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My name is William Jaraba. I'm part of the committee for the march
that mobilized in El Carmen del Bolívar to march to the Governor's Palace.
We are forgotten communities beaten down by the armed conflict that happened in this region.
We find it necessary to organize
and mobilize to demand the rights that we hold as citizens and as victims of the conflict.
For doing this, we've been labelled guerrillas
One friend is detained, some others are being threatened.
We're doing a very interesting work of reconciliation within the communities in Montes de Maria
We see that in this moment we are in danger
and we want the government of the President Juan Manuel Santos to take charge of this situation
and offer us the protection that we want because
we want to keep working for our communities that have been forgotten for so many years.
With an aggravating circumstance that the only economy we had
was the cultivation of avocado because this area was primarily for avocado farming
During the conflict the avocado practically disappeared from the El Carmen de Bolívar and Montes de Maria region.
Today we're living in total misery because this represented the sustenance of all these communities.
Because of this we are organizing ourselves to alleviate the poverty in our communities.
Therefore, we are asking the national government
and the international governments to support us, so that we can continue
to promote peace in Montes de Maria.