4th Annual Latino Fest: Environmental and Migrant Justice: Colombian Perspective - Acuerdo Humanitario Ya!

April 24, 2025
02:30 PM - 05:30 PM
La Plata Campus , Campus Center (CC Building), Room 100 MAP

4th Annual Latino Fest: Environmental and Migrant Justice: Colombian Perspective - Acuerdo Humanitario Ya!


Date: April 24, 2025 | Time: 
2:30-5:30 p.m.


Agenda

 

2:30 - 3:30 p.m. Music: Verny Varela Band  Logo of Verny Varela featuring a stylized "V" design in silver, gold, and black.
Verny Varela: Five musicians on keyboard, bass, congas, timbales, and trombone.....Verny Varela is an artist and academic with a PhD in African studies from Howard University, a master of arts from Howard University and a bachelor degree in music education from Universidad del Valle. He has performed at the Lincoln Memorial, Kennedy Center, Washington Monument, Lincoln Theatre, Library of Congress, Smithsonian museums, and the embassies of Colombia, Italy, Panama, and France. 

Group photo of five men in black attire standing together, smiling in front of a wall displaying text related to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

He performed at the third World Salsa Festival in Lima, Peru in 2020. Also, he performed at the World Salsa Festival in Cali, Colombia, in 2022, Petronio Álvarez Festival, and Feria de la Caña de Azúcar in Cali, Colombia. Verny also collaborated with Thievery Corporation as a songwriter and singer. Additionally, Verny collaborated with the New York Orquesta Broadway on their 40th-anniversary album.

In 1997, Verny was a singer with Tito Gomez’s band. Currently, Verny is a professor at the Department of State Foreign Service Institute School of Language Studies.


3:30 - 4 p.m. Documentary:  Acuerdo Humanitario Ya! Featured in the Colombian Migrant Festival 2024 in collaboration with Poder del Pueblo D.C.

Logo featuring a hand holding a microphone with the text "Poder del Pueblo" encircling it. Poder del Pueblo 

 

A promotional poster for a humanitarian agreement featuring a soldier in a green landscape and individuals in a canoe. It emphasizes the urgency of cooperation and solidarity in peace efforts.Acuerdo Humanitario YA! is a call from Afro-Colombian communities to the world to end the systematic violation of human rights that affects families living specifically on the banks of the rivers of Buenaventura.

Acuerdo Humanitario YA! is an urgent demand addressed to the armed actors and the Colombian state that reveals the structural problems of a system that puts at risk life in all its forms of existence.

This documentary goes into the rural Buenaventura and retraces the history of the neighborhoods walked by those who have left their territory. 

 


4 - 4:45 p.m. Panel Discussion

A close-up portrait of a woman with curly hair and a nose piercing, wearing a stylish red off-shoulder top and statement earrings.Dr. Clarissa Wiliams (moderator) - Professor of communications at the CSM Leonardtown campus. Her research interests focus on Afro-Latinx studies, particularly regarding the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, as well as the negotiation of Afro-Latinx cultural identity and the representation of Afro-Brazilian women in the media.

Dr. Williams has published works such as “Black in a Light-Skinned World: Representations of Afro-Brazilian Women in Brazilian Media and Society” and “I’m Not Black…I’m Latino!: Afro-Latino Cultural Identity (Re)Negotiation in the United States.” These publications explore the complexities of maintaining a nuanced and flexible identity in a society that often has a limited understanding of such issues. She enjoys incorporating her background and experiences into her courses on interpersonal communication and intercultural communication.

 

Headshot of a woman with long, wavy black hair, smiling and wearing a yellow top.

 Diana Fula - Co Founder of Poder del Pueblo - Based in Washington DC. (interpreter) – Diana Fula is an immigrant woman from Colombia, an activist, advocate and community organizer, Diana is a political scientist with a master's degree in social intervention and public policy with more than 10 years of experience in work related to social justice and human rights, including immigrant rights advocacy.

Diana has lived in the DMV area for over 20 years and has been very active visiting, guiding, and educating adults and children impacted by the immigration detention system about their rights. She has worked directly with undocumented women and children survivors of violence creating safe spaces to break cycles of violence and transforming trauma into collective power.

 

Portrait of a woman with long, wavy dark hair wearing a black blazer and a white lacy top, set against a blurred natural background.

 Laura Camila Lopez McNulty (interpreter) – CSM alumna '24, and now a government and politics major/Latin American and Caribbean studies minor undergraduate student at UMD College Park. She is also a student advocate who is part of the volunteer group from Poder del Pueblo DC.

 

 

 

Portrait of a man smiling, wearing a suit and tie, against a neutral background.

 Armando Mosquera - Journalist and PhD/Doctorate in human rights. (panelist) – Founder and director of  "Afrocolombianos en USA". Former representative of victims of armed conflict from Colombia in Washington DC.

  

 

 

 

A smiling woman with long braided hair wearing a leopard-print sweater.

 Lina Maria Moreno Castillo (discussant) – Environmental activist and leader of Afro-Colombian communities that are a part of the Network of Environmental Women Defenders, focused on Colombia and wider impacts of safeguarding the environment 

  

 

A smiling man with curly hair, wearing a black jacket.Isaias Guerrero Cabrera (discussant) – Passionate advocate for immigrant rights, a community organizer, dedicated to social justice. Born in Colombia and raised in the US, he overcame the challenges of being an undocumented immigrant to earn a master’s in peace studies from the Kroc Institute at Notre Dame.

Now based in Washington, DC, he serves as the director of advocacy and mobilization with Popular Democracy. Through his fearless advocacy and dedication, Isaias continues to empower working class communities, challenge injustice, and inspire meaningful social change

 

Professional portrait of a man with curly hair, wearing a brown blazer and white shirt, against a purple backdrop.Verny Varela (discussant) - Verny Varela is an artist and academic with a PhD in African studies from Howard University, a master of arts from Howard University and a bachelor degree in music education from Universidad del Valle. He has performed at the Lincoln Memorial, Kennedy Center, Washington Monument, Lincoln Theatre, Library of Congress, Smithsonian museums, and the embassies of Colombia, Italy, Panama, and France. 

 


4:45 – 5:30 p.m. Cuisine: LALASS FOOD
Refreshments provided by local restauranteur and business owner LALASS FOOD.

 Logo of Lalass Food, featuring a chef's hat and promoting Colombian cuisine.

 

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