Muy buenos días a todas y todos. Bienvenidos a este dialogo con los candidatos presidenciales de la vicepresidenta de Calducha y la institución de paz de los Estados Unidos. Tengo el gran honor de estar aquí con estas organizaciones. Primero, Woodrow Wilson Center y su programa latinoamericano. Jason Mercer, del Centro Latinoamericano y Adrienne Art de la Cámara Atlántica. Y el nombre de estas tres organizaciones es un placer a todos y a todos para que te conviertes en el espacio este día. Estamos muy, muy contentos de tener esta oportunidad, de tener dialogo, de preguntar, de pedir clarificaciones. Y para encontrar más sobre el plan de gobierno y las misiones de dos de las principales campañas de el proceso electoral de Colombia que comenzarán en el 29 de este mes. En el primer lugar, podría ser el primer lugar y en el segundo lugar podría ser en junio. Es un gran honor y estamos muy contentos de tener Francia Marquez, quien es el candidato presidencial. El candidato presidencial de Gustavo Petro de la coalición Pacto Histórico. Y, por otro lado, estamos muy contentos de tener con nosotros Luis Alberto Murillo, el candidato presidencial de Sergio Fajardo de la coalición Centro Esperanza. Sin embargo, no hemos podido confirmar y obtener la participación de las otras dos campañas que fueron invitadas. En una parte, Liga de Gobernantes contra la Corrupción, candidato Rodolfo Hernandez. Afortunadamente, Marelen Castillo no fue capaz de viajar y estar aquí con nosotros en persona. Y en el otro lado, tenemos la Equipo por Colombia, candidato Federico Guerres y el presidencial candidato Rodrigo Lara. No hemos podido estar con nosotros, pero en el nombre de las tres organizaciones, queremos reiterar que ha sido una oferta muy imparcial y una oferta para el diálogo de cambio aquí en Washington por las cuatro principales campañas presidenciales de este periodo electoral. Tenemos la posibilidad, quizás, que las tres campañas nos visiten y que podamos siempre estar bienvenidos en este espacio. Para los que no saben, la Unidad de los Estados Unidos, es una agencia pública, una agencia estadounidense, pero es autónoma de la brancha ejecutiva de los Estados Unidos y fue iniciada por un acto de participación de la Congressa con la mitigación de conflictos de violencia, resolución. Es un placer de la convocación que esperamos que tengamos más de estas intervenciones en persona que hemos estado haciendo virtualmente por un par de años. Para los que están siguiendo la vida y para los que están aquí en el auditorio, bienvenido. En términos de metodología, este mañana, lo que vamos a tener es, primero de todos, unos comentarios muy breves de cada de los candidatos presidenciales, empezando con Francia. Y luego cada uno de nosotros, Jason, Cindy y yo, tendremos la oportunidad de preguntar a dos preguntas. Y luego, en la segunda fase de este dialogo, vamos a abrir el espacio. Para los de ustedes que están aquí, pueden preguntar a través de la página web de Internet del Instituto de los Estados Unidos, pueden preguntar a todas las otras redes también, para que puedan preguntar a ambos candidatos las preguntas que desean preguntar. Para los representantes de la media, estamos preguntando a ustedes para que salgan sus preguntas para que, después, tengamos una oportunidad exclusiva para las redes para preguntar a los candidatos. Así que estoy preguntando que después del dialogo para que vayan a la primera fase para preguntar a sus preguntas, tienen las preguntas exclusivas. Así que, sin más que haya más introducciones, Francia y Luis Liverto que son muy conocidos en la arena política. Quiero dar la oportunidad a Francia para hacer algunas noticias abiertas. Y luego, tendremos la interacción de la ciudad y también una sesión de Q&A. Francia y Luis Liverto han visitado el Instituto de la Paz en el pasado, y es un gran honor tenerlos aquí. En spite de tus agendas muy altas de las campañas electrónicas, bienvenido. A behalf del Instituto de la Paz, Francia, muchas gracias. Buenas tardes y saludos ancestrales a todos los que están aquí en persona y a los que están escuchando a nosotros en las redes sociales, que estamos aquí, en esta red política representando Gustavo Petro como representante del candidato. Mi presencia representa esos espacios que han sido silenciados y olvidados. Como una mujer afrodescena, mi presencia es muy importante porque estamos preparando para una agenda de transformación estructural de el sistema electoral que ha sido excluido y violento en nuestro país para despliegar a la democracia con muchas otras intereses diferentes. Estamos tratando de lograr la paz completa y enfocar en la justicia social que incluye la garantía fundamental de todos los ciudadanos colombianos. La concentración en transformar las estructuras de exclusión de la patriarquía que no ha permitido ciudadanos colombianos a vivir una vida dignificada. Soy apoyada con Gustavo Petro como mujer black y la madre de mi madre. Para mí, es un desafío de violencia, de violencia política y de una forma sistemática y estructural para destruir y negar los derechos de la mayoría de la sociedad de Colombia. Hemos tenido 213 años de estado que se ha convertido en lo que ha sido. Pero no solo ha sido, sino que ha mantuvo como una violencia contra las líderes sociales contra las personas etnicales contra los derechos de las mujeres de la youth contra los que no existen como le diríamos en el haberto de Eduardo Gallardo nuestro lugar es para los que no existen una voz, una voz que incluye la regla de la ley, la Constitución con sus promesas, y los derechos que son cultural, social y los derechos de la reconocimiento de nuestra cultural diversidad de la Nación, los derechos para todos los derechos para ser cementidos. Y esperamos que en el primer ronco de May 29, cuando la presidenta Gustavo Petro también implica tener una relación con todos los países, así que en Colombia podemos tener un poder de vida, en favor de la paz, en favor de la justicia social y en favor de la dignidad humana. Estamos resistiendo el poder hasta que la dignidad es una dimensión. Estamos apoyando a todos los colombianos en nuestro país y a todos los colombianos que porque de un conflicto armado, porque de la falta de oportunidades en nuestros países, que han tenido que dejar de escapar de lugares como este país en los Estados Unidos, donde tenemos más de 200,000 colombianos que no tienen la garantía de derechos, o que no tienen status de migrantes, y que se detienen de la dignidad, creo que la TPS para los colombianos como migrantes de los Estados Unidos, debería ser el right step forward para expresar justicia para todos los colombianos de los Estados Unidos y, por supuesto, aquí en los Estados Unidos. Muchas gracias, Steve, gracias por la... Luis Gilberto, por favor, muchas gracias por la invitación y el trabajo que el Instituto de Peas hace todos los días, y gracias a Cynthia para su trabajo, y al Centro de Atención Atlántica también, gracias. Es un honor estar aquí con Francia Marquez. She sees her almost every other day in different debates and different conversations, so thank you so much for being here with us today in this conversation, and thank you to all of you that are watching us virtually. Since the proposal of the president Fajardo inviting me to work with him as a vice president candidate, we are trying to propose to have an ideology of hope, because the country is not hopeful because we have serious problems that have gathered through the years. It's the first one that in our country we assassinate each other for financial interests, and we see that in our government that has implemented some policies that have generated this deep crisis. First of all, the security crisis, we all know that we went back to the killing of youth and financially, despite the pandemic, despite the pandemic since 2019, there was a social explosion and that was not seen before because of the lack of opportunities for everyone, but especially to the population that have been and have suffered from inclusion because of the indigenous communities and the Afro community, all these communities that haven't had opportunities, and we have 3 million of youth people that do not work or study and do not want to be part of criminal organizations, and they do not suffer only financially but also environmentally, so our country is in a deep crisis, and we require change, and we're proposing a change, a responsible change that is based on strengthening the education and technology as a new path to move society, a path of freedom, and we need to keep fighting against corruption, we need transparency, and also the distribution of opportunities because Colombia is concentrated in a few groups of the population, and this change also requires a role of the international communities to support Colombia to move forward, and that's how the alliance with the U.S. has to go beyond the political ideology and also contribute to the different interests of Colombia, but with responsibility, we need to put foreign affairs policies in a different way so we can move forward to have an agreement that is good for the interests of the Colombian people overseas, and that we can focus also on achieving that, achieving that the country can be part of Latin America and that hemisphere and has also a way to build peace and better grounds for our family, and we're working and proposing this, so we can achieve this and we can win on May 29th, and we hope, like we said before, that the vote, that this surprising vote is going to allow us to go on a second ground and we can propose changes, responsible changes for all, and we have said that with the arrival of Fajardo Murillo to the government, the government of hope the country will change. Luis Gilberto, thank you so much, and I want to give the word to Cindy Anderson from the Center and former director of the Latin American program, and now is starting a new stage, just counseling and being part of the program, but in a different way, and she's going to ask the first question to both candidates for the vice presidency. Cindy, thank you and welcome. Thank you so much. This is Jason for this invitation for your kind words and to the candidates that have taken the time to come to Washington, D.C. and present their proposal. So thank you so much, and thank you to all the teams from different institutions that are here. Miriam Beatriz, I have worked really hard in kids that have been working behind the scenes to be able to create this event, and I would like to highlight something