Afro-Colombian Leaders Speak Out! COLOMBIAN COMMUNITIES UNDER SIEGE

[Akyeame Kwame]

Afro-Colombian Leaders Speak Out!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COLOMBIAN COMMUNITIES UNDER SIEGE

Afro-Colombian Leaders Speak Out!


African descendants in Colombia comprise 26% of
Colombia's total population, making it the third
largest African Diaspora population in the Western
Hemisphere (after Brazil and the United States).
After many years of organizing, Afro-Colombian and
indigenous people secured collective land rights in
Colombia's 1991 Constitution to their ancestral lands
along Colombia's Pacific coast, where African
descendants comprise over 80%-90% of the population.
Assf Afro-Colombians began filing for collective land
titles, they were massacred by Colombia's U.S.-funded
military working in close collaboration with brutal
illegal paramilitaries, creating massive displacement.
Paramilitaries are now illegally occupying these
lands, growing, among other things, coca plants used
for cocaine. This has triggered U.S. funded aerial
chemical fumigations, poisoning this most bio-diverse
ecosystem in the hemisphere as it creates new waves of
Afro-Colombian displacement. The United Nations has
called Colombia "a humanitarian catastrophe", in which
Afro-Colombians are now disproportionately impacted.

Zulia Mena has been at the forefront of the struggle
for Afro-Colombian and women’s rights in Colombia for
most of her life. Born in the northwestern Colombian
province of Chocó, which is 90% African descendant,
Zulia, formally trained as a social worker before
leadership role in the development of new legislation
regarding Afro-Colombian rights following the
ratification of Colombia’s new constitution in 1991.
Subsequently, Zulia was elected to Congress in 1994,
serving four years as Colombia’s first ever
Afro-Colombian congresswoman. Today, Zulia continues
her work in Chocó as a community organizer and social
worker. She has addressed international audiences and
policy makers in Europe, the United States and
throughout South America, speaking about the situation
of Afro-Colombians, human rights and ethnic
minorities, women in Colombia, land rights, and
citizen participation in democracy, among many other
themes. Zulia has received several awards for her
commitment to community organizing and her work has
been published in various books, magazines and
interviewed newspapers, including the New York Times.

In a multi-city tour beginning in North Carolina and
ending in Chicago, Illinois, Zulia Mena will address a
broad audience including: policy makers; the President
of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights;
local universities; and civil society groups working
in solidarity with Afro-Colombians to end the
conflict. During Zulia’s visit to Washington, DC, The
Afro-Colombian Working Group[1], will host two key
public events:

Lunch presentation at Global Rights: Partners for
Justice on Monday, October 16, 2005 from 12:30 –1:30
pm
Breakfast discussion at the Inter-American Dialogue on
Tuesday, October 17, 2005 from 8:30-10:00 am

Zulia is available to share her experience with press
during her visit. To schedule an interview with Zulia
Mena, or for more information about the crises in
Colombia in Afrodescendant and rural communities,
please call:

Carlos Quesada 202-822-600/
carlosq@globalrights.org

Zakiya Carr Johnson 202-361-7276/
zscarr@yahoo.com



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[1] The Afro Colombian Working Group is coalition of
organizations/individuals working together since 2002
to promote more effective US policies and develop
regional and international strategies to address the
situation of communities of African descent in
Colombia. The Group works on a number of issues
affecting Afro-Colombian communities including: Peace
building; Environmental Justice; Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights; Rights of the Internally Displaced
Communities in Colombia; Democracy; and Political
Participation. The Afro-Colombian Working Group is
chaired by Marino Cordoba and Zakiya Carr Johnson and
meets regularly in Washington, DC.