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They have been killing us, displacing us...
they massacre us. Why? Because we can't defend ourselves.
Most of the displaced are women.
People rise up in arms because there is no alternative.
My crime was to be a revolutionary and to think differently.
The decision I made, and that I take on, is to live not to contemplate the world
but to transform it, until I die and that's ok, I feel convinced of that
we aren't killing machines.
We are motivated by great feelings of humanism,
of solidarity, of sisterhood, of camaraderie.
Without the participation of women in the revolutionary process there is no revolution.
Roses and Rifles
Imagine a poor, black or rural woman, exploited a thousand times over,
the living conditions are really horrendous
They have burning hearts and tender glances, profound convictions,
filled with sensuality and rebelliousness,
who love justice, the good and the beautiful.
Women guerrillas are political activists, writers, painters,
singers, campesinas and intellectuals.
They are the dreamers who even give up their lives to reach Utopia.
That's why they say that the FARC are terrorists
But what is terrorism?
terrorism is to kill people with hunger
terrorism is to kill people because they aren't able to cure their illnesses
because they don't have money
It is terrorism to maintain people ignorant
It is terrorism to pursue people
it is terrorism to carry out falses positives
kill innocent people and disguise them as guerrilla fighters
to be able to have "victories" in combat
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colomia - People's Army
in Novemer 2012 initiated a new process of dialogue with the Colombian government
with the supreme goal of reaching peace in the nation
within the framework of these peace talks in the city of Havana
the women, members of the FARC-EP, show their commitment
in the construction of a world with justice and peace
We are here in Havana, making another attempt
to find a political and dialogued solution to the conflict we have in Colombia
Colombia's history is a history of confrontation, blood and poverty
and it's another try, like in La Uribe, Tlaxcala, Venezuela, El Caguán
The living conditions of the Colombian people are quite complex
not only because of misery, unemployment, poverty
which in our country is of more than 60%
The conditions of a country without democracy
without possibilities of development
where young people can't study
and don't have access to universities
where a culture of mafia and drugs has been generated
the people have been murdered permanently in different ways
through hunger or through war
the leaders were massacred, the peasants too
by the end of 1998 and 1999, the paramilitaries arrived
disguised as official army soldiers
led directly by the governor of La Gabarra in the church
who said that this was the army that came to protect them
so that they wouldn't be massacred
In August 2000 the massacre took place in La Gabarra
where more than hundred campesinos died and today the dispute
between paramilitaries and campesinos continues
massacring the campesinos every day and displacing them
and the paramilitaries taking control of their lands
using this pretext to dominate the region
in order for the government to let in transnational companies
and take control over the resources
the peasant families are the ones who have most experienced
the violence, they have been murdered, they have been displaced all the time
their possessions are taken away from them
their lands are taken away from them
and today, their lands, the peasant's lands, have been taken
by paramilitaries and by the big industries which cultivate them with oil palm trees
or with soya, these are megacrops for agroindustry
the government is a paramilitary government
a murderer, it's a machine
that wants to crush the people, led by the North American Gringos
they want to steal the resources of Colombia,
they want Colombia to be like Africa, like they left Iraq
They are the ones who finish with the campesinos, with the poor
with the ones who don't have anything
we don't even have anything to defend ourselves with
they are the real terrorists
they kill us because we don't have weapons
for example they arrive to this place and watch us all
and cut our throats off, they massacre us
because we can't defend ourselves
and frankly speaking
they never fight against the ones they have to fight
they just kill the peasants and say they were guerrilla fighters
they repress the communities, because they accuse them
of being supporters
or because they present them as our collaborators
that's when they ill-treat them, a lot of dead people appear
you've probably heard about the false positives
when they don't have any results to show
when they have been hit, they use to, or it happens
that they assassinate peasants and they present them as if they were guerrilla casualties
also if this isn't done directly by the military forces
sometimes the paramilitaries do it
the army then arrives and threatens the people,
ok, if you don't collaborate, if you don't tell us
the others will arrive later (the paramilitaries)
and they will...you will have to tell them
and if you don't... well, you'll have to accept the consequences
and the paramilitaries then end up massacring the people
massacres occur, people are threatened and finally
the people in order to not lose their lives
leave their lands without anything
look, only rooms...
