Statement on the serious situation facing the Colombian people

El CLACSO Working Group on Critical Extension: Theories and Practices in Latin America and the Caribbean Together with the Latin American Union of University Extension, they express their concern and alarm at the situation facing the people of Colombia.

We endorse these statements and express our outrage at the criminalization and genocidal response of the Colombian government to the authentic and legitimate popular protest that defends its rights for a free and dignified life.

We want to express our solidarity with the Colombian people, their organizations and social movements, who today are struggling against the neo-liberal and fascist violence unleashed by the police and the army in the service of power, the dominant classes, their government and their economic interests.

As members of the Latin American University that emanates from the Córdoba Reform and draws on the thought of Camilo Torres, Orlando Fals Borda, Paulo Freire and many fellow intellectuals, social activists and university students, we urge our public universities to become aware and take actions of solidarity with the Colombian people.

From our position anchored in critical, dialogical, anti-capitalist, anti-patriarchal and anti-colonial extension, we call upon the Latin American and Caribbean university community to communicate, raise awareness and engage, together with social organizations and movements, denounce and condemn these acts against humanity, and act to contribute to the full realization of freedom and autonomy.

The Latin American public, autonomous and co-governed university must commit itself in solidarity with the struggle alongside the Colombian people, for the full exercise of human rights and for a dignified life.

May 21th 2021
CLACSO Working Group
Critical Extension: Theories and Practices in Latin America and the Caribbean, and
Latin American Union of University Extension (ULEU)

This statement expresses the position of the Working Group Critical Extension: Theories and Practices in Latin America and the Caribbean and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.