Please see urgent action from Friends of the Earth below:

CENSAT  ‘Agua Viva’, Friends of the Earth, Colombia

International solidarity needed: Pressure the Colombian authorities to find Sandra Viviana Civil society organisations in Colombia have reported the disappearance of Sandra Viviana Cuellar Gallego, in Cali on February 17. Friends of the Earth International and Censat Agua Viva / Friends of the Earth  Colombia need your help to pressure the Colombian authorities to step up  the search for her.

Sandra Viviana Cuellar GallegoSandra is a 26 year-old environmental  engineer who works on water, basin protection and wetland issues. Her work involves advocating for the equal participation of local  communities in the environmental decisions that affect them. She used to work with Censat Agua Viva / Friends of the Earth Colombia on forestry  issues.

Her identity card and cell phone were found on February 19, near the place where she was supposed to take a public bus to the National University of Colombia in Palmira .

According to her family’s report, the activist might have been approached by criminals in the Belalcazar neighbourhood, close to her parents home. However, political motivations for her disappearance have not been ruled out.

In Cali , Colombian environmental activist Hildebrando Velez, is leading the local efforts in the search for Sandra.

He spoke to us about the need for the international community to know about her case in order to put pressure  on the authorities to speed up their search.

Too many environmentalists have been murdered or “disappeared” in Colombia .

We need to send a message to the Colombian authorities to show them that we are monitoring their response.

Please add your name to the letter below which will be sent to the Director of the Presidential Program for Human Rights, the Ombudsman and the Attorney General.

*You can send the letter directly from this LINK

Father Mauricio García Duran S.J. is a Colombian Jesuit, and currently the director of CINEP (Centre for Investigation and Popular Education), an educational and advocacy institution of the Colombian Jesuits devoted to the promotion of peace.  CINEP carries out analysis of the situation in Colombia, especially on human rights; it has one of the main human rights data bases in Colombia.  It also works with journalists on how to avoid stereotypes and bias in the reporting of the conflict, with young people to interest them in peace issues, and with victims of the conflict, helping them to overcome their trauma and work for reconciliation.

In the past few years CINEP has carried out important work to report the cases of extra-judicial executions in Colombia, known as “false positives”.  Evidence gathered by CINEP show that the Colombian army were claiming civilian deaths as being guerrillas killed in combat to their superiors, so they would be considered “positive results” in the fight against the guerrilla groups. In fact, the civilians who were being detained, tortured and killed were young unemployed men or farmers. CINEP documented 395 cases between 2002 and 2008.

Workers at the BP plant at Tauramena, part of the Cusiana oil field in Casanare have been protesting since 22 January 2010 for improved wages.  On 15 February the notorious ESMAD ‘anti-mutiny’ police attacked the workers’ picket line and the local community. Three workers are in hospital. They are members of the national Oil Workers Union USO that has only been able to organise in the plants in the last year.

EMERGENCY PICKET OF BP HQ IN LONDON

SHAME ON BP – HUMAN RIGHTS IN CASANARE!   NO MORE POLICE REPRESSION -  NO BLOOD FOR OIL!

4pm Friday 26 February, outside BP HQ, 1 St James Square, London SW1 (nearest tube Piccadilly Circus)

Bring banners, placards and let’s make a noise!

Please,  send protest messages to BP demanding the corporation conducts peaceful negotiations with USO, meets the workers just demands and guarantees no victimisation of union members; and that BP condemns the ESMAD police repression of its employees.  Send your message to (£2.5 million a year) Executive Director and Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward at email: tony.hayward@bp.com

Send messages of solidarity to the workers via USO Human Rights Commission email: usopaz@yahoo.com

The Colombia Solidarity Campaign will be planning further solidarity action at its annual meeting in London on Saturday, 27 February.

For more information on this and other campaign activities contact us at email: info@colombiasolidarity.org.uk

Seemingly the intended victim of the attack was Aida. In this interview Aida talks about the situation facing indigenous peoples in Colombia, the Social and Communitarian Minga, and what it means to be a victim in Colombia.

Saturday 26th September 2009 from 3:00 to 7:00pm

Bolivar Hall, Venezuelan Embassy

54 Grafton Way, London, W1T 5DL

Colombia Solidarity Campaign, Polo Democratico Alternativo UK  &  Coordinadora Latinoamericana