Huffington Post: Colombia, US Leaders Talk Cooperation While Community Leaders Continue to Die
Justice For Colombia News | on: Sunday, 31 October 2010
The Huffington Post, the US news website, has carried this article by Lisa Haugaard, the Executive Director of the Washington-based Latin America Working Group. We recommend it. read more 
Trade Unionist Working at US Multinational Murdered in Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Saturday, 30 October 2010
A worker for the US multinational mining company Drummond has been assassinated shortly after a large protest against ongoing health and safety breaches by the company. William Tafur, who worked at the Pribbenow Mine, an opencast mine operated by Drummond in the Colombian province of Cesar, left his home read more 
Opposition Leader Assassinated in Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Friday, 29 October 2010
A founding member of the Democratic Pole, Colombia’s principle opposition party, has been gunned down in the town of Manaure in the northern Colombian province of La Guajira. Juan Carlos Arredondo, a father of two, was killed by two gunmen outside his home on the evening of October 25th. read more 
Church Group Says Army-Paramilitary Alliance Terrorising Colombian Province of Meta
News from Colombia | on: Thursday, 28 October 2010
A brutal campaign to eradicate human rights and civil society organizations in the remote Colombian province of Meta is underway according to reports from the zone which allege that members of the Army are cooperating with illegal paramilitary death squads in various municipalities. Several people have been assassinated, two key read more 
Justice for Colombia Adopts Fifth Political Prisoner
Justice For Colombia News | on: Thursday, 28 October 2010
Justice for Colombia has today adopted human rights activist and political prisoner David Ravelo as part of our ongoing campaign to free all of Colombia’s political prisoners. More information about Mr Ravelo, who was jailed without trial on 14th September 2010, is available on our campaign page. read more 
UK Construction Union Intensifies Colombia Lobbying
Justice For Colombia News | on: Monday, 25 October 2010
The leader of UCATT, the trade union representing over 120,000 British workers employed in the construction industry, has written to British Members of Parliament outlining his “deep concerns” about the treatment of trade unionists in Colombia and comparing the regime in Bogota to those in Burma, Iran and Zimbabwe. In read more 
UN Condemns 1,500 Assassinations in Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Friday, 22 October 2010
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has denounced the murder of 1,500 victims of forced displacement in Colombia and says that not enough is being done to protect those who have been forced from their homes and land or to help them return. According to Terry read more 
Bogota Mayor Faces Corruption Allegations
News from Colombia | on: Friday, 22 October 2010
The mayor of Colombia’s capital, Samuel Moreno, has denied allegations that he received payments from a construction company awarded major contracts by his administration and claims that he is “tired of the gossip, tired of the lies, tired of the insults” much of which, he says, have been invented by read more 
Colombia Authorities Admit to 50,000 Disappeared
News from Colombia | on: Thursday, 21 October 2010
Colombia’s national ombudsman has admitted to reporters that nearly 50,000 people are currently registered as disappeared in the country putting Colombia at the number one spot in the world for the crime of disappearances. According to Andres Pena, the director of the National Search Commission of the Ombudsman’s read more 
More Colombian Politicians Linked to Paramilitary Death Squads
News from Colombia | on: Thursday, 21 October 2010
Further evidence has emerged of links between senior Colombian political figures and illegal paramilitary groups as the Colombian Supreme Court continues their investigation into the so-called ‘para-politica’ scandal which has now implicated around a hundred members of the Colombian Congress. The most recent revelations, which were read more 
Protests in Colombia after Army Burn Homes
News from Colombia | on: Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Thousands of peasant farmers in the region of Catatumbo, in the northeast Colombian province of Norte de Santander, have taken to the streets after security forces entered the area in an effort to eradicate coca crops being grown there. According to reports from the region soldiers and police have read more 
Big Rise in Colombia Kidnapping
News from Colombia | on: Wednesday, 20 October 2010
The Colombian Government has admitted that kidnappings have increased by 27% so far this year with over 200 cases being registered between January and September alone. According to the new data, some months, including March and August, saw an average of more than one person being kidnapped read more 
OPINION: Mining in Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Tuesday, 19 October 2010
On October 13th Carlos Rodado, Colombia’s mining minister expressed his government’s congratulations to Chile for the successful rescue of the 33 trapped miners near Copiapo. This rescue was, he said, a demonstration of how technology should be used to save lives. How ironic then that on Saturday 16th the Colombian read more 
