A delegation of Colombian congressmen and union leaders from Ireland, the UK and Canada, was yesterday at La Aduana, outside Tibú, where the Catatumbo peasant mobilization is concentrated since 46 days.

The Peasant Association of Catatumbo (ASCAMCAT) asked President Juan Manuel Santos to receive, today in Cucuta, a delegation of peasants who participate in the protest.
They will present the proposal to "cease tensions" in the road blockade between  Cúcuta and Tibú, every other day, from 7 am to 2 pm, allowing the entry of food, commercial and humanitarian caravans.

In return, they will ask the Government Santos "to restart talks with a competent team" in each of the topics, "with a commitment to reach agreements during the first week of talks," reads the statement released yesterday by ASCAMCAT .
"If agreements are being reached within a week on the five minimum claims, proposed by the peasants, the road will be unblocked and we return to normal life”, reads the statement addressed to the head of state by the Catatumbo peasants.

The document adds that from now on, the rest of the requirements will be negotiated in a bilateral commission to solve "economic, social and humanitarian emergency". But if the parties do not reach agreement, "on the five minimal claims, within a week", the peasants who are protesting said they would maintain distension of the road every other day, until the signing of the agreements.

ASCAMCAT proposed a monitoring committee and guarantors, composed of the president of Congress, Juan Fernando Cristo, Todd Howland, UN representative in Colombia, the ombudsman, Jorge Armando Otálora and the Peace Committee of the Congress.

Lawmakers who spoke yesterday with the protesters were the representatives to the House, Ivan Cepeda and Angela Maria Robledo, and Senator Gloria Inés Ramírez, president of the Peace Committee of the Congress.

"We come as parliamentarians to demand the Government to be serious, to appoint people who know the problems of the area and are willing to dialogue. A social conflict must be resolved through dialogue; it cannot be fixed with police and military strategies ", notified Robledo.  "Militarization is not the way to manage conflicts in this country. We do not want more deaths of peasants or policemen, we want guarantees for a decent life in this region”, he said.

About the requirement of the peasants to declare a Peasant Reserve Zone, he said the Peasant Reserve Zones are ways of protecting the land, for the peasants to have a better life."The ZRC are not, as they have been called, theaters of war," he said.
"The president said on July 20 that he wants to give it all to get to peace in this country;  we would like to tell him that if that is what he wants, he should do anything possible for the Catatumbo peasants " said Iván Cepeda. "It’s impossible to understand how such a rich region, that has contributed so much to the country, doesn’t have even the necessary bridges,  in good conditions so that these farmers can sell their products".

*  www.prensarural.org