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Colombia: News & Updates

Colombia has the world's second largest population of internally displaced persons (five million) due to the half-century internal armed conflict—the longest-running war in the Western Hemisphere (since 1964). Control for territory and popular support among the three main groups (left-wing rebel forces FARC & ELN, right-wing paramilitaries, Colombian police/military) has left 220,000 killed, 75% of them non-combatants. Since 2000, the US has exacerbated the violence by sending more than $9 billion in mostly military assistance. Colombia, which has both Pacific and Atlantic coastlines, holds strategic interest for the US for global trade and military posturing.

   

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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Colombia, 04/24/2018
April 24, 2018
Two social leaders, Maria Magdalena Cruz Rojas and Belisario Benavidez Ordoñez, were murdered in two separate attacks on March 30. In a report at the end of March, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights stated that “…since the implementation of the peace agreements, the murders of human rights defenders have increased persistently. According to an Ombudsperson’s report, between January 2017 and February 2018, there have been 121 murders of human rights defenders.”
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Colombia, 04/01/2018
April 1, 2018
Assassination of Silvio Duban Ortiz Ortiz, age 27, and his brother Javier Bernardo Cuero Ortiz, age 32, sons of Bernardo Cuero Bravo, the leader of the National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES), who was assassinated in front of his wife on June 7, 2017. The brothers were gunned down and killed instantly just 13 days after attending a judicial hearing on their father's murder case and a public demonstration demanding justice.
PDF icon 2018_04_01_frontline_and_amnestyintl_colombia_letter.pdf
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Colombia, 03/30/2018
March 30, 2018
Urgent call to authorities to search for campesino leader José Herrera, who was disappeared March 20 in the north of Antioquia Department, in hopes that he be found alive. (It was mistakenly reported March 22 that his body had been found. But that misinformation was corrected a couple days ago. He is reportedly still missing. ) The well-known and respected community leader is president of the Community Action Board of the Vereda Mesetas of Puerto Valdivia. He is also president of the Association of Peasants of Toledo (ASCAT-NA) and a founding member of the Patriotic March Movement-Antioquia Movement and of ASOCBAC (Rural Association of Bajo Cauca). José Herrera is one of the municipal spokespersons for the Comprehensive National Crop Substitution Program. Farmers involved in that program have been under attack by armed groups.
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Colombia, 03/24/2018
March 24, 2018
Forced eviction of the historically binational Yukpa indigenous people from Cúcuta, Colombia, into Venezuela. They are currently living in highly precarious conditions, lacking basic services such as drinking water, food and access to health and education. They keep returning to Colombia because there are no guarantees of food or health care if they stay in Venezuela.
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Colombia, 03/23/2018
March 23, 2018
Assassination of community leader Juan Mena Ortiz in Quibidó, Chocó Department. He was a merchant and President of the Communal Action Board of the Alamos Neighborhood. Armed men approached Juan Mena and shot him multiple times while he was walking in public at 3:00 on a Sunday afternoon, March 18.
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Colombia, 02/15/2018
February 15, 2018
attempted assassination in Bogotá of trade unionist German Espinel of the Association of Agroecological and Mining Brotherhoods of Guamocó (AHERAMIGUA) and active member of the Patriotic March Social and Political Movement
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Colombia, 02/13/2018
February 13, 2018
bombing and forced displacement of members of the Wounaan Indigenous reservation of Chagpien Tordó during armed clashes between the Colombian Army and the ELN (National Liberation Army) in Litoral de San Juán, Chocó Department.
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Colombia, 02/12/2018
February 12, 2018
assassination of Afro-descendant community leader and political organizer Temístocles Machado, a leader of the Black Communities Process (PCN), in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Dept.
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News Article
PALM OIL WORKERS STRIKE FOR RECOGNITION AS EMPLOYEES
January 26, 2018

More than 1,000 palm oil workers on strike outside San Alberto, Colombia are seeking recognition as employees. As subcontracted workers, they have no rights under Colombia’s labor laws, including freedom of association and the right to negotiate working conditions.

The workers walked off the Indupalma plantation on Thursday, after 668 out of 682 palm oil workers cast their ballots for a strike in a vote observed by the regional director of the Colombia Ministry of Labor.

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News Article
US Dept of Labor Knocks Colombia for Lack of Compliance under FTA
January 16, 2018

The US Department of Labor issued a progress assessment calling on Colombia to more fully comply with obligations outlined in the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement [of 2012], noting “lack [of] a national inspection strategy” and neglect of “associational rights of workers.” “Today’s update merely calls for continued consultation, monitoring, and assessment over the upcoming year – this is simply not good enough, given the depth of the problems and how long they have been festering. We need more proactive action and for this Administration to focus and engage with Congress to ensure all our trading partners have fair labor standards.” Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), member of the Colombia Monitoring Group of the House Ways & Means Subcommitte on Trade, US Congress

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