The Colombian Caribbean, one of the regions with the highest presence of armed groups linked to drug trafficking, human trafficking and extortion, is preparing with independent electoral witnesses for the presidential elections this Sunday, June 19.
Maestro Javier Sarabia Pedroza, director of the Son de Negro Dance of San Cayetano, is part of the self-appointed "Electoral Witnesses" dedicated to monitoring the elections independently, mostly farmers and fishermen who will be watching the 12 voting tables installed in the area.
Sarabia Pedroza said that she hopes that the current elections will take place peacefully and without fraud, since they are "the hope for us as an Afro group" because for a long time they were not taken into account for representation.
"We are an Afro-farming people, we live off agriculture and fishing. Here we have not had a good contribution from the governments. We hope that this incoming government will really address the problem of the Afro groups, especially in this area, which has been largely forgotten by the central administration," he said.
This note was produced with the support of a group of journalists covering the second round elections in Colombia, sponsored by the organization Global Exchange in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press.
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