Violence Flares as 8 Bombs Shake Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Monday, 18 October 2010
At least six people have been killed and almost 50 wounded in a series of bomb explosions around Colombia and in heavy fighting in two regions between security forces and leftwing rebels. The violence, which has been concentrated in the provinces of Arauca and Narino, began on read more 
Secret Police Seize Peasant Farmer in Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Saturday, 16 October 2010
The community council in the village of Panama in the Colombian province of Arauca have accused the Colombian security forces of illegally detaining an innocent local man. According to a report sent out by the community, security forces arrived in the area on Saturday 9th October and arrested read more 
Colombian Indigenous Leader Assassinated
News from Colombia | on: Friday, 15 October 2010
The General Secretary of the ‘Lopez Adentro’ indigenous council, which governs the reserve of the same name, was yesterday gunned down by two unidentified assassins as he stood outside of his home with his wife and seven-year-old daughter. Rodolfo Maya Aricape, a well known indigenous leader in the region, read more 
Colombian Vice President to be Investigated for Corruption
News from Colombia | on: Thursday, 14 October 2010
Colombia’s Inspector General yesterday ordered the reopening of a corruption investigation into Vice-President Angelino Garzon for ‘illicit enrichment’ allegedly perpetrated between 2004 and 2007 when Mr Garzon was Governor of the province of Valle del Cauca. According to Colombian press reports the Inspector General has declared read more 
Student Among 11 Killed in Colombian Province of Valle Over Weekend
News from Colombia | on: Monday, 11 October 2010
A 22-year-old student and three members of one family were among those assassinated over the weekend in the southwest Colombian region of Valle del Cauca according to local press reports. The killings are not thought to be related but all occurred within 48 hours of each other in different parts read more 
Army Carries Out Mass Detention in Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Monday, 11 October 2010
The Colombian Army has rounded up ten people and say they intend to detain a further 70 local residents in the Cantagallo area of the central Colombian province of Bolivar. Among those detained are the President of the local community council, who was arrested on October 9th, and seven read more 
TUC Protests Ongoing Union Killings in Colombia
Justice For Colombia News | on: Saturday, 9 October 2010
The Trades Union Congress, representing 6.5 million British workers, has contacted the Colombian authorities protesting the recent murders of three trade union activists. In a letter to the Colombian Ambassador in London the TUC says that so long as the violence and attacks continue “the British trade union read more 
Castro Lashes Out at Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Friday, 8 October 2010
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has accused Colombia of being “virtually occupied by Yankee troops” and says that former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe “was one of the principle creators of the paramilitary structure, whose members are responsible for the increase in drug trafficking and the death of tens of thousands read more 
Civilians at Risk as Combat Continues in Indigenous Region of Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Thursday, 7 October 2010
Heavy fighting between leftwing FARC rebels and the Colombian Army in the region of Cauca is putting innocent lives at risk according to regional indigenous leader Maria Eugenua Mendez who has accused the Army of using the homes of civilians as combat positions. The fighting, in the Toribio area of read more 
MEP Raises Human Rights Concerns Over Proposed EU-Colombia Trade Deal
Justice For Colombia News | on: Wednesday, 6 October 2010
The European Union must thoroughly investigate the ongoing human rights crisis in Colombia before the proposed EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement moves ahead says British MEP David Martin. “While the Colombian government claim it is taking strong measures to put an end to the harassment, disappearances and murders of trade unionists and read more 
Colombian Army Kill 3-Year-Old Girl, Teacher Threatened
News from Colombia | on: Sunday, 3 October 2010
In confusing circumstances in the southern Colombian region of Caqueta, soldiers, thought to be members of the 12th Counter-Guerrilla Battalion of the Colombian Army’s 12th Brigade, have shot and killed a three-year-old child. Kerly Johana Pena died after being shot in the hip at a farm house between the villages read more 
Surge in Political Assassinations in Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Saturday, 2 October 2010
Three political figures have been murdered in Colombia in the past week including one local leader who was massacred along with his brother and three cousins. David Enrique Creo, a politician in Narino province, was murdered on September 30th near the town of El Charco. According to some reports a read more
