On April 28, 2012, Carolina Garzón Ardila disappeared while on vacation with classmates in Quito, Ecuador. Born in Colombia, Carolina was a student at the District University of Bogotá and a committed political activist and member of the Colombian Socialist Workers’ Party (PST). From the very beginning, the investigation into Carolina’s disappearance was botched. With no advance by investigators, Carolina’s family, friends, and comrades in the PST came together to demand serious investigation and intervention by the authorities in both Ecuador and Colombia to find answers in Carolina’s case.
Under each new administration in both Ecuador and Colombia, Carolina’s loved ones and comrades have redoubled their efforts to put pressure on the governments to seriously investigate and determine Carolina’s whereabouts. This letter (reprinted below) by Carolina’s mother, who has spearheaded the campaign, demands that Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro step up where past governments have refused.
Petro’s election as the first self-described leftist president in Colombian history raised hopes among Colombians that the crime of disappearances would finally be addressed. Petro has publicly supported various efforts to locate the more than 100,000 disappeared persons in Colombia as part of his larger peace plan meant to end the half-century war in the countryside between leftist guerrilla groups, far-right paramilitaries and death squads, and the reactionary Colombian state to achieve truth and reconciliation. Despite these pledges, however, Petro and his administration have yet to acknowledge or act on Carolina’s case.
The search for answers in Carolina’s case is not an outlier. Throughout Latin America, disappearances of political activists as well as violence against women have been a core point of social struggle for decades. The campaign for justice for Carolina is part of a much broader fight to stop the violence, impunity, and coverups that constitute the norm under both dictatorships and democracies throughout the region. — EDITORS OF WORKERS’ VOICE
*****
My daughter, Carolina Garzón, disappeared in Quito, Ecuador, on 28 April 2012, while she was on holiday with classmates from the District University of Bogotá, where she was studying. Aged 22, she was a student activist and a member of the Socialist Workers’ Party (PST).
The presidents of Ecuador and Colombia at that time were Rafael Correa and Juan Manuel Santos, respectively. We met with officials in both countries: President Correa in his office in Quito, and President Santos through his foreign minister.
The Correa administration approved a reward of $20,000 for information leading to the discovery of my daughter’s whereabouts, and the prosecutors’ offices of both countries coordinated their efforts.
However, after the change in presidents—Lenín Moreno in Ecuador and Iván Duque in Colombia—there was no interest on their part in the case of my daughter’s disappearance. Every April 28 for the past 14 years, we have gone to the Colombian Foreign Ministry in an attempt to speak with whoever is in office and request assistance from the Colombian government in coordinating with the Ecuadorian government.
We did not expect anything from President Duque; as a staunch supporter of Uribe, we knew he had no interest in victims of disappearances, especially student activists and members of left-wing organizations. However, after more than three years, we have received no support from his government, despite expecting at least to be heard. When we go to the Foreign Ministry to seek assistance, they simply tell us to put it in writing.
Senator and presidential candidate Iván Cepeda, as a member of the Movement of Victims of State Crimes (Movice), has also been following my daughter’s case, as have organizations such as the José Alvear Restrepo Collective and Senator Alirio Uribe.
Once again, and perhaps for the last time during your administration, my family and the PST hope that you will listen to us, either directly or through your Foreign Minister. The officials who have headed the Foreign Ministry do not know the pain of having a loved one go missing. You, however, having experienced it with your comrades in the M-19, will understand.
Sincerely,
Alix Mery Ardila
The post Colombia: Letter from Carolina Garzón’s mother to President Petro first appeared on Workers’ Voice/La Voz de los Trabajadores.
From Workers’ Voice/La Voz de los Trabajadores via This RSS Feed.