The activist Luz Estella Romero sees Colombia as a feminist reference despite breaches of peace agreements

He praises the presence of two women as candidates for the Vice Presidency but asks for participation "beyond covering quotas"

MADRID, 19 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

In recent years, the feminist struggle in Colombia has made progress in terms of justice and abortion, achievements that make the country one of the benchmarks for the rest of the Latin American region, despite the fact that in recent years it has not been guaranteed compliance with the Peace Agreements and their sections related to women.

In an interview with Europa Press as part of a meeting on armed conflicts and respect for Human Rights at La Casa Encendida in Madrid, Colombian activist Luz Estella Romero highlighted the progress made in the South American country thanks to the work of feminist movements.

"We have won sentences against abortion, justice for women victims of the armed conflict (...) That is a benchmark that serves the continent, which is still building its own perspective," Romero said, taking advantage of this point to recriminate the State non-compliance with the Peace Agreements.

The Colombian government of then President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP) signed in 2016 in the Cuban capital, Havana, agreements that put an end to decades of conflict that prevented peaceful democratic expression in the country.

Among the epigraphs of the agreement is one dedicated to the reparation of the victims of the conflict, an issue regarding which there are still no tangible results for the most affected communities. Therefore, "advances far below compliance with the Peace Agreements" are perceived.

Due to the lack of effort on the part of the authorities and the existing food and humanitarian crisis in the country, the Colombian population has also been facing the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic since 2020, thus generating a scenario where what was agreed in 2016 suffers a " setback" and an "escalation of violence by armed actors" begins, who continue to dispute the territories.

"The last five years have not been of real progress, an effective reality has not been seen in the communities, but rather a return to a state of greater violence that once again causes forced displacement and massacres. It is painful and represents hopelessness for the most away from the territories," lamented Romero, who believes that the power of arms dominates a large part of the country.

It is at this point that the activist has highlighted awareness, especially of gender, which has been implemented in a large part of society in a country where there is a record of at least four million people affected by the armed conflict, of which more than 52 percent are women.

Turning to politics, and with the second round of the presidential elections on the immediate horizon, Romero lamented that one of the main consequences of the armed conflict has been the deprivation of political participation by women.

But beyond an already serious fact such as the exclusion of women from political decision-making, Romero has denounced that there is also an attempt to make the feminist agenda disappear and discredit it, although he has valued the presence of two women as candidates for the Vice Presidency.

In this sense, and despite seeing progress due to the fact that Francia Márquez and Marelen Castillo are running for the Vice Presidency hand in hand with the candidates Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernández, respectively, he has warned that the participation of women in politics "must go beyond" simply covering "quotas" within the parties or using them to capture the female vote.

It is true that Romero has made an exception and has pointed out that Márquez "may be the case" of an activist and defender of women's rights, thus highlighting her career in the fight for ecofeminism and the reparation of women affected by the armed conflict.

However, beyond the female faces as 'number two' of the main candidates, he has warned that it would be "unfortunate" for Colombia if a person "charged by Justice" wins the victory on Sunday, thus making an indirect allusion Hernández and the 'Vitalogic case', for which he is accused of the crime of improper interest in the conclusion of contracts during his term as head of the Mayor's Office of Bucaramanga.

"That already has outbreaks of illegality and illegitimacy. This would already be an institutional crisis in itself. It is not a favorable scenario, regardless of how populist or not (the candidate) may be, where I am not going to enter," he said. , warning that Hernandez's victory would be "a very bad scenario."

In addition, he has criticized that the far-right candidate, whom some Colombian political experts compare to former United States President Donald Trump, has proposed applying a "state of shock" to "restrict freedoms in a country where they are already restricted."

"This is only going to deepen situations of violence and crime that women, boys and girls already suffer in more remote territorial areas, where there is repression that cannot be tolerated (...) Citizens have a total lack of protection if that is consolidated," has lamented.

Finally, the activist has alluded to one of the cases that the organization to which she belongs, Colectivo Mujeres al Derecho (COLEMAD), has managed to win before the Colombian Justice. Thus, Romero has celebrated the favorable sentence in a case "paradigmatic at the national level" on the restitution of land to a woman.

The organization legally represents women who have been victims of forced displacement or violations against humanity, such as the case of forced dispossession of land, either by armed means or by legal means, executed in this case by the State itself.

Romero has detailed that the sentence known on Tuesday of this week represents "an achievement of gender justice" for the woman who has benefited in particular, but it is also a resolution that can be taken as a "reference at the national level".