I just sent off another e-mail update to those who’ve subscribed. It’s mainly got the items posted here since Friday:
Cross-posted from WOLA’s colombiapeace.org site. During at least the first half of 2021, we’re producing weekly updates in English about peace accord implementation and related topics. Get these in your e-mail by signing up to this Google group.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has maintained an office in Colombia since 1996 with presences in Bogotá and nine regions. Early each year, it produces a report summarizing Colombia’s human rights situation during the prior year. The Colombia office issued its latest report on February 23. Among its topline findings for 2020:
The UN High Commissioner counted up to 133 killings of human rights defenders, though as of publication it had been able to verify only 50 due to pandemic restrictions. “Of the verified cases, 25 per cent were reportedly committed by criminal groups, 15 per cent by FARC dissident groups, 13 per cent by ELN, and 4 per cent by the police or military.” Colombian authorities achieved 20 convictions in 2020 against killers of human rights defenders.
The day before the UN report launched, the Colombian presidency issued its own brief report. Presidential Human Rights Advisor Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez claimed that the government and the UN human rights office had counted 66 murdered social leaders, with 63 remaining to be verified. The reason for the discrepancy with the UN is unclear.
The UN and government estimates are on the low end. The government’s Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoría) counted 182 killings of human rights defenders and social leaders in 2020, and 753 in the five years since 2016. The non-governmental Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Paz (Indepaz), which includes names and places but does not verify each case, counted 310 murders.
The UN report faults the Colombian government for the continued lack of a stated public policy for dismantling paramilitary successor criminal organizations, as foreseen in the 2016 peace accord. It finds a “lack of a comprehensive State presence” in conflictive parts of the country, which “limits the State ́s capacity to comply with its duty to protect the population.” Juliette De Rivero, the director of the High Commissioner’s Colombia office, told Verdad Abierta, “After the accords’ signing, there was about a year and a half of breathing space in these territories. But then the State didn’t occupy the space—and armed groups began to arrive and exert very strong social control.”
The UN report, as well as press comments by De Rivero and High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, voiced strong support for Colombia’s post-conflict transitional justice system. They especially upheld its Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), which has taken bold moves in recent weeks against ex-guerrilla kidnappers and military personnel responsible for “false positive” killings, and which often finds itself under political fire from allies of President Iván Duque’s government. Bachelet shared her concern about “declarations against the transitional justice system, including legislative proposals to abolish the Special Jurisdiction for Peace.”
U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg met with the JEP’s President, Eduardo Cifuentes, on February 26. This was a notable show of support for an institution that some U.S. officials over the years had avoided praising, out of concern that it might end up failing to punish perpetrators.
As reported in last week’s update, the JEP surprised the country by announcing that it is investigating a much higher than anticipated number of military murders of civilians who were then falsely presented as combat kills. The Special Jurisdiction said its review of existing databases led it to estimate 6,402 of these “false positive” killings between 2002 and 2008 alone.
As an analysis by La Silla Vacía’s Juanita León shows, that number could increase or decrease as the transitional justice system proceeds with its “bottom up” strategy of starting with the perpetrators in order to arrive at the most responsible military commanders. Cifuentes, the JEP’s president, told El Espectador that the next steps involve collecting more testimonies from perpetrators and victims in order “to charge those identified as most responsible.”
This has some top current and former military commanders concerned. Articles last week in El Espectador and Verdad Abierta name some of the officers most frequently cited for commanding units that committed the most “false positive” killings. These include several generals who were promoted to lead Colombia’s army in the 2000s and 2010s.
The JEP’s method of starting with lower-ranking military perpetrators in order to arrive at the top commanders puts significant pressure on those lower-ranking defendants, who make up most of the 1,860 security-force members who agreed to have their cases heard in the JEP. Nineteen of them had reported being threatened or followed, according to a September 2020 document from the government’s Inspector-General’s Office (Procuraduría).
