Call to Action: Protect Colombian Subsistence Farmers of Las Pavas

CPT Chicago Training Group Public Witness

Protect subsistence farmers of Las Pavas, Colombia from violent aggression by palm oil producer Aportes San Isidro

The Issue

• The people of Las Pavas are a sustainable farming community in Colombia. Colombian police and palm oil companies have repeatedly tried to force the community off their land.

• Most recently, the palm oil consortium Aportes San Isidro has expanded its operations into Las Pavas land.

• The Supreme Court of Colombia has ruled the Las Pavas community cannot be evicted from their lands. The Colombian Institute for Rural Development (INCODER) has ordered that all of the Las Pavas land be titled to the Las Pavas people.

• Aportes San Isidro employees have violently harassed Las Pavas families by destroying crops, stealing farm equipment, fire bombing homes and buildings, killing animals, and even threatening to kill people. These threatening actions have increased since the INCODER decision, culminating with a brutal machete attack on a community member.

What can you do?

• Contact your the closest Colombian Consul General and urge them to ask their government to uphold Colombian law by issuing the people of Las Pavas the title to their lands and protect-ing them from corporate intimidation