IRTF News

On September 16, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR, based in Washington, DC) asked the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (based in San José, Costa Rica) for provisional measures to protect nine people deprived of their liberty, following reports of worsening health conditions, isolation, aggression and threats within the National Penitentiary System. At one prison (Centro Penitenciario La Modelo, en Tipitapa, Managua Department),  the IACHR reported harsh conditions that include temperatures exceeding 40°C, insufficient ventilation, non-potable water, food shortages, pest infestations, a lack of toilets, and restrictions on access to the yard, recreational activities, and reading. It also reported surveillance during family visits.

In Jinotega Department, the family of human rights defender Thelma Montegro, active in the Association of the Mothers of April, has not been told where she is being held in detention. After police took her from her home on August 23, the family had only one contact with her (by phone) two days later. They are understandably concerned about her well-being.

Gabriel Pacheco Díaz was the president of the Community Action Board of the village of Naranjito in Villagarzón, Putumayo Department, head of the Human Rights Technical Secretariat of Asojuntas Villagarzón, and a member of the Human Rights Network. His body was found on September 24 along the road between the villages of La Palanca and Santa Rosa, in a rural area of Villagarzón. Pacheco Díaz had been shot several times, and his body showed signs of torture. So far, no arrests related to the assassination have been publicly reported.

The area faces threats from illegal armed groups, despite prior warnings from the federal Ombudsman’s Office about risks to human rights defenders, social leaders, and Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities. Colombia remains the deadliest country for environmental defenders for the fourth consecutive year.

We call for a thorough investigation, accountability for those responsible, stronger protection for at-risk communities, and effective government action to prevent further violence and displacement.

Despite the government having signed the Peace Accords ten years with the primary rebel group, the FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces on Colombia), social and political violence is pervasive throughout Colombia. A recent report by the human rights organization Asociación Minga details accounts of illegal armed groups exercising coercive control through displacement, confinement, extortion, curfews, censorship, phone surveillance, and restrictions on movement. State actors are implicated. State security forces (police, military) often sit back and let clashes between illegal armed groups happen, inflicting displacement and violence on local residents. Somos Defensores, another human rights organization,  recorded 874 attacks against defenders during 2025, including 165 murders , making it the year with the highest levels of lethal violence against social leaders under the government of former president Gustavo Petro, with a growing concentration in urban areas and capital cities.

We are urging the federal government to investigate any state agents who have collaborated with illegal armed actors to supply them with weapons and intelligence information, engage in joint combat operations, or assist in protecting their leaders. The government must put a stop to the practice of accepting bribes from organized criminal groups at municipal government offices, such as the police and Public Prosecutor.

There has been a lot of misinformation reported in the mainstream media about the Ortega-Murillo government being a threat to US national security. For instance, in a July 19 speech on the anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, many media outlets and the US State Department deliberately misinterpreted Co-President Ortega’s words about future elections, claiming that Ortega said there will be no more elections in Nicaragua. For clarity, this the quote from President Ortega:

“They will never see another election where they can attempt to seize power by cheating their way into government. We’re going to work with the National Assembly and the relevant organizations on laws that will put up a wall against the coup plotters and the traitors, and no matter how much money the Yankees give them, they won’t succeed.”

In a community forum on September 10, the president of the National Assembly told residents of Estelí: “…the elections are going to be the same as always, with the same voting centers, with the various political parties that accompany us here today, with the same ballots and all that the Revolution ensures, for the path of transformation that we are taking, so there are going to be elections.”

Still, despite the government’s reassurances that national elections will proceed, there are many real concerns about the state of democracy in Nicaragua. Some call it an authoritarian state. Many label it a dictatorship.

Of particular concern are the number of of campesino leaders and Indigenous land defenders subject to arbitrary detention and criminalization. Campesino leader José Danilo Jirón Gudiel has been detained since March 9, 2025. His family has received no official information regarding his whereabouts, his physical condition (he suffers from preexisting medical conditions), or the circumstances of his detention.  

On October 5, 2026, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) issued precautionary measures against Nicaragua, ordering it to disclose the circumstances of the detention of José Danilo Jirón Gudiel and prevent further violations. But the increasingly isolationist Ortega-Murillo administration withdrew from the Organization of American States (OAS) in 2023; the IACHR is an arm of the OAS.

IRTF is calling on co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo to disclose the whereabouts of José Danilo Jirón Gudiel and provide reliable information about his condition, circumstances of detention, and legal basis for his 19-month imprisonment.

Guatemala has seen the silencing, criminalization, and threats to those who expose corruption, such as links between corrupt politicians and drug trafficking gangs.

Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa, who previously served the government as an investigator for the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) has been a controversial figure. Using social media to share his analyses of security issues, he sometimes questions the actions and responses of authorities.  On October 15, he posted a video with his analysis of a recent massacre of eight people in Huité, Zacapa Department. He wrote: “My conclusion after analyzing the data we have is that it was an incursion by CIA mercenaries, supported by the Guatemalan army and carried out from US military bases in Honduras.”

Two days later he was gunned down while playing standing on the sidelines of a public soccer field in Guatemala City. Despite the presence of National Civilian Police officers acting as body guards, two gunmen succeed in killing Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa, one other man, and wounding three others. Two suspects were quickly arrested on the road but later released for lack of evidence. Media sources reported that police involved in the search of the suspected gunmen’s vehicle had planted evidence on them (rifle, ammunition, tactical vest). it is rumored that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is involved in the investigation, which is ongoing.

Indigenous territories throughout Colombia typically have what are called teams of Indigenous Guards.

The new government of President de la Espriella is proposing to create a  a national registry of the Indigenous Guards that would require not just their names but things like other groups to which they belong, the community or ancestral territory where they operate, their own authority, and their territorial jurisdiction. The Religious Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) has strongly rejected the proposal, warning that a registry run by the State could expose Guard members to state surveillance, stigmatization, criminalization, or prosecution for their work defending Indigenous territories. CRIC has also raised concerns that conditioning state protection on the disclosure of such information threatens Indigenous autonomy. The Chief Ombudsman of Colombia, Iris Marín, has repeated these concerns as well, stating that the Indigenous Guard does not need to be monitored, categorized, or administered by the State.

As CRIC has stated, the Indigenous Guard’s authority comes from the mandate of Indigenous communities, not from state recognition or authorization.