look, this is my big house, here we sleep with 7 people
here we all try to fit, we don't have anywhere else to sleep
we couldn't take anything else with us than these plastic sheets you see there
that's everything
the only thing I want to ask you is to record the little matrass
I have 7 little planks someone gave to me
I left my mother, some brothers and my nephews
I haven't heard anything from them, I don't know what happened to them
if they have been killed
but my hope is that they are alive, that's what I'm asking God
that nothing happened to them,
everything I had has been burned
my business and everything, all the animals and everything
because the only thing I could take with me was some clothes
because everything happened at night
and when we heard the bombing we were so scared
we started to run
We have just started to work on and consider important
women's struggle as a sector, because we had always worked man and woman,
female and male guerrillas, as a single block
women are the ones who most suffer this conflict
they are driven away from their lands
the majority of displaced people are women
but apart from this, they also suffer *** violence
and domestic violence
the majority of women are single mothers
and they wander with their children all over the country
it's a human tragedy for women in Colombia
we are a family of eight, with the children I have here and my husband we are eight
and we left only with the clothes we were wearing that day
we've suffered a lot of hunger on the way
at the end we were about to faint, because of the hunger
we couldn't bear the hunger anymore
the only thing we had was a little water, we would find in the river
I'm alone here, and I don't know what happened to my brother
and the ones who stayed there are lost
I don't know anything about them and I'm alone here, I'm alone here
I'm asking hem to help me and find my mother
Since we arrived here, well, at least they have given us some vegetables
a women gave me some clothes and with those things
the situation has changed a little and, what else,
I don't know about my daughters, they are lost
I don't know anything about them
I ask my God that they are fine
that nothing happened to them, to my daughters
that's all I can say
We could say that the dominant economic model sees women as products
she becomes an article, an object, which can be put for sale
depending on how young she is, if she's pretty, color is also important,
that is to say, if the woman is white, she'll have more acknowledgement
but if the woman is black, she's worth less than the white woman
if the woman is indigenous, she's also worth less than the white woman
but if she is poor, she's worth of all exploitation, discrimination
they take advantage of people's ignorance, too
what you see is also, without offense to Colombian women
basically the women who are models, who are beauty queens have a high level
of ignorance about the reality of the country
of what is really happening here, of what is really happening to us, women
of what is really happening with women's rights
do you think women are a complement of men?
Good evening everybody,
the woman is complementary to the man
in a really beautiful sense, because she gives him love, she gives him tenderness
the world is evolving and we give every time more and more love to men
who. in the Colombian case, were macho sometimes
they don't even notice that around them there are a lot of women
who are being discriminated twice, who are being violated
for example regarding their rights to participate
now what to say of the representation on different levels, in Congress
the percentage of congresswomen is very low, I believe it's under 12 percent
but a representative participation and what do we say
women need to have a real participation, it doesn't have to be numeric
it should be real, so that women can have the capacity, the opportunity
to participate in the decisions taken on national level, as well as men
young Cuban artists paid tribute to Comandante President Hugo Chávez
the ambassador of Venezuela in Cuba stated that these songs
this example of interchanging love
will pay tribute to Vilma, women of the Santiago mountains
on her 83 anniversary
The strike of 9 April will be remembered next tuesday in Sagua la Grande
Radio Reloj 8 hours, 31 minutes
I was born in a catholic family, in the Dutch countryside
well, not exactly in the countryside, let's say in a town
a small family, I have two sisters, one elder, one younger than me
and my parents
we are five and I had a normal childhood, like any other young person in Holland
I got a scholarship to study at the university of Granada
in the South of Spain, I didn't speak Spanish very well by then
I could only say hello, say my name is...
