Authorities in the southwest of Colombia have agreed to honor the demands of a sex strike last week organized by 300 women in a small town in southern Colombia.
For 38 days, 300 women in the town of Barbacoas have participated in a “strike of crossed legs” denying their husbands sexual favors until a road that connects their town to the rest of Colombia is paved. The men of Barbacoa also joined the women in protest by launching a hunger strike.
The road is in such bad condition that it currently takes 12 to 14 hours for residents to reach the nearest hospital, which has resulted in many unnecessary deaths.
Now it appears that Colombian authorities have yielded to the women’s effort. In a meeting that included the director of major projects of the National Roads Institute, the acting governor of Nariño and a representative from the Army, it was decided that paving would start on the road on October 11.
According to Diego Fernando Enriquez, a family judge and promoter of the protest, the army would begin working immediately to set up depots for equipment and supplies.
“Something very important for us is that the project was reported in the national budget and that the project includes construction of the whole way,” said Enriquez.
At first, $22.5 million will be made available to pave the section between the towns of Junin and Buenavista. The stretch from there to Barbacoas is in the most critical need of repair.
Despite the promises of the government, the women announced that the sex strike would continue until October 11 when construction actually begins. “The Barbacoan community is aware that there have always been many promises made here that have never been kept,” said the group in a message.
For two decades people of the town of Barbacoa have been expected the government to pave the 35 miles between their town and the next. So far less than 10 miles have been paved.