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RRN Letter
Colombia, 4/26/2020
April 26, 2020
On April 12, journalist Eder Narváez Sierra reported on two killings in Caucasia, Antioquia. The following day, he received text messages from a person claiming to be the commander of the paramilitary organization Los Caparrapos. The commander took credit for the killings. He also threatened that if Eder Narváez Sierra did not heed the warning “not to talk so much…the only news that will be heard in the coming days is that they killed the NP guy.” (Eder Narváez Sierra is the founder and editor of the local news website NP Noticias.) We are urging authorities to: 1- thoroughly investigate the death threats made against Eder Narváez Sierra, publish the results, and bring those responsible to justice,and 2- instruct the National Protection Unit (UNP) to assess the level of risk to Eder Narváez Sierra, and, in direct consultation with him, implement the necessary measures to safeguard his life and integrity. We call on the government of Colombia to be resolute in their commitment to protect freedom of the press and the safety of journalists.
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News Article
Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Over 100 House Democrats Urge Mitch McConnell and the Senate to Pass H.R. 6 to Protect Dreamers
April 23, 2020

Ohioans: Please tell Senator Brown and Senator Portman to urge Sen. Mitch McConnell to introduce this crucial legislation (HR 6) into the Senate for a vote. Senator Brown [Toll Free 1-888-896-OHIO] https://www.brown.senate.gov/contact Senator Portman [Toll Free 1-800-205-OHIO] https://www.portman.senate.gov/ It has been almost a year since the US House did the right thing, but the Senate has failed to act. Dreamers and TPS-holders deserve permanent legal status—now!! On June 4, 2019, the US House passed the American Dream and Promise Act, which put Dreamers and long-term beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) on a pathway to citizenship. The average DACA recipient (Dreamer) came to the US at age six, while the average TPS holder has been in the country for 22 years. Each year, they pay billions of dollars in federal, state, and local taxes and power the U.S. economy through their earnings, contributions, and entrepreneurship. They deserve permanent legal status and a pathway to citizenship now!

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News Article
Central America: Unrest, repression grow amid coronavirus crisis
April 22, 2020

"This country has been inhaling tear gas since 2009," said Bertha Oliva, coordinator of the Honduran human rights group the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH). Repressive measures to arbitrarily detain citizens and control their movements could become normalised in the long term, particularly if these abuses happen without resistance from citizens or civil society, according to Tiziano Breda, Central America analyst for NGO the International Crisis Group. "Where there's no check, the government will implement these kinds of initiatives even when the crisis has passed," Breda said.

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News Article
Combating Climate Change in El Salvador
April 22, 2020

As Pope Francis wrote five years in Laudato Si’ (#139), the range of these issues, from deforestation to migration and overcrowded cities, suggests that “we are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis, which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.”

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News Article
Stop detaining immigrants!
April 19, 2020

Stop detaining immigrants

Ohio policymakers have, overall, taken commendable, aggressive measures to avoid the spread of COVID-19. However, there is an easy action state and local officials have yet to take that could save potentially thousands of lives — suspend local law enforcement cooperation with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). This country is the world leader in immigration detention, with a daily average of 37,000 immigrants incarcerated; hundreds of those individuals are held in county jails and detention facilities right here in Ohio.

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Event
El Salvador: Water Rights in the Time of COVID-19
April 18, 2020

How can you wash your hands with no access to clean water? You can’t. After decades of right-wing attacks on essential public services, like health care and water, many people in El Salvador do not have the access they need to protect their health in this critical time, much less easily carry on daily cooking and cleaning tasks. Join our friends at CRLN for an online conversation with water defense activist and national labor union leader Marielos de Leon to learn how organizers in El Salvador are advancing the struggle for water rights for all–-and the important role that international solidarity can play today.

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Event
Ancestral Movements: Indigenous Territory and Migration
April 16, 2020

While state forces threaten their safety and dignity, Indigenous peoples and migrants resist with courage and resilience. Join CRLN for this webinar to learn about resource extraction, migration, and the work of Indigenous people in Guatemala to build a world beyond colonial borders.

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Event
From Chiapas: Report from visit to coffee cooperative Comon Yaj Noptic
April 15, 2020
Equal Exchange has continued to create spaces for us to connect as a community and to take action as an alternative network. We will continue to provide spaces for connection and brainstorm ways to build an independent food system. One meaningful way that we want to engage with you is to continue to invite you into our world by sharing the stories of our producer partners as much as we can.
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RRN Letter
Colombia, 04/05/2020
April 5, 2020
We are heartbroken and outraged over the assassination of Carlota Isabel Salinas Pérez, an active member of the Popular Women's Organization of Colombia (OFP, Organización Femenina Popular), at her home in San Pablo, Bolívar Department, on March 24. We are equally dismayed by the police’s smear campaign against the victim and OFP. During the initial stages of the murder investigation, police have tried to pressure OFP members to downplay or deny her active role in their organization and as a community leader in general. Furthermore, police have started a social media stigmatization campaign against OFP and Carlota Isabel Salinas Pérez, suggesting that criminal ties were the motive for her murder. This is an insult to Carlota, her family, and to OFP. Hundreds of social leaders are killed each year in Colombia. We demand that the government carry out a thorough, open, and impartial investigation into the assassination of Carlota Isabel Salinas Pérez, using as the first investigative hypothesis her work as a social leader. #NoMasFeminicidios #NiUnaMas
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RRN Letter
Honduras, 4/04/2020
April 4, 2020
The government of Honduras must hold accountable any police and security forces who unnecessarily or unlawfully restrict the work of journalists who are exercising the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression. On April 1, journalists Roger David Iraeta, Onán Zaldivar, and Edward Azael Fernández were reporting on a road blockade set up by residents on the highway from San Pedro Sula to Santa Bárbara as an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19. The National Police and other public security forces threw tear gas canisters at the demonstrators to break up the blockade. The police assaulted the journalists, confiscated their equipment, and erased the footage they had just recorded. All three were taken to the police station in La Ceibita and held for several hours, unaware of what criminal charges were being brought against them.
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