats have been targeted towards our movement and the people it comprises. We have completed 14 years of tireless work, in which our only weapon has been The Word that we raise in defence of what we consider just, for the protection of Wounmainkat – Our Mother Earth, our rights and the right to life in peace.

We denounce and repudiate the new strategies of threats that have been carried out this time by “Aguilas Negras - Bloque Capital D.C.” through fake profiles on social media that, since April 29 at 3.50 pm, have published a flyer in which we are persecuted, stigmatised and threatened.

We refer here to the facts in detail which demonstrate a new collective threat against our movement Wayuu Women’s Force - Fuerza de Mujeres Wayuu - Sütsüin Jiyeyuu Wayuu, and which specifically identifies the names of persons in our movement:

We have received news of the assassination of three young members of the Inga Indigenous people in Putumayo. Elkin Farit Sigindioy Chindoy, Armando Mutumbajoy Muchavisoy and Jaime Alirio Becerra Chindoy, between 22 and 24 years of age, who belonged to the community of Oso Cocha-Yunguillo in the Municipality of Mocoa-Putumayo, were viciously murdered by gunfire on 6 October 2018 by unknown actors. The Inga people of Colombia, who live in Caquetá, Cauca, Putumayo and Nariño, are facing physical and cultural extinction because of the armed conflict, drug trafficking, mining, oil exploitation and indiscriminate damage to the Andean and Amazonian forests.

The original denunciation of the murders is in Spanish on the ONIC website.

We have received news of renewed death threats against our friends in The Wayuu Women’s Force – Fuerza de Mujeres Wayuu-Sütsüin Jiyeyuu Wayuu (FMW-SJW). FMW-SJW are among the more prominent critics of Cerrejon Coal (owned by London-listed multinationals Anglo American, BHP and Glencore). They report receiving threats from notorious paramilitary organisation Águilas Negras (Black Eagles) for “hindering the development of the country” – a coded reference to objecting to mining and other large-scale economic projects.

The Cerrejon coal mine

By Richard Solly, member of Colombia Solidarity Campaign and Co-ordinator of London Mining Network

In August I participated in a delegation to the province of La Guajira in Colombia,  organised by US-based Witness for Peace. We visited communities affected by the Cerrejon Coal mine, owned by London-listed mining multinationals Anglo American, BHP and Glencore.

Wednesday 17 October, Beyond BHP: protesting the world’s biggest mining giant 10am to 11am outside the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster, London SW1: demonstration against BHP as it prepares for its AGM inside the building

Wednesday 17 October, 6pm to 9pm, Beyond BHP: protecting lives from the world’s biggest mining giant 6pm-9pm at UCL Institute of Education, London: Public event with speakers from Brazil, Chile, Colombia and the USA and creative contributions from Threepenny Festival Arts Association

Join us 13-20 October for eight days of art, discussion and protest with leading environmental human rights defenders visiting London from Latin America to share their experiences resisting the world’s largest mining company, which has been devastating communities with impunity for decades. For more information about our Colombian visitors and what they need see below: