presente' - Marina Arteaga

front line defenders

PRESENT' - Luz Marina Arteaga  Heao

"Luz Marina, Your laughter and joy will live on in the paths you blazed for justice."

Luz Marina Arteaga Henao was a doctor, social leader, woman human rights defender and land claimant in the peasant and indigenous process of El Porvenir and Vereda Matarratón in Puerto Gaitán, Meta. Her life choice was the protection of nature, the defense of the rights of peasant and indigenous communities in different regions and the struggle against injustice.

In 1996, she was kidnapped and displaced by paramilitary groups in Urabá, Antioquia, and since then lived in Orocué, Casanare, where she led various initiatives to guarantee access to fundamental rights. Because of her leadership in the land claims process, she received death threats which were brought to the attention of the competent authorities without any protection measures being provided in accordance with her level of risk and her socio-economic situation. She was reported missing on 12 January 2022 and her lifeless body was found on the banks of the Meta River on 17 January of the same year.

Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee

https://incarceratedworkers.org/

Shut 'Em Down 2024

The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee stands in solidarity with the Shut 'Em Down 2024 inside collective demonstrations advocating for an end to legalized slavery and the abolition of the prison industrial slave complex. Prisons and police were created on principles of colonization and white supremacy culture and are a continuation of slavery under the 13th amendment exception clause. Communities of color and the poor experience criminalization, state violence and the fragmentation of families due to incarceration at an ever increasing rate. The School to Prison Pipeline absorbs the hopes, dreams, and potential of our youth. People warehoused in youth and adult prisons alike undergo dehumanizing conditions leading to unquantifiable life long trauma and harm that has generational impacts. Poor and working class communities face exploitation of their labor while material resources and housing become increasingly inaccessible and more of us become unhoused. The Supreme Court is gearing up to hear the Johnson vs Grants Pass case in which unhoused communities face further criminalization and risk being shuffled into the Prison Industrial Complex to be exploited for pennies on the dollar for their labor while the so-called United States continues to invest billions into the ongoing genocide in Gaza. 

An injury to one is an injury to all and so we call for outside support in the form of self-directed actions from individuals and organizations. We also strongly encourage participation and solidarity from labor unions far and wide to take part in demos to uplift shared struggles and amplify the voices of working class people in prison, especially those engaging in collective action or who put their own lives at risk to improve the conditions of all. As long time partners with aligned values and principles, we stand with Jailhouse Lawyers Speak and all those who are behind enemy lines fighting for liberation and a future free from our oppressors.