On February 2, the JEP sent a letter to the Specialized Technical Defense Fund for Members of the Security Forces (FONDETEC), a sort of public defender service for members of the military and police accused of crimes. The letter asks for information about the advice that FONDETEC lawyers may be providing to low-ranking military defendants in the JEP system.
Some of these defendants have alleged that their public defenders strongly encouraged them to avoid implicating senior commanders in their JEP testimonies. “The pretext that the lawyers have is to carry out preparation sessions for those appearing before the transitional justice mechanism,” explained Sergio Arboleda Góngora of the Corporación Jurídica Libertad human rights group. “They would use that opportunity to indicate what to say and what not to say to the lower-ranking members of the military when they testify.”
“FONDETEC conditions our testimonies to improve the defense of those above us,” a military witness told the JEP, according to El Espectador investigative columnist Yohir Akerman. “What evidence do you have to link General [Mario] Montoya, commander of the Army? The situation could turn around against you,” a FONDETEC lawyer called “Doctor Vargas” apparently told defendants at the military’s detention center in Facatativá, Cundinamarca. Akerman identifies him as Fernando Antonio Vargas Quemba, a FONDETEC attorney with ties to far-right, even paramilitary-linked, groups.
Colombia’s politically powerful associations of retired military and police officers issued a communiqué opposing the JEP’s information request regarding FONDETEC activities, viewing it as part of an “unprecedented offensive against our military and police, with the purpose of demoralizing and discrediting those who selflessly serve the country.”
The commander of the Army, Gen. Eduardo Zapateiro, appeared to go further. The day after the JEP’s revelation of its estimate of 6,402 murders, the general posted to his Twitter account nature footage depicting snakes, interspersed with Bible excerpts, and a vow that “we will not let ourselves be defeated by poisonous and perverse vipers that want to attack us, accuse us, or weaken us.”
“How frightening that these gentlemen are still there [in command]. We are not poisonous snakes. We are victims of the Army,” responded the Association of Mothers of False Positives. A La Silla Vacía analysis, noting Gen. Zapateiro’s “impulsive” nature, observed that the commander is under pressure from the hardline retired officers’ associations. An unnamed “high government official who works with the Army” insisted that the General’s position is not the Army’s institutional stance.
On February 26 President Duque visited the Tolemaida base in Tolima to inaugurate a new Colombian Army Command against Drug Trafficking and Transnational Threats (CONAT). This 7,000-person unit’s objective will be “breaking, striking, and subduing the structures of drug trafficking and transnational threats, linked to the illegal exploitation of minerals, trafficking of species and people, and, of course, any transnational form of terrorism,” reads a Presidency release.
The CONAT’s commander is Gen. Juan Carlos Correa, a former commander of the Colombian Army’s National Training Center who served a recent tour in Miami as the commander of the U.S. Southern Command’s J7/9 Exercise and Coalition directorate.
It is not immediately clear how much about the CONAT is new, other than its command and organizational structure. Colombia’s Army already had Counter-Drug Brigades; these are now being combined under the CONAT with a counter-illicit mining brigade and aviation units. Reporting about the unit doesn’t specifically speak about new capabilities, equipment, or personnel increases.
Defense Minister Diego Molano said the new command will prioritize “areas identified as being highly influenced by drug trafficking such as Catatumbo, Cauca, and Putumayo.” Catatumbo is along the Venezuelan border, which drew the notice of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. In response to an earlier announcement by President Duque about the CONAT, Maduro had called on Venezuela’s armed forces to “clean the barrels of our rifles to answer at any level we need.”
A Caracol Noticias report by noted investigative journalist Ricardo Calderón—who was part of an unfortunate recent exodus from Semana magazine—cited videos and emails indicating an ever closer relationship between Venezuelan security forces and members of the ELN and FARC dissident groups on Venezuelan soil. “Today we are in full support of the commander, comrade Nicolás Maduro, so that this government may continue, so that he may continue to lead this ship,” a video depicts “Julián Chollo,” a commander in the dissident group headed by former FARC leader “Gentil Duarte,” telling residents of the town of Elorza, deep within Apure, Venezuela. The Caracol report finds, “According to internal ELN communications, Venezuela may have become the scene of a ‘war among guerrillas’ in which each side has the support of different [Venezuelan] military units.”
