Colombian human rights activists speak in Lynn

LYNN – Labor union organizers often have a short lifespan in Colombia. Just ask Bela Henriquez, who came to Lynn earlier this week to deliver a message about human rights and justice for workers.”My father was working with small scale farmers and fishermen in order to help them attain economic stability and independence. He was a wonderful father, husband and son. He was killed by the paramilitaries for his work, because the Afro-Colombian community that he was working with lives on valuable land that multinational corporations want to use for the cultivation of palm oil, used for biofuels,” Henriquez told an audience at the North Shore Labor Council offices at 112 Exchange St.According to Henriquez, an Afro-Colombian woman and activist from Santa Marta, Colombia, two thirds of all the human rights activists killed every year are Colombian. Standing up for human rights in Colombia means risking your life, she said.As a member of Hijos e Hijas por la Memoria y contra la Impunidad (Sons and Daughters for Memory and Against Impunity), she is engaged in efforts to promote peace and justice for Afro-Colombians in the Pacific coast region, the villages of Santa Marta and among the country’s young. She is also trying to protect Afro-Colombian and indigenous territories from exploitation.Henriquez was coincidentally joined during her visit to Lynn by Jose Diogenes Orjuela, a member of the National Executive Committee of CUT – the largest trade union federation in Colombia – where he serves as director of the Department of Investigations and Projects.”The two most serious situations facing Colombia right now are the possibility that the United States might reverse its current position and sign a free trade agreement with Colombia. This would be disastrous for our country for many reasons. The second problem is with the opening of seven Colombian military bases to U.S. troops, who would have the ability to launch attacks on other South American countries from Colombia. Our continental neighbors have already started an arms race in response to this perceived threat,” he said.The visits were sponsored by the North Shore Labor Council, the North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee and Colombia Vive. The event was entitled “Messages for Justice: An Afro-Colombia Perspective and a Trade Unionist Perspective on Human Rights in Colombia.”Jeffrey Crosby, president of the North Shore Labor Council, said despite the dangers, both advocates keep up the fight. “The best way to support trade unionists, Afro-Colombians and indigenous populations in Colombia is to lobby our own U.S. Congress and the White House here in the United States, to oppose the free trade agreement and to stand up against human rights violations in Colombia,” he said.