that was said at the beginning. We invited the four main candidates for the vice presidency, and we only achieved the participation of these two candidates, whose campaigns are in a way historically, because they have people that are after descendants as candidates for the vice presidency. So I would like to start with a central issue for Colombia in the U.S., it has to do with safety and security. So Francia has talked about killings in the field of leaders and people that have been excluded, peasants, and we have seen in the past days for protest of the armed forces, the clan of the gulf that has dominated a great part of the country, and we know about the different conflicts between the illicit groups that are involved in all types of crimes, drug trafficking, trafficking of gold, human trafficking, etc. So what is your proposal to restablish security and legitimization of the state in those places that suffer from violencia, legitimization only for public safety, but in general? So this is a great question, but what is a proposal that you have to respond to these waves of violence that unfortunately still exist in the country and how is that you would work with different institutions from the government to achieve this objective? Cindy, thank you so much. I would like to be able to alternate the answers, so I would like to ask Luis Gilberto to start with the answer and we will be switching with each question. Well, the security indicators show clearly that the country is going the wrong, in the wrong path and you have seen how the country has lowered the rates of homicides and that's an indicator and we had gone away from killings in different areas of the country and we went back to the same situation. Why? And this is very easy to figure out. We made the decision, well, the government, the current government made the decision not to implement the PISA court in a firm way with responsibility and with resources. With a new concept of implementing the PISA court that was not included in this PISA court, which was called PISA legally PISA, but to be able to do this, there's a correlation of security and peace in different territories. In the first step to be able to restablish peace in those territories has to do with implementing completely in a firm way the PISA court, this historically PISA court that was signed with the FARC in 2016 that we signed and I was part of that team that was in that initial process of implementing this PISA court and that's the first step. The second step has to do with focusing on the regions and territories. The government abandoned these regions and they did it and we saw in 2021 in regions like in the Pacific or cities of Gali were abandoned to their own log and we almost so could it that in different regions and that has complicated things, security issues and we are going to try and criminalized and process all this criminals and we have to restructure public safety in our country and we require and we need to create a ministry of defense for the citizens so they can see the presence of public safety in different territories and the rural areas. Second of all so we can combat all this criminal organizations in the urban areas because that has increased. We see killings all the time and in that way the police, the police force will be part of this ministry of defense so that they can interact and work with citizens and we are going to reestablish different public safety organizations so they can really protect citizens and this current government made the decision that instead of protecting the civilians they can go back to confrontation and abandon this path of peace and we're going to try to protect civilians within the framework of the tools that we have in that PISA court that was signed because it has not been implemented it was left aside and number one the presence has to be part of this reform and reestablishing gender and empowerment of women that was set aside these elements that were part of that PISA court so we are going to implement in a firm way all of this and another thing is that and you mentioned that before Cynthia that we have to have the presence of criminal international organizations not only not good trafficking but also the trafficking of natural resources that like gold and wood so we have this human trafficking international organizations and they're trying to commercialize different wild species so this criminal organizations have diversified their portfolios but they're all the same and we need the cooperation of the US and the international community but not just a cooperation with the US because it hasn't had to do only with the PISA court but the relationships with Colombia and the US was like an ideology and we abandoned the real priorities of the people so that's a reality and second of all I would like to talk about the fact to generate opportunities in that region because they do not have any opportunities we're talking about two different colombias and so going the republic perform a study and so that we in order to be at the same level of Bogotá we need to work for half a century so we were talking about the fact that in the next development plan in this government of hope we're going to assign at least 10% of that national plan of development and the investments to communities after descendants that come that keep dragging all the consequences of the structural racism that has been historically added to poverty and violence and we're going to guarantee that these communities can really go from 5 million of hectares that have to what they really what they really need and we're also going to guarantee that not only these communities but other communities in that region are part of the national government and they have their own representation so it looks more like the citizens of Colombia and provide voice to all these communities so we need to do this to provide security to all territories and we're proposing that in this way so we need to restructure security in Colombia so we can see change and we can protect civilians because right now we cannot see that thank you so much Luis Gilberto thank you so much Francia well first of all what I want to say is that for years the focus on security in Colombia has been from the military point of view or the police and when we talk about lack of safety we just talk about militaries of the military and the presence of military in this regions and that generates violence so the experience that we've had is that the more military presence that we see the more violence is created because of corruption because of the way the illegal criminal organizations and the way they interact in Buenaventura the presence of the army is there but there's a territory where there's no presence of the army so there people like in Cauca where you can see a lot of army presence but they killed social leaders all the time territories like Kido where you can see the army presence but they're killings killings of youth every day so that's why the question that we always ask is why if there's a presence of the army these crimes of violence keep happening all the time in this territories so I think that the approach now has to do with security and it goes beyond the military we have to understand the things that this generates and how it generates violence and we know that it's not going to stop if we don't stop hunger so violence is not going to stop if they're not dignidad for the Colombian citizens and that has to do with strengthening in a productive way and recover the productivity of the nation talking about agriculture and talking about the private sector we need to generate jobs there are a lot of young people that are basically recruited by armed forces because they don't have access to education and they don't have access to a good job in Colombia and that's part of what we should talk about before the military presence we need to respond with the same tactics and we have seen this over and over and it hasn't stopped the situation of course there's no doubt that there's they need to have agreements with the armed force groups because this keeps generating violence and danger to everyone in Colombia because they keep putting their lives at risk and that has to do with implementing the Peace Accord that was signed between FARC and the government and this has to do with establishing this conversation in dialogue with ELN with the ELN group and to talk with the paramilitary groups because right now they see protests all around the country and this has to do with talking about drugs in Colombia and the problem that we have with drugs in Colombia and the necessity to move forward to legalize drugs as a path of change to take away that incentive of violence and narco trafficking as an engine that moves violence in Colombia and to generate and strengthen productivity and especially in the agriculture in Colombia and this is a challenge it has to do with infrastructure and knowing the rights of the agriculture in Colombia and we have to talk about land ownership in Colombia and I know that some people don't like to hear about that and they say that when they hear that we need to talk about the lands in Colombia that we're going to expropriate owners of their own lands and in Colombia we don't even have a census regarding which is a land that the government owns they have lots of land that is empty and they don't want to share that information if if we don't know how many million of hectares the government has and they're empty then the people that are in power they just expropriate and sell these pieces of land illegally so they can be land owners that use the government for their own good and not for the well-being of the citizens of Colombia and that's a challenge and the first point of this peace accord regarding land ownership has to do with helping to distribute land so that different families has access to land because it doesn't matter if you have a piece of land if you don't have the support of the government here in the US agriculture is granted the government supports agricultures but that doesn't happen in Colombia they support some sectors but the farmers farmers indigenous people afritas and then people do not have the support grants so that they can produce in the lands and they're not third parties so they say please do not cultivate coke but what are they going to do they don't have a way to cultivate and grow banana and cacao so we need to strengthen productivity and the land and to