(photos: Liliany at Camosun College in Victoria; Liliany in a Columbian jail)
On this International Women’s Day, Peace and Justice for Colombia sends its greetings to Liliany, all women political prisoners and all women in the struggle for a better society for those who they love.
You are not alone in your struggle. From behind the bars, will emerge flowers and doves for the new society
Long live women! Freedom for all political prisoners!
En este Día Internacional de la mujer, Paz y Justicia para Colombia envía sus más profundos saludos a Liliany, a todas la presas políticas y a todas las mujeres que luchan por una sociedad mejor para aquellos a quienes aman.
No están solas. De las rejas nacerán flores y palomas de libertad para una nueva sociedad.
Vivan las mujeres! Libertad para las presas políticas!
En el día internacional de la mujer: 8 de Marzo del 2009
Del amor a la acción
Acción que nos lleva al amor
Ese amor de patria vedada
Vedada por la injusticia social
Sincero torbellino de caricia
Aroma diurno y nocturno
Patria bella por la que vivimos
Toda una vida de sentimiento
En este día de mujer de campo
De ciudad y de estudiante
De Universidad y las negritudes
Hoy encerrada en las mazmorras
Mujer madre, amante y esposa
Compañera y acompañante
Las mismas que dan dulzura
Las mismas de la lucha diaria
A todas ustedes, principio de fin
Ese aroma de libertad que libera
Ese momento de esperanza
Libertad a las prisioneras políticas
Paz y Justicia para Colombia, PJFC
On international women’s day: 8th March 2009
From love to action
Action that takes us to love
Love of a forbidden motherland
Forbidden by social injustice
Sincere whirlwind of caresses
Diurnal and nocturnal aroma
Beautiful motherland we live for
A full life of sentiment
On this day of peasant women
Of city and student
Of University and afro latitude
Today locked up in prisons
Woman mother, lover and wife
Companion and compañera
The same ones that sweeten
Those of the daily struggle
To all of you, the beginning of the end
That aroma of freedom that releases
That moment of hope and fight
Freedom women political prisoners
Peace and Justice for Colombia, PJFC
Liliany Obando, Colombian trade union and human rights activist was arrested and detained on
August 8, 2008 by the anti-terrorism unit of the Colombian National Police. Liliany was charged with "rebellion" against the state, a catch-all charge that is regularly used to imprison those who speak out against the government.
Liliany a mother, sociologist, filmmaker, worked for The National Federation of Agricultural Farming Unions (FENSUAGRO- CUT), Colombia's largest rural-based labour organization where she tirelessly advocated for the labour rights of the peasantry and rural workers. As a direct result of her efforts, a number of projects across Colombia were established, ranging from the creation of socioeconomic infrastructure for small and medium agricultural producers, human rights education and data collection, and the development of an important experimental farming and educational facility called La Esmeralda, which assists displaced rural families in areas of agriculture, gender equity, and literacy.
At the time of her arrest, Liliany had been carrying out a study on assassinations of
Agricultural Workers Union Federation (FENSUAGRO-CUT) members by paramilitary death squads and government security forces. All this begs the question as to why the state has targeted Liliany (and FENSUAGRO-CUT).