Despite these growing security challenges, the United States continues a drug war that wastes exquisite military tools, destabilizes fragile states, and sours hemispheric relations — yet fails to gain any measurable progress
El Presidente y su ministro del Interior explicaron que se va a reforzar el estado de catástrofe -que se reconoce subutilizado
El enfoque de militarizar el tema ambiental, que fue presentado como una innovación estratégica en seguridad y medio ambiente importante del Gobierno Duque, tiene un papel más discreto en los últimos avances de política pública
The new unit, consisting of 7,000 personnel, will be deployed to zones such as the Catatumbo region on the border with Venezuela, as well as the provinces of Cauca and Putamayo, Defense Minister Diego Molano said
Bogotá and Washington should abandon their heavy-handed elimination efforts and help growers find alternatives to the hardy plant
En el Fuerte Militar de Tolemaida, el Jefe de Estado activó este viernes el Comando contra el Narcotráfico y Amenazas Transnacionales (CONAT), fuerza élite conformada por 7.000 hombres y mujeres del Ejército
Un informe de Caribe Afirmativo señala que hay un retroceso en los avances de derechos humanos LGBT, “porque con relación a 2019 hubo un aumento del 58% y un 80% frente a 2018?
Las tres fuentes de información comparten muchas víctimas, pero cada una aporta víctimas que no aparecen en las demás bases de datos
El representante demócrata Jim McGovern lamentó “la falta de voluntad de Iván Duque para detener los asesinatos de líderes sociales” y le pidió al presidente Joe Biden que ponga este problema en su agenda
Securing two-thirds of congressional seats would allow Bukele to name Supreme Court judges and the attorney general, making him the most powerful Salvadoran leader since the return of democracy three decades ago
Analistas salvadoreños e internacionales señalan el riesgo de que el Presidente millennial termine convirtiendo al país en otra Nicaragua, tras los resultados de las elecciones legislativas del 28 de febrero
Pending cases and trials for genocide, mass enforced disappearances and other civil war-era atrocities are stagnating in the courts
López Obrador recordó que en Baja California hay 2 mil 99 elementos de la Guardia Nacional y hay seis cuarteles nuevos
“Nos preguntaban que cómo habíamos obtenido la información. Y nos dijeron que nos iban a llevar detenidos. Temimos por nuestra vida”, explica la mujer
Though symbolically important in any administration, the decision by President Joe Biden to dispatch Blinken to Mexico and Canada for the first visits, even virtually, is part of a broader effort to turn the page
Coronel’s surrender signals the existence of a cooperation agreement, where she could provide information or testimony in exchange for leniency in her own case
La más reciente avanzada orteguista contra sus críticos incluye el cierre de organizaciones de derechos humanos y libertad de expresión por la aprobación de la ley de agentes extranjeros
Biden has an opportunity to break the cycle of deadly border militarization embraced by his predecessors of both parties. Will he take it?
It represented a step closer to reaching the American dream for the 27 people who crossed the Gateway International Bridge after living in Matamoros for nearly two years
It’s a significant change at the two detention centers that activists have derided as “baby jails.” But the new policy falls short of their demands to close the facilities in Dilley and Karnes City
The challenges of redirecting the enforcement apparatus, the tangled web of legal agreements signed by prior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership, and anxieties about a new large-scale influx of migrants and asylum seekers have posed early challenges
HHS, which oversees shelters for migrant children, is in the process of switching to a new database that could cut hours or days from the time it takes to perform background checks for sponsors
On Thursday, there were more than 1,200 unaccompanied children in Customs and Border Protection custody across the southwest border
The number of minors arriving without a parent has grown to more than 300 each day in recent weeks, a fourfold increase since last fall
With this series of weekly updates, WOLA seeks to cover the most important developments at the U.S.-Mexico border. You can get these in your e-mail each week by joining WOLA’s “Beyond the Wall” mailing list.
