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IRTF News
RRN Letter
September 13, 2025
Trans women are under attack in Colombia. Particularly in the Urabá region up near the Caribbean coast, LGBTQ+ organizations report a structural pattern of systematic violence against trans women, who face differentiated risks marked by social exclusion, stigmatization, poverty, and the lack of institutional guarantees for the full exercise of their rights. The human rights organization Caribe Afirmativo has recorded 50 cases thus far in 2025.
Although poor trans women are most likely to suffer attacks, those who hold prestigious social positions are not immune to the violence. Fernanda Domicó was a trans woman and chief of the fire department in Dabeiba, a city of 22,000 in Antioquia Department. She left home at 9pm on Thursday, July 24. The following morning, her body was discovered on the banks of a creek on a farm outside of town. There were several stab wounds to the head and face.
The mayor highlighted her legacy and lamented that her death “leaves a great void.” The governor of Antioquia offered a reward of $20 million pesos for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for Fernanda Domicó's murder.
News Article
September 12, 2025
The BIA is the appellate body that reviews immigration judge decisions, and when it designates a decision as precedential, like Yajure Hurtado [ a migrant from Venezuela who entered the US in November 2022], its reasoning is binding on all immigration judges unless a federal court says otherwise. This means that in immigration courts across the country, thousands of detained immigrants who were eligible for a bond hearing last week now have no recourse to be released during their immigration court proceedings unless they file—and win—a federal lawsuit.
RRN Letter
September 12, 2025
The Córdoba Controversial Social Foundation-Cordoberxia coordinates the Human Rights Platform of the Colombian Caribbean, covering several departments in the Caribbean zone of Colombia. One of its leaders is Nestor Moreno Ríos. In addition to his work with Cordoberxia, Nestor is also active in several other human rights organizations, including Southern Córdoba Human Rights Network and Observatory of Human Rights of Southern Córdoba (OBDEHSUC). Moreover, Nestor directs the Sociopolitical Think Tank of Córdoba and the Corporación Córdoba Diversa, a nonprofit that works on civil rights and inclusion of the sexual diversity community in his home city of Montería.
When he went to his gym for his 6am morning work out on August 5, a gunman entered and tried to shoot him. Thankfully, the gun jammed after repeated tries, which allowed Nestor just enough time to find refuge and call for help. The rapid action of the police avoided a tragedy.
We urge authorities in Colombia to consult with Nestor Moreno Ríos to devise protection measures, in strict accordance with his wishes.
RRN Letter
September 11, 2025
SINALTRAINAL (the national food and beverage workers union) has been campaigning for fairer conditions and an end to discriminatory practices towards its members at Nestlé’s four plants in Colombia. Nestle has retaliated, illegally firing unionized workers.
Paula Andrea Rojas Franco, Daniela Salazar Ospina, and Alicia Cardiles Fontalvo are all active in the Women and Diverstiy Caucus of SINALTRAINAL. Paula Rojas and Daniela Salazar are involved in a labor dispute at the Nestlé plant in Dosquebradas. Alicia Cardiles has led efforts to denounce gender-based abuses and human rights violations at Seatech International Inc. (producer of Van Camps tuna) in Cartagena.
In July, all three (on separate occasions) were followed and video recorded by unknown individuals on motorcycles. The surveillance and intimidation targeting these union leaders is suspicious. These incidents are occurring in the context of a broader pattern of violence aimed at SINALTRAINAL. In April, the vice president of a local branch, was shot to death in a public establishment in Valledupar.
We urge the government of Colombia to mplement protection measures for these three union leaders, in strict accordance with their wishes and in consultation with SINALTRAINAL.
News Article
September 10, 2025
Alejandro Henríquez and José Ángel Pérez are being prosecuted for the alleged crimes of public disorder and aggravated resistance. The investigation phase is now scheduled to conclude in December 2025.
Defense attorneys confirmed the court’s decision to LA PRENSA GRÁFICA, as did the organization Foro del Agua, which announced the decision on its accounts on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
The organization called the decision “unjust” and “arbitrary,” as it lengthens both men’s time in custody without any evidence of their alleged crimes.
News Article
September 9, 2025
Washington, D.C. — The terms of a previously secret grant agreement between the United States and El Salvador facilitating the Trump-Vance administration’s practice of disappearing people indefinitely from U.S. territory into El Salvador’s notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison without due process, legal justification, or public accountability have, for the first time, been made available as part of an ongoing lawsuit. ...
News Article
August 26, 2025
Five members of the Indigenous Garifuna communities of Trujillo and Sante Fe are being prosecuted for defending their ancestral lands; their names are Cesia Guillén, Cindy Fernández, Gilma Bernárdez, Luis Calderón, and Cesar Geovanny Bernárdez. All of the defendants are members of the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (OFRANEH), an organization that has been helping the Garifuna in their fight to defend collective property.
The defendants have been unjustly accused of forced displacement and aggravated usurpation by Dagoberto Castillo Castillo and Niobi Constantinidi Padilla. Castillo claims to be a bona fide purchaser of a property in the San Antonio area of Santa Fe Colón, despite the fact that the Garifuna people hold its property title dating back to 1882. Their fight is supported by a report from the National Agrarian Institute (INA), indicating that the land is located within Garifuna ancestral territory and that its sale is void.
This state-backed legal attack is part of a systematic act of dispossession against Garifuna communities. Central to its execution has been the repression of land defense movements through deliberate criminalization and persecution of those leading the defense of their ancestral homes.
The courthouse in Trujillo, which is now effectively dedicated to the persecution of the Garífuna people, was built on Garifuna territory. The initial hearing for the five defendants was held there on August 11.
News Article
August 21, 2025
As government human rights reporting becomes less comprehensive, historian Elliott Young's applied scholarship fills critical information gaps with rigorously documented country conditions research.
Earlier today I had the opportunity to speak with historian Elliott Young from Lewis and Clark University’s Migration & Asylum Lab and recent graduate Soraya Talbot-Kerry about their work producing country conditions reports, essential resources that serve everyone involved in the immigration system. These meticulously researched, non-partisan reports provide critical information for immigration judges, attorneys, ICE prosecutors, advocacy organizations, and the general public who need accurate, objective data about conditions in countries around the world.
You can listen to this one-hour interview between Austin Kocher and researchers at the Migration & Asylum Lab here.
News Article
August 21, 2025
A corrupt government gutted the public electricity utility and doled out shady contracts. Now the state faces multibillion-dollar lawsuits for attempting to reclaim control.
This report uncovers how solar energy projects affect local comunities, the states econmy, it's sovereignity and how Investors use neo0cololonial means to foster their interests.
News Article
August 4, 2025
He has swept away checks and balances. His government has made mass arrests. And his lawmakers just rewrote the Constitution to let him lead indefinitely, raising fears that the man who once jokingly called himself the world’s “coolest dictator” isn’t kidding anymore.
But for many Salvadorans, President Nayib Bukele has been a godsend.