Criminalizing farmers' activism in Colombia
Criminalizing farmers' activism in Colombia
By Fernanda Sánchez Jaramillo | April 4, 2016
Alexander Guzmán Romero was five years old when his mother died. His father raised him and six siblings and at the age of ten, he started working on someone else's farm to be able to afford groceries and clothing.
He completed elementary school when he was 18 years old and afterwards, continued working to support his family, including two relatives with special needs.
Guzmán Romero became aware of the social problems in his beloved Sumapaz, Colombia one of the biggest moor in the world, located south of Bogotá.
Sumapaz is a rich ecosystem and the place where several rivers rise. For this reason, it has attracted transnational companies such as Emgesa, a Colombian electric power company, which wants to produce hydroelectricity.
Guzmán Romero was a locally elected representative and became a visible leader of this region. He wasn't afraid to denounce human rights violations by the military; he also couldn't keep silence when corporations showed interested on Sumapaz' hydropower potential.
More:
http://rabble.ca/news/2016/04/criminalizing-farmers-activism-colombia?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rabble-news+%28rabble.ca+-+News+for+the+rest+of+us%29