While we try to keep these updates brief, this topic has to start with several bullets of context, which has been absent from some recent media coverage, feeding misunderstandings about unaccompanied children currently arriving at the border. If you’re familiar with the context, skip past these bullets.
Before the pandemic, Border Patrol was apprehending roughly 3,000 unaccompanied children each month. That dropped sharply after March 2020, when borders closed throughout the Americas. Numbers of apprehended children steadily increased through 2020, though, reaching the pre-pandemic level of 3,000 in August, surpassing 4,000 in October, and reaching 5,707 in January 2021. The pace is increasing: during the week of February 14-20, CBS News reports, Border Patrol apprehended “more than 1,500 migrant children” and “on Sunday [February 21], an additional 300 minors were taken into custody.”
The increase owes in part to the Trump expulsions policy causing “a backlog of minors waiting to seek asylum,” as CBS News put it, citing a shelter official who noted that “it created a bubble that is bursting because now they can get in.” It also owes to parents stuck in Mexican border cities making a heartbreaking choice: attempt to cross the border with children and be expelled, wait indefinitely in Mexico, or send their children across alone, where they might be apprehended and reunited with relatives in the United States.
The increase in unaccompanied child arrivals has caused the ORR shelter population to grow rapidly: the count on February 22, according to CBS, was 7,100. That leaves “fewer than 900 empty beds” because COVID-19 measures have compelled ORR to reduce its 13,200-bed capacity to 8,000. This comes with an increase in the population of children in Border Patrol’s holding cells, where they can legally be for no longer than 72 hours: “roughly 750” as of February 19. In January, 179 children exceeded the 72-hour limit because of capacity issues.
With only five weeks in office, the Biden administration has recurred to a controversial measure: temporary “influx facilities” to handle the overflow of unaccompanied children. ORR has set up a 66-acre, 700-child capacity tent facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, to hold children aged 13 to 17. The agency’s stated goal is that children at the facility, managed by nonprofit BCFS Health and Human Services, stay there no longer than about 30 days, following two weeks of quarantine at other ORR shelters.
As they sit on federally owned land, influx facilities like Carrizo, and a possible second site south of Miami in Homestead, Florida, are not subject to state licensing like other ORR child shelters. During the Trump administration, the Homestead site, run by a for-profit corporation with former Homeland Security secretary John Kelly on its board, came under heavy fire for living conditions, cost, and lack of transparency, as did a tent facility in Tornillo, Texas. While access to these remotely located sites is restricted in the name of protecting children from traffickers, the lack of visibility over what happens inside worries child advocates.
Some Democrats, like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Julián Castro, and Jamaal Bowman, were quick to criticize the Carrizo Springs shelter’s opening. “We should not go in this direction again,” Castro tweeted. “HHS-ORR should place these children in a home more quickly. Invest in personnel and policy to speed up placement. It’s safer, cheaper, and is in the children’s best interest.” Social media commentators on the left invoked a return to “kids in cages,” while some even conflated it with the Trump administration’s family separations.
On the right, commentators—also reviving the “kids in cages” slogan—claimed that the Biden administration’s use of an austere facility to house increased numbers of unaccompanied children vindicated the Trump approach of rapidly expelling them. Former Trump advisor Stephen Miller is urging members of Congress and conservative media to seize on a “Biden migrant surge” narrative to mobilize voters against Biden’s immigration reform legislation, and against Democratic candidates in the 2022 midterm legislative elections.
“It’s a temporary reopening during COVID-19,” White House Press Secretary Psaki said of the Carrizo Springs facility, adding, “This is not kids being kept in cages.” While certainly not “cages,” it is hard to argue that tent and shipping-container sites like Carrizo Springs are in children’s best interest. While recognizing that the Biden administration has not had time to develop a new approach—it hasn’t even nominated a CBP commissioner yet—advocacy groups are urging a quick phaseout of unlicensed “influx” shelters.
