“After the recognition we received with the National Peace Prize, we wanted to make a proposal to unite social movements and communities to call upon all actors in the conflict to identify a path to peace that includes all of Colombian society. From our perspective, it is we, the small-scale farmers and communities, who have been hit hardest by the war. The conflict in Colombia is not fought in the city, it is fought in the countryside, and we must live through it. And if we must live through it, our proposal is that we have to be the ones who find ways to resolve it.
What we are searching for is the recognition that in Colombia there are small farmers who work the land and that we have the right to self-determination about the use of our lands. We strive for stability for farming families, the right to own land, to live freely, to an education, to good health, employment, fair business practices and housing. The Small-Farmer Reserve Zones are an initiative to defend territory and the small-scale farming economy. With the National Peace Convention we are looking for ways to make the Small-Farmer Reserve Zone more dynamic and strong, in addition to articulating our vision of agrarian reform on the national level.”