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This action has now been completed. On May 14, 2004, almost 300 Amnesty International activists and supporters circled a paper chain consisting of over 3000 links around the Human Rights Monument in Ottawa to show our support for and solidarity with the brave human rights defenders in Colombia. We then marched through downtown Ottawa to Parliament Hill where we circled the Peace Flame with our chain. Each link in the chain carried a message written onto the paper link by a concerned individual. We have transcribed these messages and will send them to the various Colombian human rights groups (CREDHOS, ASFADDES, etc) along with photos from the event. We also plan to create a post card showing photos of the event and some of the messages. These postcards will be mailed to a Colombian official (possibly the president) to remind the government of Colombia about its duty to protect and promote human rights in Colombia. Many thanks to all those who contributed and collected messages for our chain. |
Colombia Paper Chains Project Group 64 helps launch the 'Paper Chains for Colombia' project. Click Here
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The
Official Story When Time Where |
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Click
to View Full Sized Poster For more information, please contact
AI
Toronto Regional Development Coordinator
416 363 9933 ext.33 |
Quilts
for Colombia See
the Quilt Postcards When Time Where Admission |
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The Solidarity Quilt Project
The students in the picture all helped work on the quilt. Friday was our "quilting bee" held in the chapel at St. Mark High School in Manotick. The quilt was on display in the school yesterday. We will continue to display it until we need to send it. The Manotick Messenger...(local paper) did a story on the the quilting bee... I have not yet seen the article. peace
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Don't
Let It Happen Again!
We had gathered at the Peace Garden in Toronto, not only to remember the consequences of that massacre. We had a message for the crowd of 100: "Don’t Let It Happen Again! Help human rights organizations to prevent further massacres. Help human rights defenders continue their daily work. Let’s Keep Them Alive!"
We had chosen a public event to highlight our worries for the work of CREDHOS, the Corporación Regional para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos. Its members in Barrancabermeja have vociferously denounced the massacre. They have received death threats and have been harassed. In recent weeks, several neighbourhoods on the east side of Barranca have been occupied by the paramilitaries who have cut phone lines for thousands of residents, and published a "hit list" targeting community leaders. As participants in the CREDHOS Action File, we wanted to share with the Canadian public our task of keeping these human rights defenders alive by keeping the spotlight on them. To draw the attention of the downtown lunch crowd, the Colombian band Palenque enlivened the square with their voices and drums. Our MC, Mary Lou Creechan, then described what CREDHOS is and why Amnesty International is supporting the right of its members to safely do their human rights work. She noted that the international effort on the Action File includes groups in Canada, Netherlands, Sweden and UK. Our Secretary General, Alex Neve, spoke eloquently about the horror and confusion of May 16, 1998 and about the need to honour the memory of the disappeared by doing all we can to stop the killing and the human rights abuses. Alex was joined by Jim Hodgson from the Interchurch Committee on Human Rights in Latin America, a group that has actively pursued justice in Colombia. He expressed solidarity for the members of CREDHOS and for Amnesty International’s Year-long petition campaign.
The event featured the final collection of signatures on a giant petition to Colombia’s President Pastrana. On hand to add their organization’s names were representatives from the Canadian Auto Workers Union, Pueblito Canada, the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Council for Refugees and several local refugee groups, the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, the Toronto Council for Development and Peace, three Colombian solidarity groups and a student from Bayview Glen Senior School who signed on behalf of AI youth groups in the Toronto area. Last to add her signature was a woman who had been in Barrancabermeja on May 16, 1998.
Our information display sported a large map of Colombia, colour photocopies of CREDHOS members and the Barrancabermeja area, our new CREDHOS brochure, and the petition that drew close to 100 signatures in one hour.
Many were moved by the event, and feedback was very positive. One woman was so inspired that she took a blank copy of the petition with her, and collected 500 signatures within days! From the Canadian Colombian Association:
From the Canada -Colombia Solidarity Group:
The May 16th event provided a strong ending to the CREDHOS petition campaign, with more than 2500 signatures in support of CREDHOS gathered from people in the UK and across Canada. We will be moving ahead now, strengthened by the solidarity of those who signed the petition or attended the event, and inspired by the courage of the CREDHOS members who are working against incredible odds to support human rights in their community. |
MAY
16, 2001
Nathan
Philips Square
Peace Garden
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On 30 July 1992, Ligia Patricia Cortez Colmenares, a member of Corporación Regional para Los Derechos Humanos (CREDHOS), was killed in Barrancabermeja, Santander. Circumstances surrounded her death suggest that this was an extrajudicial execution. Ligia Patricia Cortez's killing occurred shortly after the secretary of CREDHOS, Blanca Cecilia Valero de Duran was shot at point blank range upon leaving the CREDHOS office on 29 January 1992. According to reports, three policemen witnessed the attack but did not respond to her cries for help or attempt to capture the assailants. One civilian-hired assassin involved in the killing of Blanca Cecilia was tried and sentenced. However, written statements from two Colombian naval officers submitted to the Fiscalia General de la Natión, Office of the Attorney General implicated Col! onel Rodrigo Quiñonez Cárdenas, intelligence director of the Colombian Navy and other members of the armed forces. The military court in which they were tried cleared senior officers of any involvement in the killing committed by the intelligence network. |
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