AfroColombian Events in NYC

New York Premiere of Chocó

New York Premiere of Chocó
Friday, March 29, 2013
7:40pm
TriBeCa Cinemas
View the Trailer Here
Buy Tickets here

We are very excited to promote Chocó, which is one of the most groundbreaking AfroColombian films and will be having its New York Premiere during the 1st Annual Colombian Film Festival in New York. Chocó, a critically acclaimed film, has been selected for a number of international film festivals including, the 62nd International Film Festival in Berlin, the Latin American Film Festival in Washington, D.C., and the Latin American Film Festival of Sidney, Australia.

Chocò is the story of a woman from the Chocó region in the pacific coast of Colombia. Chocó – also the name of the main character – is played by Colombian Karent Hinestroza. She’s an unemployed Afro-Colombian mother and wife who had to leave her land and move to another region within the department. She’s forced to take care of her 8-year-old daughter, 6-year-old son and jobless husband, who spends his time neglecting his family.

The film sheds light on the daily lives of the people of Chocó, especially in terms of their displacement, illegal mining and unemployment, forcing the Colombian public to recognize the department’s struggles, said Faride Ortiz, a film critic and sociologist at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Juanita Llano, a psychologist who specializes in domestic violence, says of the film “The film tells us that these issues are far from ending in our country. It is a clear example and a call to authorities to be more rigorous in bringing these aggressors to justice. The story of the main character is the story of many women in Colombia and throughout the world. Chocó is just the stage on which the issue played out."

*Information about the film taken from: "Chocó: The film that’s surprised Colombians" by Carlos Andrés Barahona for Infosurhoy.com. Read the full article here.

View the Trailer Here

Buy Tickets here

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AfroColombian Events in DC

An Ongoing Search for Justice and Security in Colombia’s Afrodescendent Communities

Lessons on Nonviolent Resistance, Activism, and Action from Afro-Colombian Leaders

Presented by WOLA, AfroColombia NY, AFRODES USA, AFRODES Colombia, Colombia Land Rights Monitor, Global Rights, LAWGEF, PCN International, Peace Brigades International, USOC, and Witness for Peace.


Featuring:
Marcos Velázquez
Self-Determination, Life and Dignity Community (CAVIDA), Cacarica, Chocó

Danelly Estupiñan
Black Communities Process (Proceso de Comunidades Negras, PCN), Buenaventura

Pedro Cortés
National Association for Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians (Asociación Nacional de Afrocolombianos Desplazados, AFRODES) USA

Liliana Ávila
Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace (Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz, CIJP)

Thursday, March 14, 2013
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Washington Office on Latin America
1666 Connecticut Ave NW
4th Floor Conference Room

To RSVP, please click here. For more information or for press inquiries, please contact Adam Schaffer at aschaffer@wola.org or +1 (202) 797-2171.

To view the live stream of the event in Spanish, please click here.

Simultaneous translation from Spanish to English will be provided at the event.
 
As violence against human rights defenders and local communities continues in Colombia, distinguished Afro-Colombian leaders will offer their first-hand analyses of past developments and continued challenges facing the communities of Colombia’s Cacarica River Basin in northwestern Chocó. The communities have fought for their right to self-determination and collective land rights after being forcibly displaced in 1997 due paramilitary abuses and military operations.

After three years of living in squalor and being subjected to numerous abuses in the port city of Turbo, a group of 1,200 Afro-Colombians encompassing 23 communities decided to form the Self-Determination, Life and Dignity Community (CAVIDA). Three years later, they returned to their lands. Since then, these communities have non-violently confronted further displacement by the armed actors operating in the area and illegal encroachment of wood and banana companies in their territories.

In March 2013, members of the CAVIDA community testified before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in Costa Rica in the landmark Marino López et al. (Operation Genesis) case. Marcos Velázquez has been subjected to death threats, intimidation, and defamation campaigns due to his activism seeking justice for the Afro-Colombian victims of Operation Genesis and for respect of Afro-Colombian collective land rights and self-determination. Liliana Ávila, legal counsel in the Operation Genesis case, will also present.

Meanwhile, in Buenaventura, Colombia, the security situation has significantly deteriorated due to fighting between illegal armed groups linked to narco-trafficking. In October 2012 alone, the Catholic Church reports that over 30 people were murdered, hundreds displaced and at least 35 shootouts took place in civilian areas. In January 2013, the Bishop of Buenaventura called for an investigation by national authorities of the mass grave of dismembered bodies. Women in particular have become the targets of horrific sexual and violent attacks by the illegal armed groups. Faced with this grim scenario, brave leader, Danelly Estupiñan, of the Black Communities Process (Proceso de Comunidades Negras, PCN), is working to seek justice for atrocities and to prevent further violence.  

Following the murder of AFRODES activist Miller Angulo in Tumaco on December 1, 2012, AFRODES organized a seminal protest at an event with Vice President Garzón calling on Colombia to take action to protect Afro-Colombian leaders facing grave security risks. AFRODES’s advocacy, accompanied by activists in the United States, has led Colombia’s National Protection Unit (Unidad Nacional de Protección, UNP) to develop a pilot collective protection project with AFRODES for Afro-Colombian leaders in the cities of Cartagena, Quibdó, Buenaventura, Tumaco, Soacha, and Cali. With the February 23, 2013, murder of Demetrio López of the Community Council of la Caucana and further attacks against AFRODES members, security remains a high concern for this community. Pedro Cortes, an AFRODES USA member and a Fulbright PhD student at Howard University, will present on AFRODES’s efforts to address this problem.

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