It is difficult to believe that we have been here for 4 days. We arrived at the hotel in Bogotá very late on Thursday evening but were walking the 10 blocks to Synergia office by 8 the next morning. Synergia is an organization that provides institutional and organizational training to DP partners in the country; the one who is responsible for our solidarity visit. The day was filled with many speakers to give us an overview of the reality in Colombia. We were all a bit overwhelmed including our young translator, Fray Martinez, who is great but I'm sure didn't know what he was getting himself into.
The first speaker, Camilo Castellanos, described the social and political context of the country. Over the last 60 years Colombia has been involved in an armed conflict. 3-5 million people have been displaced from their land because of violence leaving approximately 7 million hectares of land abandoned leaving it open for the para-militaries, guerrillas or multinational interests to take it over. The displaced are mostly Indigenous,Afro-Colombians and campesinos and they have been subjected to violence of all forms. Colombia held presidential elections last fall which ended 8 years of a neo-liberal and confrontational government under former President Uribe. President Santos, the new president, has the same policies but a more conciliatory and inclusive approach. There seems to be an opening for some change for those who have been disenfranchised. Two important parts of Santos’ new policies are the National Development Plan which is focused on 5 elements or motors of development, 2 of which touch our partners directly, namely mining and agriculture. The economic policies of President Santos are focused on agriculture and mining. The mining policy is very relevant to Canadians, since we have just signed a free trade agreement with Colombia and the Canadian mining sector that has been investing heavily for years in the country and is now going to be investing even more. This concerns us as Colombia is known for its rampant human rights
violations, displacement and environmental abuses.
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