Colombian Human Rights Activist Detained in Miami
News from Colombia | on: Monday, 30 June 2008
Colombia's largest human rights group, the Permanent Committee for Human Rights (CPDH), has denounced the detention of one of their leading members in the United States as he travelled to Washington DC to attend proceedings of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. Dr Athemay Sterling, the Director of the Centre for read moreEuropean Government Envoys to Meet with FARC
News from Colombia | on: Monday, 30 June 2008
Reports from Colombian suggest that two European mediators are currently somewhere in the country on route to meet with new FARC guerrilla chief Alfonso Cano. The envoys, sent by the French and Swiss governments, are involved in efforts to get the FARC and the Colombian Government to carry out read moreThreats against Colombian Oil Workers’ Union
News from Colombia | on: Sunday, 29 June 2008
There is fear for the safety of leading members of the Colombian oil workers' trade union, USO, after a series of death threats made by rightwing paramilitary groups. Two USO members, including the President of the union, have recently escaped assassination attempts and the union says that if the read moreInteresting Article on Forced Disappearances
News from Colombia | on: Saturday, 28 June 2008
Inter Press Service (IPS) journalist Constanza Vieira recently attended the International Seminar on Forced Disappearance in the Colombian capital Bogota. Her report makes interesting reading. read moreIndigenous Leader Assassinated
News from Colombia | on: Friday, 27 June 2008
Members of a rightwing paramilitary death squad with links to the Colombian Army have assassinated an indigenous leader in the northwest of Colombia. Two other leaders in the same region, who have received repeated paramilitary death threats, are currently at grave risk of assassination according to the National Indigenous read moreThree Political Prisoners Freed - AT LAST!
Justice For Colombia News | on: Friday, 27 June 2008
Justice for Colombia is extremely pleased to report that three political prisoners that JFC has campaigned on have finally been released. The campaign has received tremendous support from both Thompsons Solicitors and Unite the Union. All three had all charges against them thrown out.The first to be released read moreOpposition Politician Detained
News from Colombia | on: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
A member of the 'Polo Democratico' opposition political party has been detained by the Colombian secret police in the country's capital Bogota. Alveiro Tique Giron, an indigenous leader and 'Polo' member of the municipal council in the nearby city of Ibague (Tolima department), was detained on the afternoon of read moreTwo More Trade Unionists Assassinated
News from Colombia | on: Tuesday, 24 June 2008
In separate incidents in the southern Colombian region of Valle del Cauca two trade union activists working in the Colombian prison service have been murdered. In one case the union activist was shot dead in front of his family.The most recent killing, on the morning of June 19th, took read moreReport: Massive Increase in Forced Displacement in Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Sunday, 22 June 2008
In a new report, CODHES, the organisation that collates figures about forced displacement in Colombia, has estimated that 113,473 people were forced from their homes during the first three months of 2008 – a massive increase on previous years and the highest quarterly figure since the 1990s. Amnesty International has read morePublic Sector Union Leader Concludes Whirlwind Tour of Britain
Justice For Colombia News | on: Friday, 20 June 2008
In a two and a half week visit to the UK that concluded yesterday, Colombian public sector workers union leader Ana Lucia Pinzon spoke in eight cities around the country and addressed thousands of delegates at 21 separate trade union conferences. Ms Pinzon told those she met about the read moreParamilitaries Threaten Opposition Senators
News from Colombia | on: Thursday, 19 June 2008
Three opposition Senators, two from the Colombian Liberal Party and another from the Polo Democratico Party, have received a series of death threats from a paramilitary group known as the 'Black Eagles' that operates in the Colombian capital Bogota. In one written threat the paramilitaries specifically say that all read morePolice, Army and Paramilitaries Working Together in Antioquia
News from Colombia | on: Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Police officers in a town in central Colombia allowed a suspected paramilitary to photograph a woman in their custody. The following day paramilitary gunmen, holding a copy of the photo, pulled her off a bus in a rural part of Antioquia department and murdered her. The victim's son-in-law, read moreUN Reports Huge Increase in Colombian Cocaine Production
News from Colombia | on: Wednesday, 18 June 2008
In their new report on world cocaine production the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has documented a 27% increase in coca production in Colombia. The UN also says that during 2007 around 600 tons of cocaine was produced in Colombia with a value of nearly a read moreBolivian President Calls for Colombia Negotiations
News from Colombia | on: Monday, 16 June 2008
The President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, has spoken out about the conflict in Colombia saying that he believes that the only way to end the war is to get the Colombian Government and the country's rebels to start negotiations and reach a political solution.His remarks, on June 15th, mirror those read moreParamilitaries Kill 17 in Choco
News from Colombia | on: Sunday, 15 June 2008
An army-backed paramilitary death squad operating in the region of Choco along Colombia's Pacific coast has murdered at least 17 peasant farmers in recent weeks. The killings, which have all taken place in the municipality of Docordo, have caused over 100 people to flee the region in fear of read moreUS Eyes Colombia for Military Base
News from Colombia | on: Wednesday, 11 June 2008
The United States is believed to be looking at the possibility of establishing a new military base in Colombia to replace their current airbase in the Ecuadorian city of Manta. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has promised that he will not renew the Manta base agreement when it expires next read moreInterview with Gustavo Moncayo
News from Colombia | on: Sunday, 8 June 2008
Gustavo Moncayo is a teacher who has spent the past year campaigning for a humanitarian exchange of prisoners to take place between the Colombian Government and the FARC guerrilla group. His son, Pablo Emilio Moncayo, a soldier who was captured by guerrilla forces during combat in 1997, has been read moreSix Soldiers, Three Police Killed in FARC Attacks
News from Colombia | on: Thursday, 5 June 2008
Six members of the Colombian security forces have been killed in two separate attacks by leftwing FARC guerrillas in recent days. The deaths follow those of three other soldiers in a recent guerrilla ambush on the road linking the cities of Cali and Buenaventura in southwest Colombia.In the first read moreAustralian’s Condemn President Uribe
News from Colombia | on: Monday, 2 June 2008
A statement released by the Peace and Justice for Colombia Network in Australia has condemned President Uribe and his regime for opening spurious legal proceedings against members of the political opposition, journalists and others who have spoken out against his policies. The Network is supported by several Australian trade read moreBlood on Britain’s Hands
Justice For Colombia News | on: Sunday, 1 June 2008
In an article for the June/July 2008 issue of Red Pepper, JFC Chair and NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear says the British government must reverse its support for the Uribe government and work with other European powers to help find a peaceful and just solution to Colombia's civil war read moreColombian President Bans Vigil for Victims
News from Colombia | on: Sunday, 1 June 2008
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe himself was apparently behind an order to ban a proposed vigil to be held by the victims of paramilitary violence in the city of Medellin on July 3rd. The vigil was due to coincide with the General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS), read more
