The death of Afro Colombian activist and Senator Piedad Córdoba Ruiz on January 20, stunned the world of peace and social justice lovers.
One of her assistants, the Afro Colombian doctor Efrain Viveros Filigrana, had just had a long conversation with Córdoba the day before, at her home in Medellin. They talked about the need to bolster the struggle for the rights of Afro Colombians and people in general, and the obligation to fight against the horrors the Israeli state is committing against the Palestinian people. He mentioned that Piedad was smiling and listening to salsa and bolero music at the time. I was surprised when the next day, they called me to say that she went into cardiac arrest and arrived at the hospital with no vital signs. “For me,” said Viveros Filigrana, “it was a blow to my soul that I still haven’t recovered from.”
A promoter of peace in Colombia
The babalao Jimmy Viera, who served as Córdoba’s spiritual advisor, said, “Senator Piedad Cordoba’s advocacy efforts in defense of the Afro Colombian people dates back to the early 1990s, during the negotiations to create the national Constituent Assembly, where the 55th transitory article was created to draft the famous Law of Black Communities (1993), which recognizes the territorial rights of the Afro Colombian people. When I took a trip with her to Venezuela in 2006, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez invited her onto his program ‘Aló Presidente’ so that Piedad could be the broker for peace in Colombia. Her effort was to put a stop to the armed conflicts that shook that country, causing more than 200,000 deaths and the displacement of millions. This was where Piedad began to assume the leadership of the Peace Dialogue, which included an ethnic chapter (relating to the Afrodescendant, Indigenous, and gypsy peoples). That dialogue would take place under the presidency of former President Juan Manuel Santos in 2015.”
Viera added that although Piedad was able to contribute to Colombia’s peace dialogue between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Colombian government, other important negotiations are still pending, such as with the National Liberation Army (ELN). Viera added that in recent times, the senator suffered attacks from journalists who were trying to discredit her, but they were never able to do so.
Roraima Gutierrez, a young Afro Venezuelan congresswoman, has spoken about how much Piedad learned from her trips to Venezuela about establishing a continent-wide Afrodescendant agenda. The Venezuelan government’s presentation of its highest distinction, the Order of the Liberator medal and a replica of the sword of Simón Bolívar, by the Venezuelan Minister of Culture Ernesto Villega to Córdoba’s children––Juan Luis and Natalia Castro Córdoba––was a gesture of ethical recognition.
Afrodescendant organizations pay tribute to Piedad Córdoba
Several organizations offered this tribute to Piedad Córdoba:
“The International Summit of Afrodescendants and Africans and the Articulation of Afrodescendants of Latin America and the Caribbean (Cumbe Internacional de Afrodescendientes y Africanos y la Articulación de Afrodescendientes de América Latina y el Caribe) would like to express our support for the family and friends of the cimarrona senator and activist Piedad Cordoba, who has sadly passed on so early into the spiritual plane.
“Though her image was widely defamed, Piedad was a tireless defender of the forgotten and condemned of history: Black, Afro Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquero communities; women; the LGBTIQ + population; and victims of Colombia’s internal armed conflict. She was also a recognized human rights defender, especially for the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. She was a trailblazer for many of us who felt out of place in our corporeality and territoriality; in short, she was passionate about the struggles against discrimination and injustice.
“Persecution, stigmatization, and hatred will never erase her legacy and what she leaves in each one of us who knew her, what she leaves in the homeland; today, her death means a sowing of hope to continue her struggle.
“Recognizing her humanity and her legacy, some of the key spokespersons of the International Cumbe of Afrodescendants and Africans and the Articulation of Afrodescendants of Latin America and the Caribbean, have traveled from different parts of Latin America and Colombia to the city of Bogota to accompany and give an earthly farewell to our Piedad.”