One odd thing about some parts of Colombia’s social movement is that while they are being savagely repressed, they also win various international prizes from mainstream institutions. The Nasa of Northern Cauca, for example (described in the ‘indigenous autonomy’ post in the ‘goodbye maggie’ zblog), particularly in Toribio, are experiencing the occupation of the national security forces who have detained some members of their community arbitrarily and, at the end of 2003, shot others, and were in the same situation in February when I visited. They also won a UNDP prize for sustainable development on February 19…
Luz Perly Cordoba, president of Accion Campesina de Arauca, was arbitrarily detained and has been since February 18 of this year, in Bogota — imprisoning social leaders is part of Colombian President Uribe’s noble struggle against ‘terrorism’ — and on March 31, she won a Peace Prize in Denmark. The prize was awarded in Copenhagen by the mayor Per Bregengaard. She was selected for her defense of human rights in the country — for both the award and the repression, no doubt.
Luz Perly could not be at the ceremony, of course.
