This is an unofficial translation of the Public Statement you can find if you click on the PDF button above. This statement was issued by OXFAM Colombia a member of ABColombia, CINEP a partner of ABColombia and other organisations.

To the President of the Republic of Colombia, Iván Duque Márquez,

The voice of humble people extends its callused and sore hand to you so that you can sit with them and listen to them. The Minga seeks to open the word, create sincere dialogues from its territories. As President of all Colombians, listen to the voice of the State constituent itself.

President, come closer, welcome, and listen to the voice of the Minga.

Allow the genuine feelings of indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombians and peasant farmers to be recognized, lest they are usurped by those who still put their blind faith in the value of weapons. To state that these citizens are managed and manipulated is not to recognize their political autonomy, their proposals to live in a country in peace.

Sincere and transparent dialogues between diverse peoples, can generate the construction a path and weaken violent alternatives, disarming negative conflicts, which only lead to pain and poverty in society.

As you are the President of all citizens, we call you to deploy your capacity for action and guide the State to create the appropriate spaces for dialogue and, thus, guarantee the protection of the rights of the inhabitants of our downtrodden rurality.

If the Minga seeks a direct dialogue with the Executive branch, with the President of Colombia, it is because they recognise you as such.

This Minga, Mr. President, is a great opportunity and responsibility to advance in the direction of real peace, concrete, diverse, happy, and just for all.

Mr. President, come closer, welcome, and listen to the voice of the Minga.