IRTF News

Eleven Colombian ex-soldiers are giving details about extrajudicial killings carried out by the army during Colombia's armed conflict, as they are taking part in a public hearing of the special court examining crimes committed during the conflict. Néstor Gutiérrez was among six former members of the military who gave evidence on the first day of the hearing on Tuesday. Five more are due to appear on Wednesday. The six took responsibility for killing at least 120 civilians between 2007 and 2008 and passing them off as combat fatalities in the Catatumbo region, in eastern Colombia.

A federal court on Monday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from removing the order after several states filed a lawsuit to keep it in place, arguing that revoking it would "result in an unprecedented crisis at the United States southern border." Senior administration officials told reporters that "if and when the court actually issues the [temporary restraining order]," DHS will comply with it, adding that "we are really disagreeing with the basic premise." Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a memo that, once Title 42 is removed, the administration expects that "migration levels will increase, as smugglers will seek to take advantage of and profit from vulnerable migrants."

Thirty days after El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly approved a state of emergency in the country in response to reports of rising gang-related killings, and in light of the renewal of this measure on Sunday, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International said: “Over the last 30 days, President Bukele’s government has trampled all over the rights of the Salvadoran people. From legal reforms that flout international standards, to mass arbitrary arrests and the ill treatment of detainees, Salvadoran authorities have created a perfect storm of human rights violations, which is now expected to continue with the extension of the emergency decree.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called on the government of El Salvador Thursday to respect human rights, after authorities declared a state of emergency and rounded up 14,000 suspected gang members. The arrests often appear arbitrary, according to the commission, part of the Organization of American States. The commission warned the government that even with the decree, “its power is not unlimited, because it has the duty at all times to act in accordance with applicable rules and respect the rights of all of those under its jurisdiction.”

The National Congress decided to approve the repeal of the Employment and Economic Development Zones, ZEDE, for projects that divide the country and sell the territories, directly attacking national sovereignty. The Employment and Economic Development Zones are widely rejected by the Honduran population. It became a campaign promise to end their use, today fulfilled, of the government of Xiomara Castro Sarmiento.

In the 21st century, the women’s movement has undoubtedly made huge gains at parliamentary level, yet it has also made a big impact in other areas of society. One of the most important actors in this regard is the Rural Workers Association (ATC). The most essential component of Nicaragua’s economy has for centuries been its agricultural sector. Prior to the revolution, all available fertile land was forcibly converted into vast monocultural cash-crop plantations and worked by the local population, be that slaves, Indigenous people, or mestizos. When men went to fight in the mountains during the US-funded counter-revolution in the 1980s, women took on agricultural jobs that had been traditionally held by men—carrying out the field work, driving tractors, applying inputs, tending to the animals—in addition to all of the traditional housework and childrearing. This was an important moment that showed that women too could carry out agricultural activities other than harvesting, breaking off from traditional machista ideas about the division of agricultural labor.

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.