Quito, September 30 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Speaking from an international conference in Ecuador, Afro-Latina politician and human rights defender, Piedad Cordoba, didn’t shy away from speaking up for her fellow Afro-descendants across Latin America on Tuesday.        

"We are a multi-ethnic and multicultural country - but only on paper," Cordoba said of her native Colombia which is estimated to have one of the largest Afro-Latino populations in South America.       

Cordoba was speaking at the ELAP summit in Quito, Ecuador, a gathering of representatives from progressive governments and movements across Latin America, including representatives from Venezuela, Ecuador, and El Salvador.  

"We are totally invisible, we aren't taken into consideration," the human rights defender said of African descendants in Latin America.

Cordoba’s statements come just as reports surface that two Afro-Colombians have filed a complaint against local police, alleging police racially profiled them for merely driving a “luxury car.”        

Univision reported the incident happened in the north of Colombia in Barranquilla and events were recorded on various videos shared on social media.  The videos captured by El Heraldo show police violently arresting the Afro-Colombian youths.

Earlier this year in July, the internationally acclaimed and Afro-Colombian hip hop group, ChocQuibTown, also slammed racism in Latin America, saying Afro-Latinos should be defiant and speak up for their rights through art and music.