IRTF News

Gustavo Petro is off to a fast start. In his first two weeks in office, the new Colombian president has already reestablished relations with Venezuela, replaced several top security officials, and moved to restart negotiations with one of the country’s most notorious rebel groups. And, with ambitious tax reforms and climate policies on the docket, he shows no signs of slowing down. Petro’s reform agenda is a chance to steer the country away from poverty, corruption, and a decades-long war on drugs that has led to nearly half a million deaths without putting a dent in coca production. But experts say the impact of these policy shifts could go well beyond Colombia’s borders, offering new approaches for major issues from the international drug trade to the crisis in Venezuela.

Colombia's new president said Saturday he was suspending arrest warrants and extradition requests for members of the left-wing guerrilla group the National Liberation Army (ELN) in an effort to restart peace talks to end nearly 60 years of war. The announcement is part of a principal campaign promise by newly elected Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 insurgency, who took office on Aug. 7 on pledges to bring "total peace" to the Andean country. "This resolution initiates a new possibility of a peace process in Colombia," Petro said after attending a security council meeting in the province of Bolivar.

For the second consecutive day, workers at the textile maquila Gildan, in the Nance River Sector, Choloma, department of Cortés, are on strike demanding their labor rights and other agreements, especially a salary readjustment. The workers are also demanding the right to establish a workers' union that truly represents them. Members of the National Police went to Gildan's facilities in Choloma to talk with the protesters, who continue with the gates closed and say that they will not let the loaded trucks enter.

The Family Court of San Salvador, in El Salvador, authorized "the first name change of a trans man" according to his gender identity, as reported Thursday by the Foundation of Studies for the Application of Law (Fespad). The organization indicated that "the process of change of name and adequacy of the mention of gender and sex in the identification documents was presented in March 2022. This is a milestone for the LGBTQ+ community and human rights activists in El Salvador, who so often have denounced the violence and discrimination suffered by their community, forcing them to flee the country. 

In 2012, the Inter-American Court for Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that the Guatemalan state was responsible for crimes associated with the Military Diary and ordered the state to determine who committed them, locate the victims’ remains, provide psychological support to families, and provide reparations. In spite of this, the national investigation of the case stalled for years . The details outlined in the Military Diary have been corroborated by testimonies from both survivors and relatives of the victims. The family members have been demanding justice ever since their loved ones were illegally detained. The families are calling for international solidarity to push forward this case for justice and reparations.

For water and for life, no to mining!" was the demand of the leaders of five municipalities in northeastern Honduras who arrived at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Mines (Serna) in Tegucigalpa to demand a halt to open-pit mining and the protection of the Carlos Escaleras National Park, Montaña de Botaderos.

Practicing journalism in Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador is becoming increasingly difficult in the face of the persecution of independent media outlets by neo-populist rulers of different stripes, intolerant of criticism. The union of Guatemalan journalists and the reporter’s family say the arrest is a clear example of political persecution as a result of the investigations into corruption and mismanagement in the Giammattei administration published by the newspaper, which was founded in 1996. “I definitely believe it is a case of political persecution and harassment, and of violence against free expression and the expression of thought,” Ramón Zamora, son of the editor of elPeriódico who has been imprisoned since his arrest, told IPS from Guatemala City.

The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), who is in command of all US military forces deployed across Latin America, developed a seminar called "Honduras Human Righst initiative, gender equitz and international humanitarian law" to strengthen the knowledge and awareness of human rights issues within the Honduran Armed Forces. "The president and commander general of the Armed Forces, Xiomara Castro, is committed to strengthening the professionalization of our Armed Forces, creating spaces for military training based on respect and protection of human rights," said the Minister of Defense and Castro's nephew-in-law, José Manuel Zelaya. Human rights groups are questioning the extent and effectivity of that training. Historically, the Armed Forces have been characterized for violating and lacerating the human rights of Hondurans, in the recent past they perpetrated the crime of the 2009 coup d'état that left more than twenty people murdered without so far the military involved facing justice. 

Criterio reports on the need to repeal the expansion of Carlos Escaleras National Park buffer zone as a first step to resolve the Guapinol conflict. "Throughout the process of struggle and resistance, the members of the fourteen communities that defend their water sources and oppose mining, have demanded the repeal of decree 252-2013. The member of the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods of the municipality of Tocoa and current councilman, Leonel George, stated that "the communities have been fighting for the defense of the Carlos Escaleras Mejía Botaderos Mountain National Park, a protected area that supplies water and is a water producing area for the communities, as well as a source of oxygen and a livelihood for food production". The repeal of decree 252-2013, George explained to Criterio.hn, would solve part of the conflict and would give the communities a chance to recover the national park to restore the healthy environment in which they lived prior to the arrival of the mining company and in the face of climate change and the effects it generates."