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Afro-Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba honored
in Newark
Senator Piedad Córdoba with Dr Norma Jackson
of the NLJ Foundation. Senator
Córdoba is a lawyer by trade and as Dr. Jackson said in her introduction, “Senator Cordoba is recognized
for her tireless efforts to obtain the inclusion of Colombian minorities in all aspects of society... The humanitarian agreement
that would allow the release of all kidnapped individuals presently in the jungles of Colombia is part of the Senator’s
daily struggle. She strongly opposes a military solution to the armed conflict in Colombia. Jackson added that, “Senator Cordoba has been the victim of many attempts against her life, was kidnapped
twice and forced into exile in Canada for criticizing the long armed conflict in Colombia.” Piedad Esneda Córdoba Ruiz – the niece of Diego Luis Córdoba, the leading politician
behind the creation of the state of El Chocó – has become well-known in her home country as the principal figure
behind a peace movement that has helped to free civilian hostages caught up in the fighting between the government and guerrilla
forces. In 2007, Colombia’s President Álvaro Uribe had
named Córdoba the official government mediator to help free hostages being held by groups like the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). But as Piedad began negotiations and brought
in Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to aid her, the Uribe administration backed away from supporting her efforts. Together, Senator Córdoba and President Chávez have been able
to broker the release of at least 22 hostages, with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross and with logistical
aid from Brazil (the government claims the rebels have some 700 hostages under their control). And Piedad’s group, Colombianos
por la Paz/Colombians for Peace (www.colombianosporlapaz.com), has become an important voice in the struggle for negotiating a peace to Colombia’s on-going civil war. The
organization has spoken out in opposition to the Uribe’s administration’s current path of fighting for peace by
attacking the guerrillas with the nation’s military. “The government
really has to make a logistic choice to work for peace, but they just haven’t done that because Uribe is more interested
in liberating the hostages militarily,” Senator Córdoba told me in a conversation. “On the part of the government, the discourse towards peace is just not there
– even though the majority of Colombians want peace.” The senator noted that Uribe has won admirers in the
United States, even among Colombians who now reside here. She believes that because these Colombians no longer live
in their native land, they have had to rely on media images of Uribe, which paint him as bringing security to the country. But while the Uribe administration has brought greater security to some areas,
it has more pointedly contained the fighting against the guerrillas in other areas. And the bulk of those areas are
in districts with large Afro Colombian populations. “The majority of the victims of the military stance the government
has taken are Afro Colombians,” the senator noted. While in
the United States, Senator Córdoba spoke with representatives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and TransAfrica and asked them to support her organizations’ push for peace in Colombia. The senator’s group, Colombianos por
la Paz, has recently faced obstacles from the Colombian media because they are so steadfast in their push for peace:
“We are being labeled as terrorists by the government, but we’ve been able to instill in Colombians the idea that
we can not live in peace while some 50,000 people have been disappeared or while some six million people have been displaced
from their lands. Our money is going to fund the war instead of building schools or hospitals. We’ve gotten
people to understand that we should at least have a dialogue about this.” |
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