Abby Reyes will be at the Village Well Books & Coffee to launch her memoir, Truth Demands, on May 14, 2025 at 6:30 pm
Join us for a soulful evening in discussion with Abby Reyes, environmental and human rights lawyer and author. Abby will trace the personal and political aftermath of the 1999 murders of three land rights advocates—her partner Angeleno Terence Freitas among them–near Indigenous U’wa territory in Colombia, where oil pipelines are a magnet for armed violence.
More than the politics, Abby will share her parallel journey as she navigated the waters of grief and loss. She will invite us into conversation about what it takes to keep showing up for justice and for our collective future even when the waters remain turbulent.
Abby Reyes is a writer, systems thinker, and long-time advocate for climate justice, human and environmental rights, and community-led change. She started out conducting rural environmental legal assistance in the Philippines, her father’s homeland, and walking alongside the Colombian Indigenous U’wa pueblo in their fight against big oil – an experience at the heart of her first book, Truth Demands: A Memoir of Murder, Oil Wars, and the Rise of Climate Justice.
Joining Abby is journalist Emily Beyda, a family friend of Terence Freitas.
This evening is the sole Los Angeles book launch event for Truth Demands. The Village Well is honored to host Abby and invite you to join us in welcoming the Los Angeles friends and family of Terence Freitas together with others who have stood alongside Pueblo U’wa from the early days of street protest here in LA all the way to their most recent victory at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Village Well
