Colombia: News & Updates

Please see a summary of the letters we sent to heads of state and other high-level officials in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, urging their swift action in response to human rights abuses occurring in their countries.  We join with civil society groups in Latin America to (1) protect people living under threat, (2) demand investigations into human rights crimes, and (3) bring human rights criminals to justice…..IRTF’s Rapid Response Network (RRN) volunteers write six letters in response to urgent human rights cases each month. We send copies of these letters to US ambassadors, embassy human rights officers, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, regional representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and desk officers at the US State Department. To read the letters, see https://www.irtfcleveland.org/content/rrn , or ask us to mail you hard copies.

The first round of the Presidential elections in Colombia was marked by the real possibility of a triumph of the political left, a stalemate in the peace process, the proliferation of armed groups, and growing violence. Gustavo Petro, former senator and former mayor of Bogota, obtained 40 percent of the votes and Rodolfo Hernández, an emerging candidate, came in second with 28 percent. One of the big questions ahead of the second round on June 19 is whether Hernández will be able to capitalize on the 55 percent of voters who did not choose Petro. In this interview, Gimena Sánchez, Director for the Andes at WOLA and Adam Isacson, Director for Defense Oversight at WOLA, discuss the main challenges the new president will face, the risks of electoral violence, and the implications of Colombia’s new political map for the bilateral relationship with the United States.

There is an ongoing surge of crime across Latin America and the Caribbean, with new research showing that nearly two-thirds of the world’s most dangerous cities for crime are in Latin America, according to the risk analysis firm Verisk Maplecroft. The study, which used data on crime (such as homicides, theft and property damage), terrorism, civil unrest and conflict, found that eight of the 12 cities that receive the worst possible score for crime are in Latin America. Kabul in Afghanistan and Mogadishu in Somalia are ranked as the world’s most dangerous places when all four security risks were taken into account. Medellín was believed to have turned a corner after being associated with the violence of the 1980s and 90s, when Pablo Escobar’s feared Medellín cartel ruled swathes of the city and terrorised civilians and the police. But it recorded the highest possible risk score in Verisk Maplecroft’s analysis, alongside San Salvador in El Salvador and Chihuahua in north-west Mexico.

Colombia’s upcoming presidential elections on May 29 are taking place at a time of great tension, rising insecurity, economic challenges, polarization, and distrust in government. These elections also mark the first time a socially-progressive candidate, Gustavo Petro, in a country ruled by the right and moderates for decades, has the possibility of winning the presidency. This is an overview of some of the main human rights and security challenges facing Colombia that the next President will need to address, and how U.S. policymakers can support them in doing so.

For more than 15 years, the Cleveland InterReligious Task Force on Central America & Colombia (IRTF) has been writing Rapid Response letters on behalf of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers' Collective, expressing concerns about the numerous death threats by paramilitary groups that lawyers from that collective and other human rights defenders in Colombia have received over the years. The organization has also been a victim to illegal surveillance and state intelligence, making their work even more dangerous. Finally, the lawyers' collective got their day in court!

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) will begin a two-day hearing Thursday on a lawsuit against Colombia for alleged persecution, harassment and espionage against the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers' Collective, a human rights organization. This will be the first time that a human rights organization will come to this instance as a victim, informed the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), which is representing the victims in this case. CEJIL and CAJAR expressed in a statement that this litigation "represents an opportunity to help transform the current scenario of serious violations against human rights defenders throughout the continent, a situation that reduces the capacity to defend rights and limits justice and democracy".

As some U.S. states place more restrictions on abortion and Americans brace for the possibility that the Supreme Court will soon overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing the procedure, several Latin American countries have moved in the opposite direction. The latest nation to do so was Colombia. On Feb. 21, Colombia's Constitutional Court legalized abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. "Colombia now is the country with the most progressive abortion laws in Latin America and the Caribbean," says Mariana Ardila, managing attorney in Colombia for the rights group Women's Link Worldwide. In the Americas, she added, only Canada has more liberal abortion regulations than Colombia.

Environmental activists Fabian Urquijo and Jhordan Peinado, who hail from Colombia’s Santander region, received an eerie warning in February. They were named in a pamphlet shared by the Gulf Clan paramilitary group, warning that they would be killed if they did not give up their activism. More than 20 other local activists were also named in the pamphlet, which was distributed throughout their neighbourhood. Many Colombian activists are increasingly worried that they could be targeted for their work, as recent data from Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) and Corporacion Compromiso, a local NGO, reveal a sharp increase in threats and violence towards environmental defenders. The stakes for activists in Santander are especially high. Over the past 18 months, the JEP recorded more than four dozen threats against activists across the region.