support financially so they can commercialize their products in Colombia and i think that's going to contribute greatly to lowering violence because the more people we see that do not have good conditions then violence is going to keep increasing and people just use whatever they can find and vulnerable people end up in this dynamic of violence as a way to survive in a way in Colombia so we need to talk about the structures and what has to do with security it's not security it's not just a topic of a vision uh to have presence of the army and the police thank you thank you so much francia en luce alberto i would like to open the floor for jason marzak the senior director adrian arish latin america center at latin council it is a pleasure to have you here in this initiative thank you so you thank you to the institute of peace and the woodrow wilson center and sentia for this clarification i think that with these atmospheric issues um regional issues um that are brought out in these spaces and i would like to welcome again francia en marqués en histórico o parto histórico and also el discurso de berto morillo or from the center esperanza en rodrigo lara from the equipo por colombia en marlin castro que viene de gordo sobrantes de corrupción i hope that we can have you here in the future on our different application francia en Luis Gilberto i will begin with you yes Luis Gilberto started with Cynthia's question that colombia is one of the closest allies of the united states in latin america and the Caribbean and through decades our countries have worked together to face bilateral regional and global challenges this past december a us working group us colombia working group atlantic colombia con los colombianos y con muchos miembros aquí en washington el polisar uh la publicación fue un plan post-covid recupera programas post-covid y tienen cuatro atlantes una gran vaccinación para comenzar la economía para la creación de empleo como ruta a la creación inclusiva número tres un pacto más solidario o un acuerdo para establecer estabilidad y número cuatro para mejorar la regla de la ley para implementar el acuerdo de la paz buena gobernación y la protección de las frases dentro de estas pilares se reflete la legislación de san hominantes san hominantes regarding colombia que fueron presentados en marzo esta legislación también incluye las medidas de seguridad, el ambiente humanitario y también la disminución de colombia y el aliado del país al lado de nato ¿puedes acudir con estos países de esta religión bilateral francés y cuáles pilares con tu gobierno establecen que se convierta en eleccionado voy a comenzar con las pilares ¿qué son las pilares que necesitamos? bueno tenemos que strengar las relaciones de la religión de los estados por años la religión de los estados ha sido basada en los términos de la guerra contra los drogas y creo que esto ha sido una política porque la producción de la coca leaf en Colombia es intacta y así es la traficación directa como decimos coloquialmente ha ayudado a colombia a dejar las tierras y para bolsa los recursos financieros y los bancos y el desafío es número 1 de reconocer que esta política de drogas y colombia ha logrado y esto significa establecer y tener otra concentración en cómo contra la traficación directa en Colombia y como decimos tenemos que concentrar en la legalización que implica el cambio de la utilidad de la coca y de las leaves en términos de producción y la arena farmacéutica, tal vez en las industrias de textiles y comida que están derivadas de la marihuana, las leaves y la coca y en términos de justicia social entendiendo que el profilo de la política contra los drogas en los estados tiene un fútbol racial es los negros y afroamericanos que están colocados en el hielo porque utilizan drogas y en Colombia es usualmente la indígena y la black poblaciones que están realmente, que experienzan esa violencia porque son el uso de drogas, así que tener una política en la ruta a la legalización es una forma de extender el tema del uso como un problema de salud pública, no es un problema criminal porque es la gente poca, racialmente profila, que son realmente los que sufren y que están perseguidos por este problema y creo que hay un potencial para strengar esa alianza con el gobierno de los estados y que contribuirá a la violencia de drogas, como hemos dicho, número 2 sabemos que los estados han estado peleando contra el cambio climático, también queremos tomar ese pez porque entiendo que nuestro país es número 2 en el mundo, siendo el más biodiversitario protegiendo la biodiversidad y nuestro país será fundamental para la vida humana, no sólo a nosotros colombianos, sino a la humanidad y eso es donde vamos a poner nuestro fútbol y como nuestro programa dice, vamos a transitar una extracción de la economía a una economía sustentable creo que podemos strengar esa economía usando la ciencia, tecnología y research y podemos tener una economía clínica y una economía para la vida que strengará y la productividad en Colombia que creará trabajos y industrias y en el tema de paz, que sabemos que los estados took a bed con el plan colombiano recibimos su apoyo pero es un desafío y una necesidad para lograr este pez completo, que en el mundo estadounidense está siendo nuestro ally la justicia racial y la justicia de género es un desafío en Colombia, 52% de la población es mujeres y la feminidad no ha terminado en Colombia, violaciones a los derechos de mujeres no terminan porque estamos en un país chauvinista, un país patriarco y un país racista que necesita una transformación profunda, así que la humedad de todos los colombianos se vuelve una realidad y creo que los estadounidenses pueden ser fundamental, entendemos que los movimientos de black people have cemented their organizations to change, we want to strengthen again relationships to coordinate to coordinate with you and to respect the autonomy of the values of each nation of each country and so so we can have that global peace around the world thank you we are actually celebrating 200 years of a relationship between the United States and Colombia and obviously Colombia must continue being a very strategic and special ally to the United States and it needs to be done within a framework of respect to the sovereignty of the countries but we have to highlight some issues that were not the best you mentioned the failed fight against drugs it's true that is a very important issue it is not a priority though we will propose a new context of the relationship that we have with the united states based on that mutual respect and that co-responsibility but approaching the issue at a multilateral level because there are many issues and in that sense what we will propose to the government of the united states is to diversify the portfolio of the relationship that we have with the country first of all we are going to strengthen everything and anything that has to do with science technology and innovation especially in the areas of education at the same time we will propose to delve into to deepen that trade relationship Colombia has a very important platform to connect to the world within that political context especially with the supply chains Colombia can play a very important role to strengthen in its economy to grow and to provide greater opportunities for the Colombian population that will be fundamental but it will require the revision of the free trade commerce we have to revise it or review it from the environmental perspective climate change empowering women and the perspective of the rights of the ethnic communities that is enshrined within our constitution and the perspective of new chains of values especially to those people who are at the fields we will have also a different foreign policy focusing on the united states focusing on the environment solutions of climate change where climate solutions where Colombia can play an important role something that we have lacked in the relationship with the united states would be that the new groups that are acquiring the inclusion of Colombia the Afro-Colombian people indigenous community Palenqueros and we will establish a relationship that will give greater relevance and centrality to social civil society represented in those groups and finally we believe that we have to have a stronger consistent support from the government of the united states in that relationship with Colombia having to do with the implementation of the peace agreement that was signed with the FARC that is the first step the first step on that long road towards complete peace in the country and the relationship the actions and the proposals of the united states and the phase of of those agreements there have been incoherent and erratic an example the inconsistency of certain sectors in the united states to have aerial spraying with glyphosate and places like amazon amazon or el choco so it's incoherent when we're talking about empowering communities and climate change and the fight against drug trafficking yeah we do talk about that where we're proposing that failed spraying with glyphosate we have not seen a quite a firm decision on the part of the government of the united states with the eradication of illicit crops by hand they're less than 1% and the re-growing is more than 10% and so we think that we have to um shift our focus on those points of the joint don't work with the united states but we insist that we have to diversify that relationship there are other issues that we have to delve into and we have to deepen that relationship with the united states in the frame of respect core responsibility and where colombia can't have a status of a special and country and a strategic ally to the united states and to the ideal ideologize that relationship we have to have a multi uh party relationship and the united states thank you so much i would like to talk about the same point and with this ruse helberto you were mentioning this principles more than of course there are lots of agreement and disagreement and this type of rich dynamic of exchange between two close relationships from colombia and the u.s. but more and beyond this policies which would be the values and francia you mentioned the word values which would be the values and principles that could guide this bilateral relationship that can go beyond the everyday issues and conjunction that could keep enriching this relationship between these two countries francia please i think that we know about the lobbying that the right wing has been doing