Meeting with former laureates of the Student Peace Prize

In 2005, ACEU, Asociacíon Colombiana de Estudiantes Universitarios received the Student Peace Prize for their work for student rights in Colombia. On the 28th of May former and present leader of ACEU Diego Marin and Guillermo Baquero came to Studentersamfundet in Trondheim to tell us their story. ACEU is working for Colombian students’ right to education and their right to organize.

A country in crisis

Diego and Guillermo talked about a Colombia that may seem democratic and well functioning from the outside, but that is actually suffering from crisis that have lasted for several years. Guillermo, together with about four million other inhabitants is an internal refugee in his own country. Sudan is the only country in the world that have a higher number of internal refugees. Columbia is a country with 45 million inhabitants, where 29 million live in poverty; many of witch have to survive on only one dollar a day.

The president, Alvaro Uribe Velez, has done many good things for Colombia. He has managed to create some kind of order in a country that has been marked by conflict for a long time, but the medal has a backside. During his period as president, the government has pursued a kind of education politic that has made it harder for many people in Colombia to get higher education. The system has been privatized, the price for education has gotten higher, and many students can no longer afford to go to the university. ACEU has been working hard against this evolvement, in addition to working on improving the students’ rights in general, and they have met a lot of opposition in Colombia.

Counteracted in Colombia

Some years ago the government started a process of stigmatizing the students that were working for change. Everyone who didn’t support the government was labeled as terrorists. A report made in collaboration with SAIH can tell us about several killed students and many that have been forced to escape. Diego and Guillermo, who both have lost a lot of good friends in the fight against the government, mean that this is just parts of the truth. Investigation can also tell that the president has been working with military groups, something ACEU has known and been working against for a long time. Unfortunately, the president is very popular and it’s hard to get support from the Colombian populating. Diego also think that people won’t speak up in fear of their own life.

In a TV debate in 2006, Diego gave the president some critical questions. After the debate the authorities started investigating him, and he was told that there had been given orders to kill him. After several threats in his home country, Diego had to flee to Norway in 2008. He now works as a guide here, in addition to his work in the organization. Guillermo as well is not safe in Colombia, and right now he is travelling Europe, telling people about the situation in Colombia. It is difficult to organize in Colombia, and Diego and Guillermo are very happy for the opportunity to tell us what is going on.

The Student Peace Prize

Having been awarded the Student Peace Prize has been very important for ACEU’s international work. In a country where your own president works against you, this type of attention from the outside is their only way to put pressure on the government. Diego and Guillermo tell us that they have learned a lot after they received the prize. ”It has given us the opportunity to travel the world and get to know many different people. We have learned so much from students all over the world and from people in ISFiT and SAIH as well”, Guillermo says.

What can you do to help the Colombian students?

”Call me before I get killed”, Guillermo answers as a joke, but it isn’t far from the truth. If he should be killed, or something was to happen to a student in Colombia, he wants the world to know. He would like everyone to react to what is happening, the most important thing you can do is to tell people about the situation and to show your support. ”When people in our own country don’t believe us, we need help from the international society. This is not about one person”, Guillermo says. ”Everybody has to go out in the street and protest. They have to say that they want change now!”

If you are looking for something concrete to do, SAIH encourages everybody to sign a protest against EFTAs free trade treaty with Colombia,. Read more on www.saih.no