Did you know that the pandemic is STILL being used as justification for refusing, detaining, and expelling asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border?
After almost three years, the good news is that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has already acted to revoke Title 42 thanks to your advocacy! Unfortunately, the courts have kept it in place.
Yesenia Portillo, a Salvadoran American activist raised in Los Angeles, said there is a perception that Salvadorans in the U.S. are overwhelmingly supportive of Bukele. But Portillo said there are many in the U.S. who don't support him, and are “becoming more vocal about their concerns, especially as more political exiles arrive in the U.S." Portillo said that in El Salvador, there is more opposition to Bukele than polls reflect. “Feminists, LGBTI+, labor, and environmental organizations in El Salvador have been taking to the streets by the tens of thousands to criticize his policies and that often doesn’t get highlighted,” she said.
I trust that you, like me and many around the world, are still celebrating and feeling the hope of the people’s victory in the recent presidential elections of Colombia. Just as we saw the hope of new beginnings in Chile and Honduras, this victory was only made possible by the unstoppable and ongoing work of social movements, particularly the resistance of Indigenous communities. In this moment of hope and celebration, we must also acknowledge that much has been sacrificed to get here.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s national drug strategy, which includes a focus on harm reduction to respond to an overdose crisis at home, is at odds with the country’s ongoing “Drug War” in Latin America, which has perennially failed to curb drug supplies, at a huge cost in human lives. A new report by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) argues that the global drug prohibition regime and the 50-year-long U.S.-led “war on drugs” has not only had disastrous results across the world but are increasingly exacerbating other serious problems. These include violence, corruption, organized crime, forced displacement and migration as well as forest loss and climate change.
On July 26, relatives of Salvadorans unfairly arrested during the current State of exception marched in front of the Human Rights Office and later went to the Legislative Assembly with a letter for the congresspeople. No representative spoke to them. This is not the first time that these people march for their families. They did it on July 19 and, as reported by Gato Encerrado, Josselyn Palacios, one of the most visible attendees found herself receiving the attack from social media managed by allies of the Salvadoran government.
A special peace tribunal investigating atrocities committed during Colombia’s decades-long conflict has charged 19 soldiers with war crimes and crimes against humanity for murdering 303 people, mostly civilians, between 2005 and 2008. The murders form part of what is known in Colombia as “false positives”, where the military killed civilians and then presented them as fighters to try to inflate the effectiveness of their fight against rebels. In return, the soldiers received special benefits such as help to gain promotion.
We wrote to officials in Guatemala about continued impunity for violent crimes against transwomen. On July 2, 34-year-old Nancy Sacul Tut became the 16th LGBTQ+ leader killed in Guatemala in 2022.
On July 2 at 9:30pm in Guatemala City, Nancy Sacul Tut was shot in the face. A few days prior, Nancy had filed a complaint with the Public Ministry for death threats and violent attacks against her. Nancy, a Maya Q’eqchi’ woman originally from Alta Verapaz, was an active member of the Transwomen Sex Workers Collective of Trébol. Ilse Janeth Contreras, president of the Transwomen Collective, has been forced into hiding; she began receiving death threats after being interviewed in the media about Nancy’s assassination and the vulnerability of transwomen.
Nancy grew up in Chisec, Alta Verapaz Department, before moving to the capital city at age 17. She was rejected by her family and suffered discrimination in her hometown. Proud of her heritage, she continued to wear traditional Indigenous clothing representative of her region. Ilse Janeth Contreras described Nancy as a quiet woman who worked in the sex trade, in addition to selling clothes and vegetables in the market. As of July 5, the day Nancy was buried, authorities had not started an investigation into her assassination.
We are outraged by the pattern of disinterest and inaction on behalf of the state to defend and prevent violence against transwomen.
President-elect Gustavo Petro and Vice President-elect Francia Marquez won an historic race with the promise to bring about deep social, economic and political change in Colombia. Only about half of the population has formal work. Just a quarter of eligible adults have access to the pension system. The pandemic made matters worse. After years of stagnation, poverty is rising again. Will Petro, the first left-wing president in the history of the country, be able to keep his promises?
The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is traveling to Honduras this week to meet with the president over increasing migration from the Central American country, the agency announced. The visit comes as a growing number of Hondurans cross the border from Mexico and try to claim asylum in the United States, according to new data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. And it comes at a time when thousands of migrants are arriving on the Southwest border, most from the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, which form what is called the Northern Triangle.
We wrote once again to officials in Colombia about the continued impunity for attacks on signatories of the historic Peace Agreement. Since the Peace Agreement was signed in November 2006, 324 signatories have been killed, with 25 so far this year. Many are ex-combatants of the now extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FACR-EP).
Killed on July 12 was Noel Humberto Castro Colorado, age 45, an ex-guerrilla who was enrolled in the official reincorporation process at the Agua Bonita Territorial Training and Reincorporation Center (ETCR). He had been transferred there for security reasons after having received death threats. Armed men approached him at 9:45pm and shot him as he was storing his car in the garage of his home in Florencia municipality, Caquetá Department.
We are urging that authorities in Colombia (1) investigate the assassination, (2) offer protection for his family, (3) offer protections for other signatories of the Peace Agreement, (4) construct comprehensive and inclusive measures to implement the Peace Agreement.