here in the us first of all to really not educate what we've been doing some of us and uh in a more specific way ustavo petros proposal and marques and this pacto histórico and the story about the castro chavismo and to make the u.s. believe that if we get to presidency ustavo petro marques is a threat to the u.s. and it's a threat for colombia i believe that the real threat is in our division because we have been submitted to democracy that have just ended in the casualties and armed force conflicts is it's not gustavo petro or francia marques that were opposed to peace in colombia and it wasn't our movement that have been opposing peace in colombia who decided to destroy peace in colombia as a current government so it doesn't matter if they come and talk in a really nice way in the us and talk about his great policy the reality is that in colombia we have dead casualties every day and we bury social leaders every day and that's the reality the killing of young people every day and the reality is the killing of women in colombia every day and we are concerned about that because adding to this narrative we have seen the statement of the ambassador of the u.s. and president biden saying that they had some information regarding financing and intervention of the russian and venezolan government and elections in colombia impacto histórico was not mentioned and even though i wasn't mentioned and gustavo petro was not mentioned it's obvious that they were referring to our candidates and to our proposal and i think that breaks with the history of the relationship of the u.s. that doesn't intervene in politics and has respected the democracy of this election process but we have heard this from the ambassador of the u.s. regarding elections and i think that the values that could be strengthened in this relationship should be first of all respect the value of respect and recognizing and talking despite differences for years in our country we have just exterminated each other if you do not agree with someone else you kill that person the one that raises his or her voice regarding differences suffers from stigma and is threatened and it's killed and that cannot continue that cannot be the ideology of the government we think that democracy has to do with talking about differences and i think that's the value that we have to rescue and strengthen in a relationship with the government of the u.s. and i think respect es muy importante y para ser neutral regarding incluso si no nos gusta la visión tenemos que hablar de diversidad y hablar con diversidad porque si mañana gustavo petro y francia marques son o son de poder y somos presidente y vice presidenta then that would break the relationship with the u.s. but i don't think that's good i think that we should strengthen the relationship and build and build it from there because that would be the decision of the of the colombian people and that would be um democratic decision we're concerned about security right now in colombia and gustavo petro and myself we have been limited and we haven't been able to exercise democracy in our campaign because at several points we've had to stop stop our campaign and we haven't been able to go to some territories and now with the paramilitary groups and their protests almost all of us all the candidates that are aspiring right now in campaigning we've had to stop and that's our that's a concern a concern regarding the silence of the u.s. in front of the paramilitary groups and the message that was sent from general zapatado it was a message that violates the political constitution because the military force cannot really participate in politics in colombia and there was a silence absolute silence so i think that there's silence for some things but other times some messages are being sent and i don't think that that's an impartial attitude and i think that that sends a very negative message for democracy in colombia thank you so much francia lucy alberto please yes regarding values that should guide the relationship the first one has to be respect and overall respect to the sovereignty of the countries in the colombian case and also especially for all the countries in latin america and our hemisphere and this is very important and with sergio fajardo and our political party we're going to demand from the u.s. the respect of our sovereignty and the other countries in latin america but also a responsabilidad porque los precios de la justicia social que tenemos que aprobar en una relación con los u.s. si es verdad que tenemos un especial estados con los u.s. y la justicia sobre los impactos de la guerra contra las fuerzas que han afectado a muchas de las comunidades de donde francia viene de y de donde vengo de esa Colombia y eso es una justicia social que tiene que ser aprobada y no ha sido hay algunas justicias sociales sobre el ambiente que no han sido aprobadas y tenemos que verlo y hablar de eso con los u.s. porque tenemos que haber perdidos y daños según la justicia y todos los treaties y tenemos que revisar algunos problemas y hablar de nuestras responsabilidades y otro punto que estaría en contacto con la democracia y me preocupa que francia me preocupa porque tenemos que respetar la decisión, la decisión autonómica y la decisión soberana de Colombia y el u.s. debe enviar claras noticias sobre el respeto y el apoyo a la democracia colombiana porque la jornada que hemos tenido que viajar para tener la democracia colombiana es una muy longa y la verdad es que hay 7 candidatos para la presidencia y de esos 4 son afrodescendentes y el país de contrastes y todo lo que ha sufrido Colombia muestra este contraste y ahora el u.s. debe apoyar la democracia porque de esto y no es aceptable que cuando tengas en la Constitución la armada que participa en la política, el gobierno de los u.s., el gobierno que hemos ayudado a seleccionar, porque yo era parte de esto, sigue silencio aquí en el u.s. cuando un oficial de la armada trabaja con el presidente, entonces tienen que apologizar a los ciudadanos y si el u.s. hace eso, deberíamos ver el mismo en Colombia y uno de los principios y los treaties y los valores fundamentales entre la relación con Colombia y el u.s. es sobre la democracia, la democracia en el u.s. y la democracia en Colombia y la hemisferia y el mundo todo y tenemos que enviar esos mensajes claros de apoyo y con lo que Francia ha mencionado sobre cómo difícil hemos tenido en nuestras campañas y continuamos viajando porque hay un poco de control de diferentes regiones en el país, así que incluso queríamos ver algún apoyo desde el u.s. y no lo hemos solicitado, pero si lo hicimos, no me lembro de que el u.s. ha reunido con los candidatos para apoyar la democracia y eso es un ejemplo que estás enviando porque te invito a todas las campañas y no hemos visto ese destino ahí y vemos que necesitamos porque eso es algo simbólico pero tenemos que ver estos factos concretos en Colombia, ahora las elecciones en Colombia son consecuencias y tienen muchas implicaciones y tenemos que ver a los u.s. diciendo que somos realmente partners y no queremos ver la ideología de Colombia en el u.s. y el respeto de la democracia en Colombia con actividades simbólicas y ejemplos prácticas y esto es muy importante y, como repito, respecto a la desesperación de Colombia en los países latinoamericanos y, por supuesto, con responsabilidad en apoyar la democracia. Gracias mucho. Gracias. Gracias. Y quiero permitir a Cindy y a Jason preguntar una segunda pregunta y luego vamos a dar la oportunidad a la audiencia. Gracias mucho. Creo que deberíamos estar más seguros en nuestras respuestas, así que podemos permitir a la audiencia preguntar preguntas y ha sido increíble. No digo que debes quedarte quieto, pero hablando de esta polarización sobre esta polarización en Colombia, si quieres poder, ¿por qué haces tu campaña, tu gobierno, para linkar esos barrios con la toda la sociedad en Colombia, con esas comunidades o sectores que están en oposición y que no agree con ti? ¿Cuáles esfuerzos vas a hacer para poder recuperar este sentimiento de la unidad, a pesar de las diferencias que existen hoy? No sé quién quiere comenzar. Vamos a Patulio Silberto y a Francia, ok? Me siento. Yo dije que íbamos a tomar turnes y que no me respeto de la metodología, pero ok, la primera cosa es que la electrónica colombiana, el centro de esperanza, ¿sí? Pero estamos haciendo un llamado a la unidad, creemos que el país ha de estar polarizados y para obtener las agresiones como una nación, y esas agresiones como una nación incluyen desescalar la lengua agresiva, desescalar ataques. Hay un esfuerzo en la parte de la sociedad colombiana, así que podemos tener agresiones, no agresión, no agresión política en la lengua. Por lo tanto, Sergio Fajardo ha señalado una agresión. Sergio Fajardo no estaba ahí, pero creo que esas son las estrellas para desescalar esa polarización. He sido en sugerir esto durante nuestra campaña, y lo que es claro a mí es que no es bueno desescalar a cada otro. Hay una discusión de ideas para convencer la electrónica. No me pregunté, Sergio Fajardo, y desde nuestra campaña no pregunté el comitmento de public service que Gustavo Petro ha tenido históricamente y el que Federico Gutiérrez ha tenido, y esos, creo que tenemos diferencias en la filosofía política, ideas, propósitos de un país. Así que estamos proponiendo, que hablamos, que mantenemos en contacto, que tenemos una relación personal que permite, oh, que se da cuenta de hablar. Eso es lo que hemos estado haciendo. Estamos en constantemente dialogado con los diferentes candidatos, y en el caso de los candidatos presidenciales, incluso más así. Ha sido una razón para el criticism, en Colombia. Ahora, esta unidad, esta gran unidad, implica que tendremos un cambio en todos los sectores, un cambio responsable. Y lo que hemos dicho es que aquellos que agree con eso están bienvenidos. Y lo que vamos a hacer, empezando en august 7, once we, and it's, when we start being in power, if we are elected obviously, we will call all all sectors, we will invite all sectors to start a program, to establish a possible program for the country because the challenges that we face, some of our, some of them are global, some of them are national.  