In Bozeman on Tuesday, April 8 at 7 P.M. in Strand Union Building Room 276 at Montana State University;

Maria Ruth is a mother of six children who is risking her life to defend human rights in one of the most war-torn regions of Colombia .  She is the Arauquita representative for the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights and was elected to the Arauquita municipal council in October as a candidate of the Alternative Democratic Pole opposition party.

Maria Ruth will be giving a presentation, “Women Waging Peace in Colombia,” that includes some of the photos that I’ve taken in the state of Arauca .

The U.S. government is providing Colombia with $1.5 million per day in military aid “some of which is being used to protect Occidental Petroleum’s operations in Arauca .  Maria Ruth will describe how women are resisting the war and waging peace, and how you can support them in their struggle.

Maria Ruth has been displaced (forced to flee from her home) several times because of her work to defend human rights.  She fled from her hometown of San Alberto, Cesar when hired gunmen sought to kill her in 1988.  Her first husband was assassinated two years later because of his involvement with the Patriotic Union opposition party.  She fled from San Alberto again in 1994 to escape from a paramilitary death squad.  She had to abandon the city of Bucaramanga the following year after the paramilitaries tracked her down there and she had to flee from the capital city of Bogota when they located her there in 1996.

Maria Ruth has been living in Arauca for the past ten years.  In addition to the threats from the government security forces, she has also been threatened by both of the guerrilla groups present in the state.

Arauca is a very beautiful and fertile state that is being destroyed by the war and the oil corporations, says Maria Ruth.  I want my children to be able to live in peace and to enjoy the rivers, estuaries and grasslands of Arauca .  Instead of sending more weapons, we ask that the U.S. government use your tax dollars to provide support for schools, health care and decent housing in Arauca, as well as the U.S.