I sometimes wonder when I sign urgent actions and petitions what impact they have. Do leaders listen? Are our concerns heard? One thing is certain – our partners on whose behalf we write these urgent actions most certainly do hear and appreciate our solidarity.CoDev’s partner NOMADESC recently asked us to share this letter of appreciationwith all those who have raised their voices in defense of their work for social justice in Colombia. CoDev also thanks all of you who have taken the time to write letters and send messages of support – your solidarity is clearly appreciated by those on the frontlines of the struggle for a better world.Here is the original letter in Spanish, with the English translation below.NOMADESC
Santiago de CalíOctober 1st, 2015Dear friends of CoDevelopment Canada and unions in solidarity with ColombiaOn behalf of the team at NOMADESC and the organizations with which we carry out our work of prevention, attention and defense of human rights in the southeast of Colombia, we wish to extend our warmest greetings of friendship and brother- and sisterhood.With this letter, we want to express our profound thanks for all your work on urgent actions regarding cases of threats and persecution against members of NOMADESC and the arbitrary arrest of ACIN’s indigenous leader Feliciano Valencia. Thank you for taking the time to carry out actions of prevention and defense of the rights of those of us who continue dreaming of justice and social transformation in Colombia.The work that you do is an important demonstration of solidarity, struggle and resistance in the midst of a world where social humanism has lost its value thanks to the imposition of the economic interests of a few, who wish to eliminate the possibility of thinking differently, and who persecute those of us who work to defend the rights of everyone.Thank you for accompanying us in this difficult work of defending the right to life, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, and bringing these issues to the attention of world leaders – in this case, Colombian leaders, who favour international economic interests over the rights of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in our country.Thanks to your solidarity, those who violate human rights in Colombia know that we are not alone, and that important sectors of workers, human rights defenders, labour activists and humanists in Canada are aware of these injustices and demand respect for human rights defenders’ safety and freedom.Talking about peace cannot continue to be simply a discourse of Government of Colombia; to talk about peace is to talk about respect for the rights of human rights defenders, social movement leaders, and union leaders. To talk about peace is to talk about social justice, respect for difference, social transformations, truth, the inclusion of marginalized sectors, and above all, guaranteeing that the barbarity and extreme violations of human rights historically committed against the leaders of Colombia’s organized movements never be repeated.Thank you for defending the right to solidarity of the peoples of the world.A fraternal hug,Berenice Celeita A.Director of NOMADESC