They try to silence the voice of the people, but we will never give up the dream of real peace for Colombia. In this fight, we have nothing to lose; on the contrary, we have everything to gain.
She lights up in the Colombian night; she is like a constantly erupting volcano: Luz Perly Córdoba Mosquera is a mother, peasant, student, trade union worker and a fighter for life. Committed to the core to the fight against the injustices suffered by her people, she is an international representative for her country. She never rests. She leads, organizes and manages collective efforts that work towards the fulfillment of a dignified life.
I could not stand it anymore / Doing nothing / before my people’s night,/ I could not stand it anymore / And declared myself to be a fighter for life,/ Renewing the hope / That they want to snatch from us. (Fragment of a poem by Kenny Rodríguez) My father taught me my first letters and, when the time came for me to go to school, he proved his love for me. There was no school in my village and because of that my father decided that we had to move to another village. We left our plot of land and moved away. He was not able to be a peasant anymore and became a factory worker again. Luz Perly Córdoba Mosquera is a woman of rural and indigenous origins. Her fight began when she was an adolescent campaigning for the rights of the Colombian rural workers. What disconcerted me was that, in spite of the exploitation of petroleum in our region, we received no benefits, only more taxes to pay. This woman is a mother, a student, a trade union activist, a peasant, an ex-political prisoner, who has worked for the promotion and defense of integral human rights. She has developed community projects, given aid to political prisoners and she works untiringly for the organization of the peasant sector. This work has made her the target of State intolerance or victimization to the extent of needing protective measures from the OAS (Organization of the American States), Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. For her exceptional work, she was granted the Danish Peace Price, in 2004, as she was also granted a three month stay in prison. As in other cases, the government treats those who fight for social change with prosecution in the courts. In spite of the political persecution and the humiliations she has suffered, she has not given up her ideal: to see peace and social justice in Colombia.
National Federation Union of Unitarian Farming Arauca’s Peasants Association
Latin America and the Carribeans | Colombia