I arrived to the South of Spain, to Granada, where I stayed for one year studying
I met a lot of people from other countries, the world opened for me
when I finished that year in Granada I went back to Holland
but I wanted to know more, to see more from the world
I saw an announcement that they were looking for an English teacher in Colombia
I didn't know anything about Colombia
but I said that is Latin America and they are supposed to speak Spanish there
let's go there, that was the year that changed my life
during that year I made a 180 degrees change of direction in my head
the only thing I knew was what they told me: you are a foreigner
you have to take care, if you don't take care and travel through Colombia
the guerrilla will kidnap you
the guerrilla, they are very bad, they convince the peasants with food and clothes to join them
and that's why they join and then they change into bad people
almost childish stories, aren't they? the ones they tell you
very superficial explanations about Colombian society
and I asked myself many questions
we join the guerrilla in a voluntary way, men and women
nobody is forced to do so, we are here because of conviction or for other reasons
many come here to defend their lives, because as I told you
they have been displaced from their lands, they have been threatened, attacked
I said, look I want to help, I would like to do something for the guerrilla
then I started to work with the urban militia in Bogotá
after some months in Bogota they invited me for a course in the jungle for six months
and after two months in the jungle I said: this is my life project
I want to stay here, in some way I have to show the solidarity I feel with these people
and I stayed, as simple as it sounds
the enemy always uses their ideological apparatus against the most just reasons
the decision of a woman like me
to take up arms and go fighting for my people
is not to be a *** object in the ranks
who is willing to leave a calm life like I had
with my school, my family who loves me deeply
to go to the core of the war, yes, to be a comandante's lover
that doesn't make any sense
simply the people take up arms because they don't have any alternative
because if they oppose in a legal way against the system, they are killed
the big mayority of the guerrilla fighters join because of that
because there is no other alternative
I was born and I was born with war genes, no, that's not it
it's just that there are no other possibilities
to join the FARC is something to be proud of
First of all because one dedicates his life to transformation
of society, you shake off any personal interest
and decide to give your life to the majorities, to a real democracy
to a real change for Colombian society
it's an issue not of becoming a *** companionship for men
but of working together with men for a social change
there are more foreigners in the FARC and that's logical
because in such a small world as it is nowadays
it's logical that people are starting to feel the need
to show solidarity with other peoples in the world
the FARC was born in 1964, with two women
within the group of 48 men there were two women but they were two heroins
from then on, every time more women join the FARC
until this point in which we can say that almost 33 per cent
of the army is conformed by women
believe me, I'm serious when I say that we, women,
all the women that are in the FARC and that are in this revolution
all together, are women totally convinced of triumph
moral power proposed by the Liberator
Simón Bolívar said in his famous discourse of Angosturas
without talking about a specific governmental regime, that
the most perfect system of government is the one
that produces the biggest sum of possible happiness
the biggest sum of social security
the biggest sum of political stability
when the dialogues took place between Belisario Betancurt, president of Colombia
and the guerrilla movement FARC, that is, our family which is dialoging here in Havana
they made some agreements in 1984
the government committed itself to give guarantees to the people
and to the FARC guerrilla for participating in a broad political movement
the parties agreed a bilateral cease-fire and peace, opening the way of hope
to and end of this cruel internal war
through political negotiation
that is, to participate in the country's politics, with a broad movement
which was the Patriotic Union, but as always, there have never been guarantees
for the people to exercise politics without arms
the UP achieved some results never seen before for an opposition group
nine congressmen and three substitute congressmen
12 deputees, 14 Mayors and 350 councilors at national level
two comandantes of the FARC at cease-fire are elected to Colombian parliament
this movement at some point had two presidential candidates
both of them assassinated by state terrorism, senators of the Republic
some died, others went into exile and others have kept silence
precisely because of state terrorism
Many Mayors, the Patriotic Union had Mayors over the whole country
it had governors, that is, it had a lot of influence on politics
but the state exterminated it using paramilitary groups
a huge amount of groups rose, like the "grillos", "MAS"
the "tiznados", "Colsigue", "Morena", the "Macetos"
and they eliminated the political movement as a popular option in the country
so that real changes and alternatives for justice and real democracy
could be carried out
In Colombia several leaders and militants of our political movement have been massacred in a cruel way
so that's why we've said to the national government that it should define
if we have the right to live in this country or not
what did state terrorism do?