We have to stop murdering one another due to any type of difference, a political difference where we can respect life and fundamental rights of people. Another challenge is the challenge of fighting criminal networks, environmental challenges, and we want to establish a lifestyle of peace and tranquility. Now, but there is a starting point that I would like to highlight amongst other things where I think, well, agree, really, especially having to do with environmental challenges and having those different suggestions or proposals of environmental changes or plans, I think that we disagree the least on those and that will be a starting point for us to build a nation. We are completely sure, absolutely sure from Centro Penas led by Gustavo Petru, that we have to have that minimum agreement. Thank you. Francia, please. I didn't understand that rhetoric of polarization or the concept of polarization. For me, it's an invention made up by people in the establishment, people who have always been part of the establishment for them to not recognize that their actions, it is precisely their actions that have put people in disarray and disagreement. This started after the signing of the peace accord. That's where this concept of polarization started being mentioned in Colombia. For me, it's very simple. People were submitted before, they were silenced. The Colombian people came out and gave an opinion. I believe, in my opinion, the Colombian people, for the Colombians to be able to express themselves in their diversity, it's who we are, and then to be called polarized or polarizing stigma. This issue of polarization is an excuse to not engage in the real conversations that have to that we have to have, like the social conditions that we have in the country. I don't think that we should be afraid of debate. I don't think that we should be afraid of bringing up different points of view. We have to coordinate and the fact that there is constitutional mandate, and that constitutional mandate is a state of rights where we have promises that have not been fulfilled, and the Colombian people can't stand anymore. We want those dreams and those aspirations that we have as Colombians to be fulfilled. It's not a matter of left or right. It's a matter of humanity. It's a matter of human dignity. It's a matter of peace. If we win the race, the presidential race, we have to sit down, sit at the table with all Colombians, and a way to reach common points is to put dialogue in the middle. The dialogue with everybody, the dialogue with those who are different. Even dialogue with those who have made our lives impossible. We have to dialogue with everybody. We have to make inroads and find common points that allow us to have a peaceful and viable society, a just society, okay, an equal and egalitarian society. So if we have to have debates, then let's have debates without fear, because fear has been silence. Fear has silenced us in Colombia, and it has not allowed us to express ourselves. It has not allowed us to participate. Fear has not allowed us to define our road or our course as a society. We still depend on many other nations that define what we ought to do along the lines of respecting our sovereignty as a nation. That hasn't happened. We have always been told what we have to do as Colombians. It is the outside that we're being told what is our nation project. I think we have to build and establish our own project as a nation. Okay. It has to come from us. Of course, the allied countries, but we have reached a point where Colombia has to be autonomous, a country that can define itself, and that can be a viable nation. I don't think that we can be called polarized. We have to recognize dialogue and different voices, because in Colombian, that's what we are. We are plural, alfnical, and diverse country, and we have to build with all that diversity. Thank you, Francia. Jason, one last question. And then we're going to open the floor. My colleagues in the back. If you could place yourself for a first matter question. Jason, please. I would like to ask you, first of all, about trade and investment between Colombia and the United States. May 15th, this Sunday, we will celebrate 10 years since we have the agreement, the trade agreement between Colombia and the United States. This incentivized a greater exchange and greater trade between two countries. The United States is the greatest trade partner, and the greatest investor in the country at the same time. Now, we have talked about this a little bit in this conversation, but you are in a very specific position to receive investments. And how about those companies that stop investing in Asia to establish new trade relationships with Colombia aside from COVID. Now, there's a study that identified over 600 businesses in different sectors, and where Colombia could provide competitive advantages, especially pharmaceuticals, pedrochemicals, and other issues. We have talked a little bit about this, that's this trade agreement, but I would like to hear your reflections. And I'm going to start with you, Francia. How do you see the future of that commercial relationship, a trade relationship between Colombia and the United States? And what parts of this relationship could your government get priority to, especially regarding attracting or the attraction of more investment and trade of the United States in Colombia? If we could give a short answer to three minutes, please, because we have a lot of questions here in the audience. I'm going to be very specific then. We do recognize the opportunity that the free trade agreement has brought to Colombia. That agreement between Colombia and the United States it focuses on those trade roles, for example, technology. But there are different sectors where this has not been favorable. And I think that we need to do bilateral revision of the agreement. And an evaluation of the impact in these past 10 years of the signing of the agreement between Colombia and the United States. For example, an unfavorable impact has been the trade of the products of that family shopping basket, basically, the basic products of many people are going to bed having eat only once a day, only once a day. There is some who are not eating and what's worse, we have children, boys and girls who are dying of malnutrition in a country that is the second most biodiverse country of the planet. Food security is very compromised in our country. Why? Because we are not tending to the production in the fields of Colombia. Many of those basic goods of that shopping family basket are imported and we have a country where minimum wage is not enough to meet basic needs. I think that we need to review that in terms of productivity. That's part of the challenge that we're facing in Colombia in terms of recovering sovereignty and autonomy. Food sovereignty and autonomy. That's what's happening in Colombia. For example, one product, corn. We are importing most of the corn because it's something in Colombia imported from the United States. Corn is fundamental in the production of meat. And since we're importing this corn that is so expensive and we have meat and chicken that are produced in Colombia, that arises the cost of those goods in the family shopping basket. I think that we need to review how this food sovereignty has been affected, which is fundamental for Colombians. Okay. Thank you, Francia. Yes, I think that there are sectors where we have to defend the relationship with the United States. The United States has to be a platform for that global connection from Colombia to very important markets. And there's a great opportunity in the new establishment of chain supplies. Colombia can produce a lot, but we need a new model, a new framework. The first thing that we would have to do there would benefit women and ethnic communities and for them to have social mobility so they can benefit from that trade. And so it's not in the hands of a few in Colombia. Number two is that there are sectors that we have to bolster a colectividad, infrastructure of logistics and transportation, but also digital connectivity. And we have to deepen the C community, all have to do with ports, but all other types of economy, C economy. There are other... Now, the United States has great investment possibilities. We have new markets, green markets and blue markets, and we have to attract that investment that will benefit directly different communities. And we need that within that context, the United States can guarantee that regions... Well, that the financial geography of those regions can be changed so they can be... So the economy can be benefited. We need to adjust these treatments so it's more fair because it's unfair in some areas. Some areas only, but there are some unjust areas. Some say that we should not have to review it or revise it, but we have to modernize it. Those are semantics. I mean, we have to sit at the table and see what works and what doesn't. So both countries are benefited. Thank you so much to France. And we will be waiting for the answers. Thank you so much Jason and Cindy for your questions. And now we're going to provide the opportunity to the people in the audience that would like to ask questions. And we have two colleagues that are coordinating this. Unfortunately, Jason and Cindy have to leave, but we will continue. I would like to ask, as I always do, if you can be brief and very specific with your questions, just provide your name and specific questions. And I will start with Jimena, with my colleague Jimena on that side. And then we will be switching from one side to the other. And I have two colleagues that are helping us out with the questions. Jimena, please. Thank you so much Jimena Sanchez from Mola. I would like to know what specific steps are you going to take for free consultation to combat racism, racial racism, and to support humanitarian agrees from Chachoco and the Andorino Arauca and Catatumbo agreements. Thank you so much Jimena. We will take four questions and I will try to summarize them. And if we want to start with this gentleman over here. Good morning. I would like to know the strategies, specific strategies regarding the investment of education and forgotten regions for decades by the government like Arauca, Portomayo, Chal, Guajira, etc. And where there are representation of several universities of like the Andes. And I don't know why they haven't really invested specifically in education in those forgotten regions. Thank you so much. I will switch again. Hello. Thank you and good afternoon. First of all, Francia Marquez. I have a question. We know that there are several threats against your life and the life of Gustavo Petro. And we are concerned about it. And I think we would all raise our hands to protect your life and Petra's life. But no. Well, each person has different opinions. We're talking about life. But anyway, this is a very specific question for Francia. What is that people that are in favor of life or pro-life, who should we send letters or demand things?  