It's the Other Way Around: Using people of African descent in an attempt to defend the interests of palm companies of Urabá

[Translated by Marlita Greenwald, a CSN Volunteer Translator. Edited by Teresa Welsh, a CSN Volunteer Editor.]

 

Bogota, March 1, 2011 According to information proceeding from Urabá, various buses with people from communities of African descent are heading to Bogotá to bring to life José Obdulio Gaviria's proposal for public protests.  They will protest those who accompanied the watershed communities of the Cacarica, Jiguamiando, Curbaradó rivers and the Peace Community of San José de Apartado in the claim of their territories from which they were violently displaced.  Between the organizations that have denounced the crimes committed there and accompanied the victims are The Interecclesial Commission of Justice and Peace and the Jesuit priest Javier Giraldo Moreno.

 

José Obdulio Gaviria and the supporters of this proposal (who are close to the retired General Rito Alejo del Rio and ex-minister Fernando Londoño Hoyos), have tried to convince protesters that the escorts want to seize the lands of Atrato, when actually it is the banana palm and lumber companies who have stolen their lands.

 

"It brings to light the perverse manipulation of people who are uninformed about the dramatic reality of the region and who are driven by feelings induced by those who harbor malevolent objectives," says a source from the Urabá region.

 

www.dhcolombia.com

 

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