The Colombia Support Network (CSN) is organizing a delegation to Colombia for January 17-29, 2020. We will begin our visit with our Wisconsin sister community, the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado in northern Antioquia Department, then travel to Medellin for meetings with human rights workers there. Then we will travel to Bogota, where we plan to meet with Colombian Government officials and attorneys who drafted or negotiated parts of the Peace Agreement, progressive members of the Colombian Congress and of citizen organizations, human rights NGO’s and labor union leaders. We plan to discuss the successes and difficulties in implementation of the Peace Agreement, and the effects upon civil society, as well as the continuing attacks upon civic leaders in rural and indigenous communities.
After our 5-day visit to Bogota, we will travel to Bucaramanga to meet
with leaders of civic organizations and human rights workers to discuss water
source protection issues, opposition to multinational corporations’ mining
plans, human rights protections, and effects of the arrival of thousands of
Venezuelans to Bucaramanga. We plan also to travel to Santurban and the town of
California to discuss resource protection and artisan mining issues with
artisan miners. We will return to Bucaramanga and fly to Bogota on January 28,
ending the delegation there on January 29.
The cost to participate in the delegation is $1,800.00, including all transportation within Colombia, lodging and meals as well as the services of a professional translator, who will accompany us in Bogota. This does not include round-trip airfare from the United States to Colombia. Please send us an email to jlaun515@gmail.com or to csn@igc.com or give us a call at (608) 203-6218 if you are interested in going on the delegation, or have questions about the delegation.
Jack Laun
Co-Founder and Program Director of CSN