Josefina Restrepo
The Forum of Sao Paulo, an entity that brings together leaders and representatives of social movements and parties of the Latin American left, condemned the dramatic situation suffered by the people in Colombia, which this week claimed the life of another leader in the southwestern department of Putumayo.
The participants spoke in favor of the peace process with the FARC guerrillas, but they are also in favor of maintaining the dialogue table with the ELN.
The genocide against social leaders in Colombia was rejected by the participants in the Sao Paulo Forum. “They can not continue to be killed, three or four people a day,” claimed Stella Calloni, intellectual and journalist from Argentina, one of the personalities that participated in the XXIV Forum of Sao Paulo held in Havana, Cuba, between July 15 and 17.
Calloni, considered that by allowing this massacre of leaders, the outgoing president, Juan Manuel Santos, is betraying the effort to achieve peace, a longing present in thousands of Colombians, who have demonstrated in recent days in favor of peace and against genocide. Therefore, she believes that this is the moment for the Colombian people to demand that the signed peace agreements be complied with and respected, but also that those that are not signed, be signed, so that the country is able to abandon the culture of death.
During the three days of the Forum, the participants discussed and debated different issues that affect the region. The Forum reiterated its anti-imperialist spirit and declared itself in favor of integration and regional solidarity. The leftist leaders who attended the Sao Paulo Forum ratified their willingness to remain united in diversity.
During the event a review of the problems and successes of some countries was made. The political crisis in Nicaragua was condemned, the triumph of Manuel López Obrador of the Morena party in Mexico was discussed. Among other topics, was the role of intellectuals in societies, youth and new leadership, and the growing role of women.
The participants addressed the Colombian issue with concern. Some highlighted that, despite the result of the recent elections, where for the first time a left option reached a little more than eight million votes, there is a genocide against social leaders of the peoples and communities.
“I think that all the participants in the Forum are very expectant regarding the peace process in Colombia. In Argentina we suffer the consequences of a military government and we see how in Colombia political activists die and disappear every day,” said Ariel Basteiro, an Argentine trade unionist.
While MEP Ana Miranda, from the group of the Greens and the European Free Alliance, said that social leaders can not be stigmatized or targeted for assassination. “I was just in Colombia during the first and second round of the first elections, but some peace agreements that may be in doubt, limited by the new president and that worries us. We already criticized at the time that the European Union did not send a lasting electoral observation commission, but simply two technicians. The possibility of dialogue with the ELN should be obligatory because otherwise the agreements will be in a fragile balance, “said the MEP who also attended the Sao Paulo Forum.
Óscar Rivera, the Puerto Rican independence activist who was imprisoned for 35 years and 11 months, said that peace and dialogue are indispensable for the stability of Colombia, therefore, he exhorted that the dialogue efforts continue that are currently stalled by the changes of government.
“As a Human Rights Defender, as a promoter of the peace process that culminated in the agreement signed in Havana, I not only defend it, but I call on the world to protect these agreements so that Colombia does not return to that violent war”, said former senator Piedad Córdoba who also attended the Forum.
The call for peace in Colombia was also made by Evo Morales, the Bolivian president, who presided over the closing ceremony with the presidents Manuel Sánchez Cerén of El Salvador, Nicolás de Maduro of Venezuela and the Cuban host, Miguel Díaz Canel. Morales said that Latin America should be a region of peace. In that sense, the Bolivian leader criticized South American governments, such as Colombia, who requested their entry into NATO, because it is against the peace efforts that have been made in the region.
430 delegates from Latin America and Europe participated in this important meeting.
