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About 100 people protested in front of the Colombian Mission to the United Nations.
SOUND: ambi from protest, chanting in Spanish 'Rechazo a la violencia' in the clear
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They chanted 'Reject violence no matter what.'
SOUND: fade, hold under
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Signs in Spanish and English read 'For the Victims.'
The same day, in Bogota, 40,000 people marched in a coordinated protest.
The target of the protest was violence by the right-wing paramilitary forces, who are allied with the Colombian government. Other protests took place in Argentina, Ecuador and Caracas.
Yesterday's event was a reaction to another, much larger march in February.
Millions of Colombians at home and abroad criticized the left-wing guerilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC. They have fought a guerrilla war for four decades against the Colombian government.
Protest organizer Ramon Mejia said that protest sole focus on the FARC made a big omission.
ACT: RAMON MEJIA (:16)
We have to make visible the fact that in Colombia the atrocities are committed by the government, by the armed forces and by the paramilitaries. So, the world has to know. We want peace.
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Another protestor Rodrigo Chavarro said there is plenty of blame for all the participants in the violence, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
ACT: RODRIGO CHAVARRO: (:07):
We don't want guerilla group. But at the same time we don't want paramilitary. We don't want Chavez but at the same time we don't want Uribe.
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The protestors said passed out flyers with information about kidnappings, assassinations of trade unionists, massacres, common graves and displaced people in Colombia.
The protest was organized before Colombia's invasion into Ecuador.
At the event, Vicente Mayorga carried a small red, yellow and blue Ecuadorian flag.
SOUND: voice in Spanish up, then fade under voiceover
ACT: VICENTE MAYORGA: (:16):
We're here at this protest to ask an end to the aggression against our country, an end to paramilitary intervention that exists within the Colombian country. We're here to demand peace.
SOUND: protest ambi fades out under narr, SOC
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The protest ended with a moment of silence for victims of violence. It was their final challenge to the right-wing militias aligned with the Colombian government.
SOC
Laura Isensee, Columbia Radio News.