Urgent Action: Sign the Petition to the U.S. Embassy to Protect Colombian Social Leaders

Colombian Human Rights Attache

To: Colombian Human Rights Attache
From: [Your Name]

On November 5th, 2022, members of the Association for the Constitution of the Miranda Peasant Reserve Zone (ASPROZONAC) including Briceida Lemos received direct threats by illegal armed groups active in the region. The threat was signed by the self-proclaimed Western Coordinating Command of the FARC-EP - Dagoberto Ramos Front and demanded that social leaders in the area leave their territory within 24 hours or be declared a military target along with their families. Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective (WFPSC) urges the United States Government to ensure the implementation of the 2016 Peace Accords and Emergency Plan for the protection of social leaders, human rights defenders and signatories.

Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective (WFPSC) calls for solidarity with the campesinx leaders of northern Cauca who are receiving direct threats from illegal armed groups present in the region. These ongoing security risks and conditions threaten lives and force leaders to relocate from their homes.

Social leaders in Colombia continue to be targeted. The department of Cauca remains the most dangerous in the country to be a social leader. In 2022, over 158 social leaders, mostly Indigenous, Peasant and Afro-Colombians, were murdered.
WfPSC accompanies the grassroots peasant process of the Association for the Constitution of the Miranda Peasant Reserve Zone (ASPROZONAC). Members Briceida Lemos and Leider Valencia have been working for the full implementation of the 2016 Peace Accords since it was signed, especially with regard to Comprehensive Agrarian Reform.

Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective calls for the solidarity of people living in the United States and requests the Government of the United States as an international ally of support in the implementation of the 2016 Peace Accords to urge and encourage the Colombian Government to effectively implement the Accords and the Emergency Plan for the protection of social leaders, human rights defenders and signatories of the Peace Agreement.

WFPSC is collecting this petition to send to the U.S. Embassy!