Thank you, Alberto Murillo. I just want to say in regards to free trade we were lobbying the free trade. But later on we saw that you were supporting free trade. How do you feel now after supporting free trade and the catastrophe that this has caused in Colombia? Thank you so much. Thank you. My name is Najilet Castro. And I'm very pleased to have both of you. And I feel proud that Afro-Colombian is sitting here today as a candidate in our support to Francia Marquez, to our candidate. And today I'm standing up and I want to talk about what's happening in the border. And I'm talking on behalf of thousands of Afro-Colombians that are requesting the support and the help. And I would like to know what is that we can do right now we're demanding. There's an urgent need for the community. And we have the consulate. But we know that we are lacking support from them. So this is an emergency that is happening right now. What can we do to support our brothers and sisters that are migrating and that are in the border? Thank you so much. We will provide the opportunity to both candidates to answer those four questions. And if you allow us we're going to continue for 30 more minutes to answer these questions. We're going to expand the time because we were delayed a little bit. So we will continue until 11.35. So we have the first question regarding strengthening humanitarian efforts and investment in education in some regions and the threats that candidates have suffered and also the support of free trade, specifically to Luis Gilberto and also the topic of the border and the immigrant aliens that have been arriving at the U.S. So these questions, who would like to start? No, the question was for Francia. What do you mean it was for Francia? No, I'm here alone in the panel. No, I will start no problem. So the previous consultation and humanitarian efforts, well, in Central Esperanza we support obviously the human right of all communities regarding the previous consultation of indigenous and also black after descendants. And there's an attack from different sectors and we need to protect that fundamental right from all these communities. And in addition, we are sure that we will provide status and provide rights to all these communities like peasant communities and the people in the Sienegas because they are suffering from similar conditions. And if you remember and the treaty that we had in regards to free trade, we sat down with leaders from the Pacific region of Colombia and we were negotiating with ELN to move forward and in the midst of negotiations we were talking about human rights for these communities that were suffering. And this was basically interrupted because the current government stopped dialogue with ELN and we need to retake conversations. We need to retake the proposal of these communities with the support of the church specifically with the church that have been talking about the necessity of this human agreement and accord regarding education. I agree that we need to bring education to different areas en el otro Colombia y con MIT estamos hablando de llevarlos a Moncova que es parte de esta otra Colombia y estamos hablando de diferentes comunidades sobre diferentes issues de la environnemental y estamos intentando establecer esta alianza de esta universidad con otras universidades en Colombia para dar educación en diferentes regiones y creo que tenemos que seguir creciendo ese apoyo y en Centro Esperanza con Sergio Fajardo estamos hablando de el hecho de que los tres principales de nuestro propósito y el gobierno es a strengar educación en la tecnología y la ciencia y en ese sentido estamos proponiendo crear cinco instituciones para tecnología y innovación que empezaremos a educar estos regiones y vamos a tener un centro que va a concentrar en la agricultura en la industria de agricultura que es esencial para poder agregar valor a estos productos y otro centro que va a tener una concentración en productos y turismo ecológico de turismo y cultural de turismo y turismo sustentable y otro centro que incorpora salud a todas las comunidades que han sido cuidados de ellos y otro que se enfoca en tecnologías para que Colombia pueda también ser líder en biomeconomía y estamos intentando ayudar a diferentes regiones con clústicas regionales y, por supuesto, porque necesitamos inversión Colombia en uno de los países en América Latina que no ha asignado suficiente recursos para tecnología y innovación y vamos a ir desde 0.3% a inversión en tecnología y innovación en el país Luis Gilberto, muchas gracias ahora later on we would go back to the topic of the border and free trade you had started talking about that to review the free trade but we're going to go back to France regarding the topic of the threats and then we would go back to other topics okay I would like to start with other topics with other subjects well regarding the right of previous the previous consultation I have been defending this before I was a candidate I was a social leader and in my own community I thought so that we could guarantee this right in 2010 there was a law passed regarding providing titles for mining exploitation and my community so I know very well what this means and this right to the previous consultation for different communities that really need the right that other human beings have and I think that we have built some protocols for this previous consultation and we think that these protocols that were created by these communities are part of a national protocol and from different sectors that have been talking about different regulations of this previous consultation free and well informed different entities within the governor of the U.S. and the U.S.I.D. have supporting us but we've seen from different sectors that have wanted to create different regulations just for their own personal interests and we have been opposed to this and we have opposed to this we have been opposed in this because that will of course provide rights to different populations that we're not having those rights so we need to keep providing these guarantees in which we have been defending for centuries regarding racism what to do with racism well racism is subtle but we've seen natural racism with the presence of my myself we've seen that racism has increased in Colombia because they cannot deal with the fact that a black woman could be the vice president of Colombia and it's a challenge regarding social issues and education issues but it's also a challenge of that structural racism that is the one that concerns me the most because in Colombia women after the send them women live five years less than the average of women in general so their life expectancy is five years less than other women and you can see that structural racism in our country and how it exists to so to achieve that life expectancy increases that's a challenge that we have in the government and that has to do with resources that never arrive to this ethnic territories arrive and to be able to guarantee better a better life for these people we're talking about repairing social injustices that have happened historically and we've been talking about that and now when we talk about uribism they say that we're gonna take away their lands and their money and it doesn't have to do with that has to do with recognizing this structure so for oppression and destruction and racism and we need to revisit this because they say that they're a government that is a plural government this happens because other countries that have been allies to this racial politics have to do with this and one of the things and one of the actions that we're gonna work on and I was talking about that yesterday is they need to review that external debt from Colombia regarding those preparation actions and exchanging that for peace and exchanging that regarding social justice and the environment too because Colombia has a great external debt and part of the budget of Colombia goes to paying that external debt and that causes us not to have enough resources to invest in the areas that we have to invest and I think that's an approach that we need to take now and we will see if these countries are really committed if these countries are really committed to racial justice and they will be willing to negotiate and do that exchange of transaction with the reparation that have to do with this indigenous communities afro-descendant communities and peasant communities and and well regarding to the human accord that has different approaches and one is the action without harming and the different government institutions have to do this because they do it in some territories but we need to have minimal rules for different armed force groups and I know that this conversation has happened in some communities but it always go in the midst of the armed conflicts and people try to survive in the midst of this armed conflict and this conversation that has avoided children and youth to be recruited in the killing of social leaders and this is very essential in a country that is living with that conflict that never ends and regarding education I think that it's essential and Gustavo better have talked about that to be first world country has to do also with focusing on the production of education access to education since elementary school basic education to college education with quality free education and complete education and this has to have different approaches and has to focus on ethnic approaches and racial education that can repair this and because this is a challenge for Colombia and the basic structure of education since elementary school and middle school is not as precarious and in different regions we don't even have a school we don't even have a teacher or there's maybe one teacher teaching all the classes for elementary school and middle school and we need to strengthen public education and this is essential and more than strengthen and I'm not saying that we cannot talk about private universities but my question is not why the university of Andes doesn't go to these regions but the bad university or tecnológica de Chocó cannot be in every single region as public universities so I think that's a challenge that we have and that's something that we're gonna work on in