That’s fine, though, because we’ve got a big public conference of our own to put together. It happens in just over two weeks. If you’re in Washington and care even a little about Colombia, please mark off October 16 on your calendar. We’ll be joined by a big group from Colombia. It includes a former senator and vice-presidential candidate, a former congressman, a transitional-justice magistrate, a truth commissioner, really smart experts and committed activists.
Root Room, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC
Light lunch, coffee, and simultaneous translation will be provided. Video will be available at WOLA’s website (wola.org) after the event.
Two years after Colombia signed a historic peace accord with the FARC, Latin America’s largest guerrilla group, much is uncertain. Amid uneven implementation of the accord, armed and criminal groups—some made up of demobilized guerrillas—are filling territorial vacuums and encroaching on ethnic-minority communities. Murders of independent social leaders have reached epidemic proportions. A new president who had led opposition to the accord seeks to make adjustments. Complex transitional-justice cases are just getting started. Coca cultivation has reached new records. Negotiations with the ELN guerrilla group are stalled. Meanwhile, most messages from the U.S. government are about coca and the crisis in neighboring Venezuela—not consolidation of peace.
WOLA is pleased to bring to Washington a remarkable group of leaders, practitioners, and experts from Colombia. They will dive deeply into these and other current challenges in an all-day event, open to the public.