systematically, it went exterminating, exterminating, exterminating
but of course there were guarantees in the national constitution
to participate in elections
when there were elections, who was going to represent this movement if the majority
had been assassinated
more than three thousand representatives and members, in the tombs
finally, in the year 1990, 1991, the movement doesn't exist anymore
this was a letdown in the struggle of the people because the main leaders
didn't exist anymore, state terrorism wouldn't allow - and still doesn't-
the people to speak up, to get organized, to protest
so the people, with that fear they felt, they got smaller every time
and one can see that the people start again to..
. to join the social and popular struggle, from the year 2000
but not because the conditions in the country had changed
but because the needs, the misery, the poverty of the Colombian people
forces them to look for solutions to this reality
Peace in Colombia doesn't simply mean the silence of the weapons
it's not as simple as the Colombian state making the revolutionary insurgency give up their ideals
but we need to produce profound changes
in the structures of power that have governed the country for centuries
Marcha Patriótica is a March of the hearts, it is a march of feelings
it is a march for peace and for peace
it is the march
from the ones who have suffered in this country
the pain of knowing that peace is difficult to reach,
but that we are willing to give it all
even our lives, for peace if there's a possibility for peace
if we are able of reaching it and reach the possibility of unity
because peace is in every one of us and, besides,
this horse that runs quickly with Bolívar on its back stopped in Colombia
it's here and it's telling us that the hour of peace has come
we are marching, the survivors of the Patriotic Union
demanding social justice, demanding peace with social justice
We firmly believe in the real possibility to reach peace with social justice
the Havana peace dialogues are the fourth political attempt carried out by the FARC
to build peace in Colombia, and from there the women have had an active and protagonist role
participating in intense working days of debate of the main topics
to channel transformations in Colombia, towards a just and including society
Good morning for everybody
receive a greeting from the female guerrilla fighters from the FARC-EP
we are in the peace delegation of the FARC-EP
we, the female and male guerrilla fighters, the peace delegation
invite you to embrace this process to make it yours and support it
we want to ask you to continue with courage and joy
with strength and optimism in victory
I have been in the guerrilla movement for approximately 30 years
to change from one moment to another the jungle for this environment
that is difficult
but we are aware of the fact that we have to adapt ourselves
to all kinds of environments, because this is just another task for the revolution
the important thing is to be able to do something and let the people know
what our proposals are
for real peace with social justice
and show the world, and show the Colombian women
the revolutionary women
that they are not alone, that we have always been there, supporting them
we are present, we are listening to the proposals
that arrive here from Colombian women organizations
We are in touch with a lot of organizations from all over the world
also with women from other parts of the world, who are fighting in the first place
who are carrying out a class struggle, but in the second place
also fighting against a patriarch system
that has always oppressed women
I was a victim of an illegal detention, my right to a process wasn't respected
I was tortured, only because I committed the offence of being communist
for the sole offence of defending the interests of an exploited and exluded class
I was captured in 2003, that was in Bogota
I was accompanying someone who was sick
and at the moment of my detention I was totally defenseless
I didn't have weapons, I was dressed in civilian clothes, I didn't have anything
my only offence was being a revolutionary person and think differently
ideas about political solutions for a country that isn't at war...