regards to education very briefly the question on the border 15,000 colombias arrived last month at the border the United States being one of the nations with most immigrants here what are you proposing regarding immigration issues and those arriving here for different reasons well we have to center on the support of the colombian community and other countries in the case of the united states that support has to be very central and has to be the the axis of the discussion with the government in the states we have talked about TPS and we are not you know saying that it's going to be left out of the discussion but we do not leave out well there is a program called programa nos une and we are gonna make sure that department of foreign affairs has a specific policy to help those colombians nationals even if they don't have a status let's say you know we're not going to make demands for the from the united states or any other um government really in the world so they we are going to ask that they can the colombians can reinsert themselves in those societies in a dignified manner francia okay she was asking a question like what can you do well i didn't come here to tell lies okay we cannot do anything right now there's nothing we can do because the government right now has turned their back on the colombian people those who are in diaspora those who have left so perhaps you could have better conditions right now but it's a political decision of this government to not turn a blind eye and to actually look at the crisis the humanitarian crisis of the people who are arriving to this country so i could tell you yet we could you know send a message we could raise our voices but right now that's not going to change the reality that you're living the reality of change is to be able to win elections because sadly whereas i was a politician but i realized that through writing letters and you know starting protests that wasn't enough as i'm not saying it's not important but it wasn't enough it's necessary to have power to be part of the government and to give power to the people to be able to transform these unjust situations that we're living people wouldn't have to leave colombia fleeing to come here to suffer if they lived in better conditions if we had peace if there was security but people leave because they can no longer live there because their lives are at risk because they cannot find opportunities and they come here and they cannot find them either so to say that right now like what can we do right now you know i feel powerless because there's not much we can do but what we can do is you know make a difference once we are in government and once we're in government like i said yesterday we are going to ask first that the government of the united states because we know that is done you know between governments we place a request if we request as the colombian government to the colombian to the government of the united states to at least begin with a tps a temporary protected status which will guarantee basic immigration status that will allow colombias here to have access to work to have access to conditions that will help them improve their situation another thing is how the department of foreign affairs can guarantee those fundamental rights of all its citizens in other countries not only here but in the whole world and that is part of what we will have to work on with you i know that that there are proposals in terms of going back to the country in order to return facing internal displacement of people who want to go back to their territories i mean we have to have guarantees in place and that's part of what we will start generating but there's no government the government of change thank you francia i would like to have a second round of questions but let's start right here with this gentleman in the front row yeah yeah we're gonna go back to that issue we're talking about ones where in government that's you know we're starting with from that premise right please be very brief with your questions very specific question okay my hugs i know that you're very good colombia but i said we're going to win my question has to do they're speaking at the same time there could be surprises we're talking about those nobodies we have new nobodies the venezuelan brothers and sisters in colombia who left because of a totalitarian regime and also because of the blockages or that this country establish venezuela the sanctions so if you won what position would you take regarding the specific blockages that are affecting venezuelans and colombians and what are you gonna do with the imaginary president one way though thank you i have a couple of questions regarding venezuela specifically first what guarantees do you have to reestablish the relationship with venezuela so nicolás maduro can stop his attempts to destabilize the colombian economy number two how can a government that has to be a world power of life how can you justify having diplomatic and friendship friendly relationship without this dictatorship a murdering dictatorship responsible for the deaths of thousands of peoples and venezuela and in colombia they also have armed forces in colombia and what guarantees do you offer us those those of us who are under asylum and who are refugees how can you guarantee that you will not send us back from colombia to venezuela so we will continue to be persecuted politically over there thank you the gentleman here in the middle please okay let's start with the gentleman in the middle please and then the first question over here my question to you is here we are those of us who have not decided who to vote for so my question has to do with peace the vice president candidates have talked about peace and the responsibility of the government toward peace but they haven't told us what responsibility they have those who signed that peace agreement those members of the FARC who signed an agreement with the government so we know that the government has not held their end of the deal but the FARC members have not given back any of the assets to the citizen in colombia so my question is that why are you talking about the government and why are you not talking about the FARC and number two number two we don't want to know anything about Uribe or Patrana or Lopez or absolutely no one else no former president do not talk about them in your speeches because we're not interested we want to know what are you proposing and what series propositions do you have thank you so much the lady over here my name is Armando Mosquera we don't always focus on questions my concern or my presentation to you has to do with that 33 years ago we started an afro colombian group here in colombia in the inner states our said brothers liberos Mauro and Luis Gilberto Murillo and this is a fruit Francia came much later and she also became part of our ethnicity and i am proud to listen to both of you today because you coincide and most of the ideas that you are presenting regarding the black race so congratulations to you Francia and Luis Gilberto and we hope that that's diaspora that is here in the United States can be present and what the United States witness with Barack Obama in the White House thank you so much one last question here we're not gonna there's a lot of questions are we gonna be able to answer one last question this is the last question because we're not going to have time to answer unfortunately good morning my name is Sergio Alfonso Castellanos I am part of union I am the secretary of human rights of the electrical sector power sector of Colombian workers it's a workers union my question to you is that we over there go to our work every day we are very afraid we have to hide because every time that we go to protect our workers we were elected to do that en mi caso I am the secretary of human rights we cannot really participate a lot in activities because we are under threat what strategy are you going to have so we can be union representatives without fear of our lives thank you thank you for your questions we have several questions first the one have to do with Venezuelan immigrants and the the government the religion with the government entering government with Juan Huelgo another one having to do with the government in Caracas of Nicolás Maduro the responsibility of the FARC as well and abiding by this or holding their end of the this this 2016 peace agreement and the last question regarding the protection of union leaders who would like to start I think this these would be your last words unfortunately we have to end we don't we don't have more time okay first question this is Francia the first question have to do with Venezuelan immigrants in Colombia I believe that we shouldn't only work on immigration policy in Colombia that affects Venezuelans but also that affects Haitians and africans who are dying dadian we have witnessed Venezuelan people who have arrived under what conditions they have arrived of course we do value the fact that we have lent hand to some Venezuelans whoever to Colombia but we see how our people are created in my own municipality like I said yesterday last year armed actors murdered of Venezuelan youth apparently he had robbed committed robbery and what happened is they they lit him on fire that's a reality that we're facing is not a lie so we are too xenophobic toward those who who have migrated and that is a very concerning situation I think that the treatment is a treatment of humanity and this immigration policy that has to respect these people's humanity and we have to make the right effort so they have guarantees of basic rights as well as the rights that we are fighting for as colombians yeah that's what I can tell you but it doesn't only happen to Venezuelans the leader who only talks about the Venezuelan immigration because you know there's an ideological interest but why don't they address the Haitian immigration why don't they address african immigrants nobody addresses that no nobody addresses that in colombia or anywhere else and in that end we have seen people from choco and the communities there even picking up the bodies of the people who are dying because the prosecutor's office has not done anything to pick up the bodies and it is the people the community picking up the bodies so we have to create a complete policy that will include everybody and we will demand that colombias are also turned into a dignity we need a comprehensive reform what are we gonna do so colombias are not sent back to venezuela