National Mobilization of Women to Chocó for the Demilitarization of Land and Civilian Life

1.12.05

On November 25, thousands of women gathered in Quibdó, Chocó, a region of mostly Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities. The following is their statement:

It is possible to transform pain into a song,
To paint death with blue, so it is no longer pain,
To tickle it into laughter, and spread to all those present…

At 6:30 in the morning of November 25, International Day of NO Violence against Women, the Peaceful Path (Ruta Pacífica) and its majestic caravan of buses entered the city of Quibdó after women from regions all over Colombia traveled by road 40, 50, even 60 hours the various distances from their homes.

The women of Ruta Pacífica showed our indignation over the abandonment and neglect to which Chocó State has been subjected historically. Now, women from many corners of the country are witnesses to this reality.

It took us 24 hours to travel less than 70 miles, a trip that on a normal road would take about two hours. The roads of Chocó are the most forgotten in the country, and this has direct consequences for the deterioration of people’s quality of life as they pay high costs for gasoline, food and all goods coming from outside, in addition to serious restrictions on their mobility. This is just one more indication of what happens in Chocó, a region without roads, without adequate health and public services, a region excluded and discriminated against by the Colombian government, which is primarily responsible for this neglect.

Rich in biological diversity, Chocó is, paradoxically, the most impoverished state in Colombia. The humanitarian crisis experienced here brings together poverty and war, and in the midst of this violence, women, girls and boys are the most affected.

We don’t accept this, we are not silent, we do not resign ourselves to this reality of neglect and violence. The women from the Colombian states of Putumayo, Cauca, Cartagena, Antioquia, Risaralda, Cauca Valley, Bogotá, Santander travel in solidarity with the women of Chocó, who with characteristic joy welcomed us with embraces.

We women are here in Chocó, accompanying the women and men in this struggle to defend life. We have traveled hundreds of miles to unite in a single voice, to say from the innermost place of our feminine beings that our lives and our bodies do not want to continue being pierced by war.

We say too that the people of Chocó deserve to live in dignified conditions. For that reason women and men must continue to work arduously to defend their rights, lands, and autonomy.

The women of Ruta Pacífica are present in Quibdó this November 25 to leave a witness in the history and present of this country that we do not want or accept this war that destroys, nor the peace that oppresses.

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