IRTF News

Ciudad Jaraguá is a luxury residential complex, developed by the Inversiones MPG and Inversiones en Activo group, located in San Pedro Sula, on the forested slopes of El Merendón. Local residents have been protesting this development for the past several months because the exclusive housing complex is destroying the El Merendón forest reserve, considered the lungs of the country's industrial capital. Hundreds of families are being impacted. Water sources are harmed. There is structural damage to the homes of local families caused by the use of dynamite. Without any consideration for the flora or fauna, developers are causing significant deforestation. On September 3, while covering the protests, journalist Deyni Menjivar was obstructed by security guards, who harassed and threatened her. The TV news reporter, accompanied by her cameraman, was intercepted by a guard, who aggressively ordered her to stop recording and immediately leave the premises, because if she did not do so, "she was going to get into trouble."

Emma Banks details the findings of #MisionSOSColombia, an international verification mission investigating human rights violations since the protests began on April 28. #MisionSOSColombia built on the findings of three similar preceding missions, covering a wider geographic area and collecting hundreds of personal testimonies that demonstrate the systematic political and violent repression of protests in Colombia. It found clear evidence of disproportionate use of force by police, violence from paramilitaries and armed civilians, and arbitrary detentions of protestors. #MisionSOSColombia calls on the Colombian government to immediately halt their efforts to end the protests through violence against protestors and the persecution of social movement leaders. The international community must demand that the Colombian government comply with the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. International allies of the Colombian government should cut aid packages if human rights abuses continue.

The trauma experienced by Central American minors before, during, and after their unaccompanied journeys to the United States puts them at high risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health problems, creating further obstacles to their success in school and broader integration into U.S. society. New research into results from the CLALS Pilot Project Household Contexts and School Integration of Resettled Migrant Youth, which included interviews and qualitative surveys (including a validated PHQ-9 Modified for Teens and the Child PTSD Symptom Scale, CPSS), revealed that about one-third of unaccompanied minors from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala show symptoms of moderate to severe PTSD — significantly higher than the general population....Many of the youths suffered deeply from separation from parents who preceded them in traveling to the United States, sometimes blaming them for problems and abuses they suffered back home, but they generally fared better than those whose parents had not emigrated.