well if i was in government or if i were to govern venezuela perhaps you know i would give you a guarantee but we're not going to govern venezuela we're going to govern colombia ok so of course we will continue to raise your voices so the human rights are respected and guaranteed all those colombians and venezuelan of any person in the world but it's very difficult to give responsibility on the protection of the rights of of the people as citizens of venezuelans in their country i mean that is not really an action that we have as a government because we cannot meddle on the sovereignty and the autonomy of another country we do hope that their relationships are improved their relationship between venezuela and colombia are improved and whether they like it or not i mean that there are people on the borders that are suffering colombian and venezuelan families this is not a matter of an ideology this is a matter of a fact that people have been affected in colombia actually there was a company like i mentioned yesterday a company that manufactured basic goods they went they declared bankruptcy because of the conflict between both countries they were providing that company was providing those basic goods to colombia and that was what was upholding the family shopping basket of the country and now those basic goods our price here we lost 2 000 jobs in colombia that used to work for this company and that's part of the situation that we have to look at number two we are going to respect the autonomy and the sovereignty of each country and every people and what we're going to do to achieve peace in our country is to reestablish relationship with venezuela and with the nations though that are whatever nation necessary so peace can be real so peace can be complete our country has suffered we have huge countries huge problems in our country people are dying of hunger and we are not concerned if we we're not concerned about solving those relationships i mean we those problems we are concerned about problems of other countries not our own problems and our responsibility toward peace i believe i'm talking as a victim and victims have said this before and we have seen it the agreement established and created jurisdictions it created the peace commission or truth commission and it created the jurisdiction especially jurisdiction for peace that jurisdiction is in charge of truth being exposed with the different actors of country we provide support to that special jurisdiction for peace we believe that the work that they have been doing is important and they are the ones who have to hold responsible to hold all those actors responsible all those who have created the armed conflict i think it's time to stop war this government destroyed peace and we're feeling it and one thing is to talk about peace from the united states another thing is to talk about peace from colombia and to talk about it from the different regions from the colombia pacific who was suffering that war our people want to live in peace and this is not an ideological discussion it's a humanitarian discussion because we are living armed conflict we are living violence and el choco the last few years in the last few months of this year 65 youth have been murdered in one aventura this last month two women were caught up in calca they'll leave the murder of social leaders won't stop in calca we we see how things have have been shot through the roof so we went peace and ideologically we can say that we do not agree with peace but reality the realities that we have a humanitarian situation that begs for that transformation we want to bet on our people living without fear and with peace and for guaranteeing other rights thank you francia thank you francia Luis Gilberto i'm sorry to ask you yeah i saw that you were trying to cut her off i'm sorry i'll be brief i'll be brief starting with this issue of peace let me insist and let me i mean i i i i i repeated a lot on my on my campaign the transformation of colombia starts with us abiding by those agreements because we have that historical tradition to not abide by those agreements on the country we commit murder those who son los signos de las acuerdos, eso ha de cambiar, porque el hecho de que abrimos estas acuerdos, es mejor que haya un pez malo, una buena guerra, acércate a mí, las personas sufren todos los días. Estamos mencionando los indicadores, así que ese es el punto de comienzo, así que Colombia puede alcanzar toda la pieza, porque eso envía un mensaje a los que continúan este conflicto, y tenemos que cumplir estas acuerdos, no sólo eso, pero las personas colombianas han perdido su confianza, porque no cumplimos los comienzos que tenemos con las comunidades, y si vas a el país, son acuerdos que no hemos podido cumplir por 30 años, y este estado del gobierno tiene que cumplir sus acuerdos. Entonces hay mecanismos, mecanismos de escribir reportes, y no podemos caer en la manipulación, hay mucha desinformación en estas acuerdos, mucho desinformación, y estamos hablando, entonces, de la política. Seguramente, me gustaría volver al tema de la región, algo que es importante cuando hablamos de la digitalización, hemos estado proponiendo una universidad nacional digital que le permite acceso a más de 100,000 personas. Creo que todos coinciden, y es muy importante que debemos establecer una muy buena infraestructura educativa, y dar acceso a información, no es aceptable que tenemos 200,000 usas que no tienen acceso a educación, o trabajo, o empleo. Entonces, lo que estamos hablando es de TLC. TLC no es que estemos apoyados o no, lo que proponemos es que deberíamos tener condiciones en ellos, la condición laboral, las condiciones laborales. Entonces, no hablamos de trade, no hemos sido miembros de estos grupos económicos o algo, estamos interesados en la agenda que tiene que hacer con la otra Colombia, la Deep Colombia, donde hay personas descendidas, comunidades indígenas, comunidades de alta edad, y tenemos diferentes perspectivas políticas. Cuando Francia hablaba de polarización, no, esto es una perspectiva política, y esto es un propósito del país. Puedes tener propósitos comunes, pero eso es parte de ese juego político. No podemos depresionarse de lo que normalmente pasa. Ahora, sobre Venezuela. Bueno, ahora hablamos de los Estados Unidos sobre el respeto de las personas, las personas colombianas y las personas latinoamericanas, es porque no queremos que el país sea presionado para hacer una decisión sobre una tercera nación en Latinoamérica. En el caso de Venezuela, tenemos que respetar la soberanidad de los venezolanos. En el caso de Venezuela, hay una criteria central, acciones central, que es que las personas que están sufriendo están dentro y fuera de Venezuela. Tenemos 3 millones de colombianos, unos de los que vive ahí, y que tienen 15 consuelos que están cerrados. No puede hacer una transacción de tipo de paperwork. Pero tienen que dialogar con el gobierno venezolano, el gobierno venezolano, sobre los problemas de la vida. Déjame un ejemplo. Tengo que dialogar con el Ministerio de la Environment de Venezuela, cuando hay oil spills en Catgatcumbo. ¿Por qué? Porque ellos tenían que tomar medidas, porque era un esquema de compensación. Y eso significa que tienen que tener religión. Son problemas que afectan a las personas. ¿Qué estamos proponiendo? Número 1, para restaurar y reestabilizar la dirección directa con Venezuela. No podemos pretender que los 12 millones de personas que están en la bordera, los 3 millones que están ahí, sufren de una manera. Número 2, tenemos que reestabilizar la dialogación para abrir los consuelos en Venezuela. En el peor tiempo de la Cold War de la Unidad tenía una oficina comercial en Cuba. Necesitamos reestabilizar esas oficinas consuelas. Y, por último, tenemos que reestabilizar la relación con Venezuela, dentro de su frío sovereign. Las personas están diciendo que no era el área de café, porque ellos estaban afectados, porque su producción iba a Venezuela. ¿Cómo no tenemos religión con Venezuela? Y eso afecta a nosotros. Y eso es una de las oportunidades. Así que eso es el caso de Venezuela. Y hay personas en la bordera que están afectados. Ahora, los inmigrantes. Steve, voy a terminar. Yo voy a decir, pero en el caso de inmigrantes, Colombia es un país aburrido. Colombia necesita una inmigración policial que involucra inmigrantes de Venezuela, pero también Haitian y Cubans. Tenemos también inmigrantes de West Africa y Colombia tiene que establecer una política de inmigración, no solo para Venezuela, pero para inmigrantes que tienen una manera de establecer una manera de vivir. Yo no soy inmigrante, y sé que es extremadamente importante para ellos tener una vida. ¿Qué estamos haciendo con la cooperación de Estados Unidos y también en las relaciones internacionales? No hemos visto solidaridad con Colombia para responder a ese problema de inmigración. Aquí hemos visto lo que sucedió con Ukraine, y apoyamos a Ukraine, pero han tomado el libro de cheque right away, pero en el caso de Colombia y Latinoamérica, y en este territorio de países que han sido afectados, no hemos visto que Estados Unidos tenga el libro de cheque o para dar ese apoyo, el apoyo técnico, porque no somos una prioridad y eso ha de cambiar, porque estamos en su back yard. Gracias. Es que de ver eso Francia, estoy tan triste de tener que finalizar este dialogo en esta ciudad, con la audiencia aquí en Washington, y para finalizar tu visita a la ciudad. Bueno, vamos a hablar de la importancia de este dialogo, de poder cambiar ideas, más de las diferencias y posiciones. Esto muestra el riesgo de la democracia, de la democracia colombiana. Y creo que todos agree que tenemos que continuar con ese enriquecimiento de ese ejercicio democrático. Los dos de ustedes son un ejemplo de lo que las debates pueden llevar como resultado. Y no importa quién ganará, estos dos continuará a ser muy importantes actores en las debates y en la concepción, el establecimiento de la nación, de la nación colombiana. Estamos muy, muy contentos de tenerte aquí como instituto de paz, para poder hostear a ti, para dar un espacio, para tener un dialogo. Y gracias a todos de ustedes que nos ayudan, a mi colega, a mi colegio, a Keith Mines, a todos los interpretadores, a todos los que están en contra de la seguridad y a la unidad audiovisual. Gracias, y nos vemos en el próximo día, y continuaremos con un espacio muy íntimo, para los medios que quieran que estén y aproximar a los candidatos. Un gran aplauso para Francia y Gilberto.