by Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas Team

Early this year, twelve U.S.-based Global Fund for Women supporters traveled with us to Colombia to stand in solidarity with the Colombian women’s rights movements. We traveled to the northern states of Bolivar, Atlantico and La Guajira to meet extraordinary women’s rights groups working under extremely difficult conditions to build a different Colombia.

Young grantees in Colombia. Photo by Christine Switzer.

Over the past 45 years, the war in Colombia has evolved from a conflict over ideology to one driven by economic interests and territorial control. In our meetings with grantee partners, we learned how the Colombian military is colluding with paramilitary death squads to seize territory and natural resources largely from indigenous communities on behalf of multinational economic interests. We learned about their struggles for justice, and particularly how Plan Colombia, which has provided $6 billion in U.S. aid to the Colombian military, has been impacting their lives.

Women’s rights groups report that in Colombia, a woman dies every two days from “political” causes and that every fourteen days, a woman is the victim of forced disappearance. They told us that rebel and paramilitary groups have been torturing civilians, raping women and girls, as well as mutilating and executing them. Women have even been forced to observe war crimes committed against their families.

Colombia boasts a strong, vibrant and diverse women’s movement. Yet, amid an increasingly conservative climate, the Colombian women’s movements are facing systematic attempts to control women’s freedom and violate their security. From human rights defenders to sexual and reproductive rights activists to those seeking justice for women survivors of sexual violence, all are under heightened assault.

At the same time, we witnessed the strength, courage and resilience of Colombian women, who, despite their so-called absence from official “peace negotiations,” have been at the center of civil and political unrest. In spite of repeated attacks, disappearances, kidnappings and threats on their lives, women’s groups continue to organize, develop agendas for peace, and lobby for their implementation. We returned inspired by their courage and struggle for justice in the midst of armed conflict.

While the trip did involve educating donors about their philanthropic investments and discussions on how to mobilize more resources for women’s movements, the real goal was to build bridges between the women, who together, are helping to improve the conditions in their communities. In Colombia, we learned that in this exquisitely connected world, it is never a question of “critical mass,” but always about “critical connections.”