A group of Colombian expats decided to mobilize in order to promote support for the peace process between the government and the country’s largest insurgency, the FARC.
Colombians living abroad are mobilizing for June 10 in different cities of the world in an attempt to create awareness and express their support for Colombia’s ongoing peace process in Havana.
‘Mobilizacion por la paz en Colombia’ (Mobilization for peace in Colombia) is the slogan under which the Colombian expats will take over the streets of international cities in order to call for unilateral ceasefire, national dialog and democracy.
“The last three generations of Colombians have not lived a single day in peace. We have been engaged in an unbearable war has left misery and despair. The cost of the last 50 years of conflict has been high: A fragmented and distrustful society, millions of victims, billions of dollars of our national wealth devoted to the military budget at the expense of improvements in the quality of life of Colombian families . A spiral of violence where victims are all one way or another,” the group wrote on the Facebook page.
The peace talks, which began in November 2012, concluded the halfway point last month as both parties have agreed on three out of six points on the agenda aimed at ending the armed conflict in Colombia that has endured for half a century.
In spite of the advances made by both the armed group and the government, the peace process has an uncertain future as candidate Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, one of the two remaining in the second round, has promised to impose new conditions on the FARC that some critics fear could effectively end the negotiations.
The second round of Colombia’s presidential elections will take place on June 15 , and according to Colombian law, demonstrations are prohibited in the country 10 days before the elections.
However, Colombian expats will meet for peaceful demonstrations on June 10 in cities such as Washington, Brussels, London, Madrid, Caracas and Barcelona.
The mobilizations have been initiated by advocates of the peace process initiated by the administration of president Juan Manuel Santos who will fight Zuluaga in the second round of the upcoming presidential elections.
According to El Tiempo newspaper, those participating in the mobilization will be able to write their thoughts and suggestions which will be compiled in a book that will be sent to negotiators of the peace process in Havana.
Source
- Convocan movilización mundial por la paz de Colombia (El Tiempo)
- Mobilizacion por la paz en Colombia (Facebook Page)