Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. – 1 John 4:20
We ask for prayers for our partners, who have allowed us to walk by their side and be witnesses of their struggle and resistance. They have allowed us to experience their pain and their hope. Their tenacity has instilled in us the courage to accompany the struggle of a dignified future for all.
In 2001, CPT Colombia began to weave its history with social movements in the Magdalena Medio region; a story that was already being handwritten by thousands of men and women, almost always driven by anger produced by injustice and victimization in a war that has been waged by fire and blood. At that time, Barrancabermeja was experiencing a war between the different guerrilla and paramilitary groups, the army, and the police, all exercising territorial control in various city sectors and waging battles to weaken their opponents and take over neighbourhoods.
Throughout these 20 years, CPT has been invited to be witnesses of the surviving voices, those who resisted these powers and the cruel and violent methods that armed groups used to assert themselves and silence the voices of those who fight nonviolently for justice.
Today we give thanks for our partners who have invited us into their homes, their lands, their struggles, their lives; we are their friends, we are their siblings, we are their witnesses.