The Biden administration’s dismantling of Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy became reality on February 19, as 25 asylum-seeking migrants who had been awaiting their U.S. immigration court date since 2019 crossed from Tijuana, Mexico, into San Diego County. (“Remain in Mexico,” also known as “Migrant Protection Protocols” or MPP, was a Trump initiative that forced about 71,000 non-Mexican asylum seekers to await their U.S. hearing dates on Mexican soil.)
The process at San Diego’s San Ysidro port of entry “was orderly, safe and efficient,” read a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement. “After CBP and ICE processing was complete, facilitating organizations helped coordinate travel arrangements as needed.” On February 22, another 25 asylum seekers entered at San Ysidro. The goal is to increase the number who can be processed to about 200-300 per day.
In Mexico, the entry process for Remain in Mexico subjects takes place with assistance from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and other international and non-governmental organizations. Those with active MPP cases register at a website that went live on February 19; despite initial hiccups, 12,000 people signed up within the site’s first three days. The next step is COVID-19 testing performed by IOM while UNICEF ensures “humane treatment of children and their families,” a UNHCR release reads. “So far, no cases of COVID-19 have been detected,” the UN reported on February 25.
At the other end of the border, the Remain in Mexico wind-down began on February 25 between Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas. Twenty-seven people crossed the Gateway International Bridge and were taken to the bus station to move on to destinations where most have relatives. “Smiles hidden under face masks were hard to see, but undeniably present” on their faces, the Rio Grande Valley Monitor reported. “For me it was an affirmation, it was a triumph of life, of humanity,” said Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director at Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, who for years has run a respite center for released migrants in McAllen.
Most of the first to arrive from Matamoros will be residents of a notorious tent camp where about 750 Remain in Mexico subjects have been forced to live since 2019. The expectation is to increase daily arrivals at Brownsville to about 200 per day, including many asylum seekers in Matamoros—a dangerous longtime stronghold of Mexico’s Gulf Cartel—who did not stay in the encampment.
As we write this on February 26, we’re hearing that 25 Remain in Mexico subjects were just allowed to cross from Ciudad Juárez into El Paso.
The Defense Department has spent about a billion dollars since 2018 to support the Trump administration’s National Guard and active-duty military deployments at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released on February 23. The 90-page document, submitted in response to a request from Democrats on the House and Senate Armed Services, Homeland Security, and Judiciary committees, contains much previously undisclosed information about the military mission.
In April 2018, in response to media reports of a “migrant caravan” making its way through Mexico, Donald Trump ordered National Guard troops to the border. It was the fourth time since 2002 that a president had ordered the National Guard to support CBP. In October of that year, as a new caravan formed in the runup to midterm legislative elections, Trump augmented that with a highly unusual deployment of active-duty army and marine personnel, a rarity on U.S. soil. At its height in November 2018, up to 2,579 National Guardsmen and 5,815 active-duty troops were involved.
About 3,600 active-duty troops remain available to support CBP, though many may be physically located at bases elsewhere in the United States. The mission is to extend at least through the fiscal year’s end on September 30, 2021. While the GAO report notes that DHS expects to continue requesting support from the Defense Department for three to five years, it’s not yet clear whether that will happen under the Biden administration.
Among the report’s notable findings:
The report seems to indicate that the Defense Department regarded the border mission as a lower-priority role and a drag on readiness for higher-priority military missions. Commanders, as Stars and Stripes summarizes it, “shared experiences of missed training and the strain of rotating troops to the border every 30 days.” In a response to GAO, the Department sought to avoid recommending policy changes that would “create an impression that DOD has a border security mission.”
I’ll be hard to reach today. (How to contact me)
I’ve got a full day of meetings: with two coalitions, some DHS officials, documentary filmmakers, and the board of another organization. And I’m finishing a new border update before that happens. I may not respond to messages until the weekend.
