The initiative so far has delivered 2 tons of books to Cauca, and 3.5 tons to La Guajira

For the Maicao operations, In July 100 boxes of books were delivered to five communities in the Maicao area, with assistance provided by Maicao’s secretariat of education, the secretariat of indigenous affairs, and the town’s Casa de la Cultura (House of Culture, or cultural conservatory). The initiative follows up on Viva’s delivery of 3,502 school supply kits to youth on the impoverished La Guajira peninsula.

Mónica Gil, CEO of the Viva Air Foundation.

On the other side of Colombia, in a rural area southeast of Cali, Viva and Fuerza de las Palabras worked in coordination with the Miranda mayor’s office, the Casa de la Cultura, and the Colombian army to deliver 2,800 books over three days to the rural and indigenous communities in the region.

“Education occupies a very important chapter within the Viva Air Foundation. Therefore, we focus important human and economic efforts to work for the improvement of educational conditions in the country. We are happy to contribute to the training and development of six thousand children and young people of Miranda, with the delivery of about two tons of books to educational institutions in the municipality. We believe in the importance of creating new and better opportunities for our children to build the future they want. We are sure that together with our allies we can achieve permanent change in the populations that need us the most,” said Tatiana Vásquez, the new Executive Director of the Viva Air Foundation.

With regards to the initiative in Maicao, La Guajira, Viva Air Foundation CEO Mónica Gil stated: “At Viva we have the genuine conviction to work for people’s well-being, and education then becomes a fundamental pillar. With the transport and delivery of these 3.5 tons of books, we want to improve educational conditions and, therefore future prospects of a vulnerable population such as the Maicao community. Through these actions we are contributing to the training, capacity development and empowerment of children. The idea is that they find in education the possibility for development.”

Viva and Fuerza de las Palabras worked in coordination with the Miranda mayor’s office, the Casa de la Cultura, and the Colombian army to deliver 2,800 books over three days to the rural and indigenous communities in the region.

As first reported by investigative reporters at “Cuestión Pública” (Public Question) while investigating the ÑeñePolitica vote-buying scandal that has ensnared the presidency of Ivan Duque and the Centro Democratico political party of his patrón (godfather) Alvaro Uribe, Colombia’s army has been caught creating an “enemies list” of individuals and entities that it has deemed “opposition.”

The actions of the Colombian Army are extremely grave and a demonstrable threat to human and civil rights in Colombia. When the army creates a clandestine “opposition” list of media & civil society groups, it recalls shadows of Pinochet, political torture and assassination. The gravity of this act cannot be overstated.

Above image – BONE-CHILLING: “National Army of Colombia has added you to its list ‘Opposition'” 

Ominously,few if any of these groups are political radicals or anti-military, rather anti-corruption civil society groups, mainstream media, and indigenous activists. The military operatives in control of the Colombian military’s Twitter account failed to realize that users’ twitter accounts were notified when they were added to the “Oposición” list created by the Colombian Army.

Once questioned, the operatives immediately deleted the Twitter list. This comes as the Colombian government headed by Ivan Duque is embroiled in multiple scandals, faces tiny public approval, and was just excoriated by the United Nations for human rights violations. Several of the journalists are hot on the trail of the #Ñeñepolitica vote buying scandal that ties massive political corruption and organized crime to the Centro Democratico political party of Alvaro Uribe and the presidential election of his hand-picked candidate Ivan Duque.

Several journalists have already denounced Colombia’s internal security organs for improperly surveilling and intimidating investigative journalists, as revelations seem to further entangle Uribe and Duque.

Though one could argue why the military might view the FARC and some of its top leaders as “opposition,” similar justification does not exist for several of the other groups included on the enemies list. Even the FARC has demobilized, laid down arms and is participating in the political system as agreed by the 2016 peace accords signed between them and then-President Juan Manuel Santos.

• Colombia2020, an initiative of mainstream newspaper El Espectador
• ANZORC “Asociación Nacional de Zonas de Reserva Campesina,” a rural civil group
• ASCAMCAT “Asociación Campesina del Catatumbo” a rural civil group in the violent Catatumbo región
• JEP—Jurisidiccion Especial para la Paz; the government entity set up to implement the historic peace accords signed by the previous administration
• José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of Human Rights Watch
• Aída Avella, Colombian senator
• Gustavo Petro, Colombian senator
• Gustavo Bolívar, Colombian senator
• Iván Cépeda, Colombian senator
• Gustavo Gómez, reporter with Caracol Radio
• Ignacio Gómez, editor with Noticias Uno
• Salud Hernandez, journalist with Semana weekly magazine
• Vicky Dávila, journalist with Semana weekly magazine
• Contagio Radio
• CRIC indigenous advocacy group
• ONIC indigenous advocacy group

The list, before it was made to disappear, had 33 Twitter accounts and appeared to be still under construction, or in other words, was not complete.

#Atención Tras publicación de nuestros hilos investigativos sobre la #ÑeñePolítica, el Twitter oficial del Ejército colombiano @COL_EJERCITO incluyó nuestro medio @cuestion_p en una lista llamada #Oposición. Exigimos respuestas ante esta agresión que nos pone en riesgo. @FLIP_org pic.twitter.com/uaaLJW317v

— Cuestión Pública (@cuestion_p) March 10, 2020

Article 219 of the Colombian Constitution prohibits the military from political interference. Pedro Vaca, director of Colombian freedom of the press foundation FLIP demanded to know “Whoever is in charge of administering the @COL_EJERCITO should explain the criteria under which twitter accounts are added to the military “opposition” list.

Que una cuenta en redes de @COL_EJERCITO elabore lista de OPOSITORES con cuentas y nombres de periodistas es una muestra clara de que, en ocasiones como esta, a “Inteligencia Militar” le sobra una palabra. Pavoroso, ofensivo y peligroso. Que dirá @IvanDuque comandante en jefe…

— GustavoGómezCórdoba (@gusgomez1701) March 10, 2020