<div dir="ltr"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div style="text-align:center"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br><div style="text-align:left">Jeannette Rankin Peace
Center presents</div></span></div></div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><p class="MsoNormal"><span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Colombia: Peace and Independence, a Discussion
about the Peace Agreement on the day Colombians celebrate their Independence<span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday, July 20,
5:30 pm at the JRPC (519 S. Higgins)<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Contact: Betsy
Mulligan-Dague, <a href="mailto:peace@jrpc.org" target="_blank">peace@jrpc.org</a> or 543-3955<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Available for
interview, Natalia Ariza Ramírez, <span class="m_2350887208468633488gmail-MsoHyperlink"><span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-size:13pt;color:rgb(17,85,204)">arizanatalia</span></span><span class="m_2350887208468633488gmail-MsoHyperlink"><span lang="ES-TRAD" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)">@<a href="http://hotmail.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:13pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">hotmail.com</span></a></span></span><span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-size:13pt;color:black;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> or </span><span lang="ES-TRAD"><a href="tel:(406)%20540-3269" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">4065403269</span></a></span><span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"> <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Colombia will celebrate the next 20th of July the day of its independence.
This country has lived 207 years as an autonomous state and this year would be
one more of this celebration, were it not for the first time, in the last 50
years, citizens of this country can celebrate this great day without being in
the middle of the internal armed conflict that has taken place in this country,
and which has left more than 8 million victims. This conflict ended in 2016
with the signing of the Peace Agreement between the Government of President
Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC guerrillas.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Since the signing of this agreement, Colombia has many challenges in
order to truly achieve a stable and sustainable peace process. The main
challenges are to provide development opportunities that allow people to return
to civilian life in rural areas and generate economic and social development in
the areas most affected by the conflict, which today are less developed than
the rest of the country. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The Jeannette Rankin Peace Center wants to be part of this celebration
of independence by promoting a conversation between the Center's friends and
Natalia Ariza Ramírez, Deputy Minister of Higher Education between 2014 and
2016 and currently Fellow Hubert Humphrey Program of University of Montana, who
will give us information about this process and lead a conversation about the
options that Colombia has to reach the goal of being a country in peace. Refreshments
will be served.<span></span></p></div><div><div class="m_2350887208468633488gmail_signature"><font style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif" size="4"><b style="color:rgb(0,102,0)"><font size="2"><br></font></b></font><div style="text-align:center"><br><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Betsy Mulligan-Dague, Executive Director</span><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Jeannette Rankin Peace Center</span><br style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">...working to build a world that is nonviolent, socially just and environmentally sustainable...</span><br style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"></font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div style="text-align:center"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">519 S. Higgins</span><br style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Missoula, MT 59801</span><br style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Phone: <a href="tel:(406)%20543-3955" value="+14065433955" target="_blank">406-543-3955</a></span><br style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Fax: <a href="tel:(406)%20541-3997" value="+14065413997" target="_blank">406-541-3997</a></span><br style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><a href="mailto:peace@jrpc.org" target="_blank">peace@jrpc.org</a></span><br style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><a href="http://www.jrpc.org" target="_blank">www.jrpc.org</a></span></div></font></span></div></div>
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