Social movements and organizations fighting against El Quimbo Dam (to be installed in Magdalena River) joined the demonstrations.

Real World Radio’s correspondent in Colombia and member of Censat Agua Viva – Friends of the Earth Colombia, Danilo Urrea, was present in the mobilization in Bogota, capital city of the country, and interviewed MOVICE’s representative Yuri Neira and a member of the National Peasant Coordination and the Lands, Territories and Sovereignties Congress, Camilo Álvarez.

Neira highlighted that the demonstration was peaceful despite the
“boycott” by the police and that the mobilization served to “deny” the statements by the national government of the victims being guerrilla members.

The MOVICE leader also made reference to the slogan “Lands, Displacement and Restitution”. He warned that “many farmers tried to recover their lands and have been murdered”. “70 people were murdered in two years”, he concluded.

Meanwhile, Alvarez warned that the relationship among the Colombian government, the companies and the paramilitary groups is “still in effect” and that this issue should be addressed directly. He also expressed his “deep solidarity” with all the people affected by the “cases of displacement caused by mining”.

Photo: Gert Steenssens / EsperanzaProxima.net (sent by Danilo Urrea).