Colombian Activist Sandra Cuellar: Still Missing
BLOG POST posted on March 19, 2011 by dawn
Sandra Cuellar
Sandra Cuellar with sugar cane cutters
Sandra Cuellar disappeared, state crime
scott brison
Sandra Cuellar, a teacher and environmental activist, went missing on February 17th on her way to Palmira, a town near the city of Cali in southwest Colombia. Two days later her ID and her phone were found, in an area near to where she was supposed to get on the bus.
Since then, nothing.
Sandra is 26 years old, an active environmentalist and educator who worked with a variety of grassroots organizations in Colombia. Her disappearance is one example of the ongoing terror that people in Colombia have to contend wtih on a day-to-day.
When you learn about something like this, it's really easy to feel powerless and frustrated and angry. As if there wasn't enough shit happening in the world, this young activist has been disappeared in Colombia. A country that the Canadian government and the Colombian government want us to believe is now experiencing some kind of "peace."
Yea, right.
Just imagine this happened to a friend of yours, who went to get on the bus after a meeting and want missing for a month. This isn't normal. This is a form of terrorizing her family and the entire activist community.
Now I can imagine that about the least soothing thing in this situation is to think of some turd like Scott Brison, but I'm gonna bring him up anyways, because in my mind he's partially responsible for this. He has tirelessly egged on the paramilitary-narco-government in Colombia, dressing them up with nice language about "legal" economies, demobilization, and human rights (HA!). Brison is a Liberal MP from Nova Scotia who promised that human rights in Colombia would, like, for sure totally improve if Canada signed a free trade agreement with Colombia. From his cushy office in Ottawa, he was the number one backer of the deal.
But it's Sandra who's disappeared, while Brison is busy gallavanting around promoting yet another free trade agreement, this time with Ricardo Martinelli's repressive right wing regime in Panamá.
It's about enough to drive a person mad.
Well, Sandra's family and friends have requested that a sample letter they wrote be translated and sent to Colombian embassies around the world. It's below in English and Spanish along with a bunch of email addresses.
Sorry this can't be better news. Here's hoping that Sandra will soon be back with her family and with her community.
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Colombian ambassador to Canada: Ambassador Clemencia Forero Ucros
c/o: consul@embajadacolombia.ca, ministro@embajadacolombia.ca,
Dear Ambassador,
After more than three weeks of fruitless searching, Sandra Viviana still hasn't returned to her home and to her social life. Sandra Viviana Cuellar Gallego is a 26 year old youth, an environmental engineer who stands out from the crowd through her spiritual, artistic, cultural and professional values. Sandra Viviana has always been a woman with an attitude of profound solidarity and a serious commitment to social and environmental justice. She spearheaded the protection of the wetlands of the Cauca River, promoted the practice of agro-ecology and campesino markets, started cultural and legal processes and environmental education aimed at protecting water as a public good and forests as vital biological and cultural spaces. Sanda Viviana is, without a doubt, a woman of great worth to her family, to society, and to environmentalism.
We continue to demand that the governments of Cali, of Valle de Cauca department, and the national government, who are those responsible for the safety of thier citizens, provide us with an appropriate and rapid response that permits Sandra to return to society and to her family.
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HERNAN JAIME ULLOA VENEGAS
hernanulloa@presidencia.gov.co
Director del Programa presidencial de Derechos Humanos y Derecho Internacional Humanitario
WOLMAR ANTONIO PEREZ ORTIZ
Defensor del Pueblo
Calle 55 No. 10 – 32 Bogotá D.C. Fax. 640 0491
secretaria_privada@hotmail.com
MANUEL TORRES MONERO
Personero Municipal de Santiago de Cali
JORGE IVÁN OSPINA
Alcalde de Santiago de Cali
Modelo de Carta:
Después de 15 días de búsqueda infructuosa de Sandra Viviana aún no ha sido retornada a su hogar y a su vida social. Sandra Viviana Cuellar Gallego es una joven de 26 años, ingeniera ambiental, que destaca por sus valores espirituales, artísticos, culturales y profesionales. Sandra Viviana ha sido una mujer con una profunda actitud solidaria y un gran compromiso con la justicia ambiental y social. Ha impulsado la protección de los humedales del Río Cauca, promovido prácticas agroecológicas y mercados campesinos, impulsado procesos culturales, jurídicos y de educación ambiental para la protección del agua como bien público y de las selvas como espacio biológico y cultural vital. Sandra Viviana es, sin lugar a dudas, una mujer de gran valía para su familia, para la sociedad y para el ambientalismo.
Seguimos demandando de los gobiernos de la ciudad de Cali, del Departamento del Valle y del gobierno Nacional de Colombia, como responsables de la seguridad de sus ciudadanos, una respuesta apropiada y pronta que permita el retorno de Sandra a la sociedad y a su familia.
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