Today’s Video: Colombians united against kidnappings

On Colombia’s Independence Day over four million people marched in Colombia and around the world against violence committed by criminal groups. The rallies in cities like Bogota, Washington, Medellin, and Paris were done in solidarity with the hundreds of kidnapped people who remain trapped in the Colombian jungle. Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt led the event in the French capital and called on the FARC to free all their captives, while Colombian president Alvaro Uribe hosted his Brazilian and Peruvian counterparts in the Amazonian city of Leticia.

It was in Leticia where musicians Shakira and Carlos Vives performed as part of the rally there:

Sadly, the clamor and cries for peace have been largely ignored by Colombia’s criminal groups; “we will never be the ones…to lay down our weapons” said a communiqué issued today by a pair of FARC commanders. Meanwhile, five rural farmers were gunned down on Sunday in an area where “new paramilitary groups and narcotraffickers” battle for the control of coca growing lands.

Sources- RCN, YouTube, Monsters & Critics, AFP, Reuters