Mothers of Soacha. ICIP Award 2012
By Oriol Andres Gallart
- One minute read - 193 wordsThe International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) presented the II ICIP Peace in Progress Award to five “Madres de Soacha” (Mothers of Soacha, a town near Bogotá in Colombia) at the Catalan Parliament last Monday 18th March 2013.
The sons of these five mothers were assassinated extrajudicially by the Colombian Army between 2007 and 2008. The award recognizes the courage and exemplariness of the persistent struggle of these women, who “do not accept silence nor proposals of compensation and who do not back off despite the menaces and coercion”, and their contribution to the creation of citizenship and the defense of justice and juridical state.
The Parliament of Catalonia hosted a very emotional event which gathered several support organizations as well as representatives of the Catalan peace movement and of the parlamentary groups. The Award was collected by Luz Marina Bernal and Maria Sanabria in representation of the five Mothers who were granted the prize. They value the prize as a recognition to the over 4000 victims of extrajudicial executions in Colombia.
Contrast was asked by ICIP to edit a video used in the event to present these five Mothers and its struggle.