my.CSMD
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 
Verny Varela Band: Five musicians on keyboard, bass, congas, timbales, and trombone... Verny Varela is an artist and academic with a Ph.D. in African Studies from Howard University, a Master of Arts from Howard University, and a bachelor's 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.
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. Varela also collaborated with Thievery Corporation as a songwriter and singer. Additionally, Varela collaborated with the New York Orquesta Broadway on their 40th-anniversary album.
In 1997, Varela was a singer with Tito Gomez’s band. Currently, Varela 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.
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Poder del Pueblo |
"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
Dr. Clarissa Wiliams (moderator) - Dr. Clarissa Williams is a professor of communication 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.
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, Fula 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.
Fula has lived in the DMV area for over 20 years and has been very active in 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.
Laura Camila Lopez McNulty (interpreter) – Laura Camila Lopez McNulty is a 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.
Armando Mosquera - Journalist and PhD/Doctorate in human rights. (panelist) – Armando Mosquera is the founder and director of "Afrocolombianos en USA" and a former representative of victims of armed conflict from Colombia in Washington DC.
Lina Maria Moreno Castillo (discussant) – Lina Maria Moreno Castillo is an 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
Isaias Guerrero Cabrera (discussant) – Isaias Guerrero Cabrera is a passionate advocate for immigrant rights, a community organizer, and is dedicated to social justice. Born in Colombia and raised in the U.S., 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, D.C., he serves as the director of advocacy and mobilization with Popular Democracy. Through his fearless advocacy and dedication, Guerrero Cabrera continues to empower working-class communities, challenge injustice, and inspire meaningful social change
Verny Varela (discussant) - Verny Varela is an artist and academic with a Ph.D. in African studies from Howard University, a master of arts from Howard University, and a bachelor's 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.
