IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 7 ENGLISH | Page 57

It is Afro-descendants who have lived through the violence, social fragmentation, and forced displacement with the greatest intensity. For Yasmany Sinisterra, one of Humanitarian Space’s leaders, Buenaventura is a city punished by poverty; organized crime is a constant source of a pain that was marked by the social cleansing of the 70s and 80s. Paramilitarism empowers children and youth; terror has imposed disdain for human dignity. Death is increasingly becoming a cultural cue for the black population. “Our community is not only threatened by forced displacement, but also by the selective killing of our leaders, particularly women. The Puente Nayero Humanitarian Living Space is the wall that protects us against so much impunity, a place in which to protect our lives and our spiritual and material culture,” she affirmed. Although I was among friends, I feel afraid at hearing so much about the political and social terrorism to which the AfroColombian population has been subjected for so many years. Yet, it was also extremely interesting to get a feel for the place. 57