Silence the weapons so that women and the people may speak.

For the last year, I have been working with CPT Colombia as part of the Women’s Social Movement against War and for Peace in Colombia. This movement will host the first annual Women’s and People’s International Summit of the Americas against the militarization from August 16th to the 23rd. Thousands of individuals, along with women’s social organizations and gendered mixed social organizations that opposed the growing militarization of the Americas will meet to work together during this summit.

People from Honduras, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, France, Spain, the United States, Canada, Colombia, among others, will share their concerns about how the United States military is expanding in the region. This military buildup has been approved by many governments in the region to further strengthen and expand their own armies while denying the social rights of the people with serious effects on women caused by the historic social and economic discrimination. The Summit will be discussion the recent military treaty signed between the governments of Álvaro Uribe from Colombia and Barack Obama from United States and how this military expansion impacts the continent

The Women of the Americas will raise their voice to say "My body is my house, my house is my territory. I won’t give away the keys "and" “Silence the weapons so that women and the people may speak." They will discuss and define joint actions to mobilize and impact issues such as sexual violence, social control, and other forms of gender violence used against women in contexts of armed conflict and militarized environments. Moreover, they will discuss the consequences of a development model that is imposed by weapon and is responsible for the poverty and inequality all over the world.