Rebuilding Peace in Colombia

The roots of Colombia’s armed conflict runs deep. According to Darío Mejía, a social leader of the Zenú people, the fight for peace and equality dates back to the arrival of Spanish colonizers on the continent. This episode explores why the 2016 peace accord’s commitments on land reform are critically important for Indigenous social leaders, and how the current fight is the culmination of 500 years of oppression.

Rebuilding Peace was created by the Washington Office on Latin America for the Con Lideres Hay Paz Campaign. If you would like to learn more about the campaign and this podcast, please head over to conlidereshaypaz.org.

Five decades of conflict displaced millions of Colombians from their homes, disproportionately impacting Afro-descendant and Indigenous Colombians. Many arrived in the city of Cali, including Erlendy Cuero Bravo. This episode explores the work Erlendy has done to bring attention to government neglect of displaced communities in Cali, especially in neighborhoods like Llano Verde where Afro-Colombians are concentrated, and where the murder of five boys in August 2020 sparked outrage.

Rebuilding Peace was created by the Washington Office on Latin America for the Con Lideres Hay Paz Campaign. If you would like to learn more about the campaign and this podcast, please head over to conlidereshaypaz.org.

Buenaventura, a Pacific port city in Colombia, is coveted by economic and criminal interests. The people of Buenaventura have been caught in the middle of brutal battles to control their homes and the land they live on. Danelly Estupiñán, an Afro-Colombian social leader, is part of the effort to give power back to the people and pave a new path for peace.

Rebuilding Peace was created by the Washington Office on Latin America for the Con Lideres Hay Paz Campaign. If you would like to learn more about the campaign and this podcast, please head over to conlidereshaypaz.org.

Peace in Colombia is in a tenuous place. Leyner Palacios, an Afro-Colombian social leader from Bojayá, believes the atmosphere is worse than it was leading up to the 2002 massacre in his hometown. This episode explores the problems undermining peace in Colombia after the historic 2016 peace accords, and how the work of social leaders is crucial in keeping peace alive.

Rebuilding Peace was created by the Washington Office on Latin America for the Con Lideres Hay Paz Campaign. If you would like to learn more about the campaign and this podcast, please head over to conlidereshaypaz.org.

This series from the Washington Office on Latin America will share the stories of social leaders in Colombia who, every day, under threat to their lives, search for truth and work toward reconciliation, fight for justice for victims of the Colombian conflict, and ensure the government lives up to the guarantees it made to ethnic and rural communities in the historic 2016 peace accord. Social leaders often face off with a Colombian government that refuses to admit its failures, and they stand up to armed groups terrorizing their communities. Hundreds of them have been killed, yet they persist. In this series you will hear why, directly from them.

Rebuilding Peace was created by the Washington Office on Latin America for the Con Lideres Hay Paz Campaign. If you would like to learn more about the campaign and this podcast, please head over to conlidereshaypaz.org.