that isn't at war with other countries
that there is war because there is social inequality
and only because of that, because of not being a traitor they frighten you
they burn your hands, they put a bag over your face, over your head
they drown you in water, they pinch you, they humilliate you, they tell you anything they want
and sometimes they will leave you for two, three days without seeing light
in very cold rooms, without knowing what time it is
without allowing you to not even have a book
but at the moment they start to interrogate you they do remember
that you are a human being and they show you the picture of your daughter
and they tell you, look, do you want to see your daughter alive again?
where is your comandante, tell us something you know
then they mention people who maybe sometime you have visited their homes
and you know, because you live in a village, you know the names,
and the fact that they live in that village, just because they don't have any place else to live
makes them suspected of being members of FARC and if you don't
give their names, that makes you a victim twice
if you are going to speak, open your hands and we'll take the cotton out
give us a name, come on, open your hands
and they want you to give the names no matter how, and on of the ways to achieve it
is torture
enough, enough
that is, as a woman, as a woman, they have hurt me a lot, psychologically
because I was defenseless, when they abused me I was handcuffed
I never saw their faces
and they told me very, very ugly things
not even to abuse me, they had the sensitivity to take off the handcuffs
and they were three men with gloves, they were laughing, smoking cigarettes
they put a camara in front of me like this one you put there
and they filmed me and they told me that
that they did that to take away the revolutionary fever I suffered
to make me confess and let me go, and tell my comandante
what they had done to his little princess
but that also helped me to make me more aware
and be more revolutionary today, and really understand that
the state that exists in my country is the most cruel state
and the laws are made to the benefit of the ones who are in power
and that torture doesn't exist only in books, torture is real,
it exists in all the corners of Colombia and within the Colombian state
because I have never been violated by a guerrilla fighter nor have I ever been insulted
by a guerrilla fighter from the FARC, like the state has done
and well, they wanted to destroy me but they couldn't, all the contrary
today I'm stronger than ever
and my struggle will always be in defense of the demands of the oppressed ones
and I will never, never betray the revolutionary cause
because it's the cause I defend, it's not a personal cause
nor the cause of an organization raised in arms, it's a people's cause
it's a cause of men, of women who don't have opportunities
this book is cool "Che, a life and an example"
right now I'm really into Che
I'm reading and watching documentaries of Che
about the incorporation of women, Che said:
women are also discriminated by society
but that discrimination is not new
it has been this way for centuries
when women were excluded
and they were destined only to do housework
women should be incorporated in all kinds of jobs
and they should receive the same
salary as men receive
then, he explained how technical development makes every day more possible
for women to incorporate in all aspects of the production process
because nowadays, physical efforts have become almost unnecessary
men and women have the same rights, we do the same work
we both go and transport food, we both get firewood
we both are leaders, we both organize the masses
we both go to combat, we both face the enemy
I have fulfilled tasks like organizing people
as well as urban operative work, I've been in combat, in public order
I have been in charge of teaching to read and write to other comrades
I've done many things, what have I done?
radio operator, nurse, digitalizer,
what is digitalizer?
helping the one in charge of the personell
we fulfill many tasks...many, many...
here women can be a nurse, or can be a radio operator or can be a doctor
but can also be in public order, or as I said be a cook
they can also teach about anything, practical or political things
we provide security, we do military activities
we fulfill the same tasks as men do, not because we want to be men
but because of the conviction that we perform these tasks to construct a new society
Equality is expressed in our Statutes
in the internal norms of command we have
there are women who are comandantes, female guerrilla fighters who have
enormous responsibilities, we have achieved this with our effort
with our willpower and our own merits
we are the ones that have sold out the books here, some days ago I bought three boxes of books
I want the book "alone with the enemy" and "this is how the steel was tempered"
ok, these two books, but they are not here
I told them, how can I get them?
we are going to order them, as you are going to be here for a while let's see if they arrive
what are you reading Laura?
