Photo: Ví, demonstrating in Cali.
Ví, LGBTQ + activist, is demonstrating today for the rights of her country but also for the LGBTQ + rights in Colombia. Colombia is the second Latin American country after Brazil to defend LGBTQ + rights on paper. Paradoxically between 2014 and 2018 more than 545 homicides were recorded against this community.
My name is Ví, I am 27 years old I live in Cali. I'm an LGBTQ + activist and drag queen artist, (Cacttus bella). I am also a plastic arts student at the Cali Institute of Popular Culture.
For two decades we have been victims of an oppressive state, supported by institutions. A state which lies to us, rapes, kills and organizes disappearances; a state that behaves like a hungry wolf that never comes to satiety; a state that sees only economic interests in the dreams of Colombians, only numbers and percentages in their hopes.
Today is the revolution, the awakening of the youth has arrived. The youth, tired of living in precariousness, raise their voices for a better and dignified future.
Photo: Ví, Cali. "ESMAD rapist".
I really feel insecure when I see a policeman.
I was afraid the Paro Nacional would get bored and people would abandon the cause. Yet, over the days, many have called for a better country. They united and the echo has echoed so far that all over Colombia people are rising up every day. Even though my people have suffered tremendously, they keep smiling and I believe in them.
The debate over how state security forces behave and react has had profound political, legal and institutional implications. It is not surprising that the institutions do justice themselves. There were numerous cases of abuses, rapes of minors, arbitrary detentions which ended in beatings. Paramilitarism is the worst that can happen to us, they are sponsoring criminal actions.
I really feel insecure when I see a policeman. I have been the victim of abuse myself. I was traveling with a friend through the Cauca Valley. Before leaving town, there was a makeshift police station, a tow truck and two police motorcycles. They arrested us. All of our documents were in order. However, one of the policemen asked us to give him some money. We refused and we were arrested for 24 hours. Detained arbitrarily, just for not having given in to their racketeering.
Photo: Ví, demonstration in Cali.
I resist for culture.
I am sure I am speaking on behalf of millions of Colombians, saying that the violence not only happened with the start of the strike, but that it has always been there and at different levels. We have always been victims of military and state forces.
I dream of a Colombia where we can believe that our dreams are safe and achievable.
May those who must protect us do their job. We need to have a future doing what we are passionate about.
I resist for culture, for life to be dignified in a country where a book costs more than a bottle of alcohol. I want a country where I can be who I am without being afraid of being killed, where one does not fear the police, a country which knows how to manage the population's resources well, a country which offers a quality of life to its inhabitants.
My action consists in making visible the realities that we live, to reflect them in artistic performances.
Since the start of Paro, they have been killing, raping innocent people, very young girls, because we are claiming our rights. They do not suffer, we suffer because we are without our loved ones, without food, without rights, they want to dispossess us.
But we continue to resist.
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