no one better than him knew how fear some for the american people
are the other ones who believe in the superiority of the anglosax race
against the latin race, and the inferiority of the indian race and the black race
the people of Latin America, he stated, will be more free and prosperous
to the extent that they move away from the United States
one knows that a war is a war and it is a war for liberation
and it is a war to achieve the freedom of peoples
and in this war there are deaths and wounded people
and deaths that hurt us
first of all, any time in the shooting
a soldier has died by my rifle,
I didn't do it out of anger or vengeance or a desire to take his life,
as happens on the other side
more so, sometimes, when one captures wounded soldiers
that wakes up a human feeling in you
I have cured soldiers of the official army wounded in combat
but it's not a equal war, is it? that is, not in the same conditions
there are two armies in different conditions
the CIA supports the military forces in Colombia
to finish with the lives of at least two dozens of leaders
of the FARC, People's Army
the Colombian ex-minister of defense Gabriel Silva
confirmed that the CIA and the US intelligence service
participated in the casualties of the FARC leaders
Raúl Reyes, Alfonso Cano and the so-called Mono Jojoy
the CIA localized the concentration points of the FARC, People's Army
and transmitted the information to the Colombian army
besides the technology, it allowed them to use intelligent bombs
directed by satellites
the report states that the program was authorized
by president George Bush and it has continued
under the mandate of president Barack Obama,
through an additional budget of 9 billion dollars, 9 billion dollars
we have also had to, at least now, with the technology,
with the kind of war that the state is developing
we have had to experience several bombings
when you're sleeping, many bombs fall and you have to fight for your life
and leave, and help to take out your comrades and help as much as you can
and leave,
that is a brutal thing, this is totally unequal, it's an unequal matter
that is, to surprise people at one or two o'clock in the morning, at sleep,
tired because you have worked the whole day
and they arrive quickly and they throw ten bombs at us
of 500 pounds, then they start strafing, shoot rockets and afterwards
they land their troops
the capacity of the enemy is impressing
and the cowardness that characterizes them
the bombings are the most painful for us
because it really is an attack, it's not a combat, it's just a coward attack
against ones humanity, against a group of human beings
for all those who have died, for all those who have suffered
for all Colombians who have given their lives
and for the people who still suffer the treatment
of a barbarous, cruel and warmongering state
it's worth it
and we feel we have the responsibility to take the banners
and continue fighting
I sing, I express ideas, that come to me like the wind
they are echos of those battles that make the wall of conviction stronger
we receive sad new, that enters directly into our hearts
and make us feel sad about our people, but at the same time
give us more reaons
always when a combatant dies
they stimulate us and give us courage,
so that we continue, with the triumphing people towards insurrection
I sing, together with my people, I sing to the insurrection
I sing to Manuel Marulanda, loyal protector of Colombian people
when we all manage to come out alive, without being hurt, that is a sublime moment I can tell you
sublime, because they didn't crush us
when one sees the energy of the combatants,
of all the female and male guerrilla fighters
who are there, who are there with their strength, who are alive
they won't crush us
because we are fighting for peace
we don't believe in war just because of waging war
look, in the FARC, the women do build themselves
in the FARC women do have a future
and can be realized as women, as human beings
as people really useful for society
I feel realized, I can't imagine myself having taken another path in life
women have to assume the role assigned to them by history
the oppression exists because capitalism exists, because there is an excluding state
the struggles of women has to be together, with the men
we are a communist guerrilla and as communists, as humanists
we fight and combat to achieve a different society
and that different society is socialism
Colombia deserves the cessation of massacres
Look the most important thing is for the people to have the right to live
to be able to do politics without risking your life
we have all the hope, and we think it's possible
it's possible, if people continue supporting this process
if people speak up, if the people on the streets embrace this process
to all my female compañeras, to the women from the prison "Buen Pastor" in Bogota
to the women from the Valle prison, especially to all of you, men and women
we are here, I know what it feels like to be a prisoner
but being in prison doesn't mean your revolutionary ideas are imprisoned, too
the prison can be as dark as it is, but our ideas will never stop to shine
says Julian Conrado
and I am sure of that
and we are here, girls, we are here representing all of you
we will continue fighting for the revolution and of course we will conquer it