For the foreseeable future, the region is dependent on Chinese and Russian vaccines
Al menos 150 diplomáticos de carrera y que estaban destinados en alguna de las 34 misiones que Bolivia mantiene en el exterior fueron despedidos durante los primeros tres meses del gobierno del presidente Luis Arce
Luna is a career military man who cut his teeth building highways in the Amazon and whose greatest qualification for the job, as critics see it, is his respect for hierarchy and discipline
Meter a las FF.AA. en un problema de esta naturaleza, sin especificar que el territorio donde van a operar es una zona de guerra, es un error
El comandante en jefe de la institución castrense, Ricardo Martínez, puso a disposición de Carabineros y la PDI a un grupo de entre cinco y 10 funcionarios especializados en Inteligencia y Planificación. Además, se despacharán al menos tres carros blindados Mowag y drones
Así lo expresó a este portal Juliette De Rivero, representante en Colombia de la Alta Comisionada de Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos
Si son 11.460 los muertos en combate que fueron presentados como miembros de grupos armados ilegales, las 6.420 víctimas de los “falsos positivos” identificadas dentro de ese total cambia radicalmente la manera de interpretar los resultados operativos
Temblores, an non-governmental organization that monitors state violence, also documented 7,992 cases of assault and 30 cases of sexual violence, with migrant communities and Afro-Colombians often the victims
Mientras el Gobierno prepara retomar la aspersión con glifosato, cientos de campesinos pierden la esperanza de la legalidad. Solo el 2 por ciento de las familias en el PNIS han podido arrancar proyectos productivos diferentes a la coca
He brought the plight of those communities to an international stage, testifying at a congressional hearing in Washington and speaking privately with legislators
En la noche del pasado lunes 22 de febrero, se conoció un vídeo en el que se ve a integrantes del grupo paramilitar Comandos de la Frontera realizando rondas de control en la población de Siberia, municipio de Orito, Putumayo
“Patria y Vida” (“Homeland and Life”), a new song with almost two million views on YouTube and featuring some of the most famous Cuban singers inside and outside the island, is challenging the government
«Continuaremos denunciando abusos en lugares como Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba e Irán», enfatizó Blinken en su discurso a través de un video
El acceso a celulares y la falta de una separación efectiva de los internos más peligrosos ha permito el ascenso del poder de las bandas
The gangs began a battle for leadership within the prison system in December when a leader of Los Choneros, considered the system’s most powerful gang, was killed in a shopping center several months after being released
Determinaron no permitir el ingreso irregular de flujos de migrantes extracontinentales (haitianos, cubanos, asiáticos y africanos) que se mantienen varados en Sudamérica
Mr Moïse, a former plantation manager who calls himself “Banana Man”, exemplifies the failings of recent Haitian presidents and has added to them
On Wednesday as tense negotiations over the kidnappers’ $2 million ransom request continued, diplomatic pressure on the Haitian government intensified
Se trata de un alto miembro de las FF AA y un exoficial de la Policía que sostuvieron conversaciones con el capo Geovanny Fuentes, enjuiciado en EE UU
Las redes sociales y los medios en Perú empiezan a hablar de una guerra entre delincuentes venezolanos y peruanos, lo que se traduce en el incremento de la violencia
The federal government asked contractors to submit bids for maintenance of what it calls tactical infrastructure within the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector. That includes repairing roads and lights installed along the border wall. It also includes repairing the concertina wire
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement email obtained by The Washington Post shows that the administration has already entered crisis mode on the southern border
DHS officials characterized this as the “next phase” in releasing these migrants who have been waiting to claim asylum in the United States
Comparing all this to “kids in cages” confuses the debate in a way that obscures what the Biden administration is genuinely trying to accomplish — and thus makes it harder to actually hold the administration accountable on it
The move, and a reported decision to reopen another facility at Homestead, Fla., must be temporary
UN agencies have begun preparing individuals and families at the Matamoros informal camp, near the United States-Mexico border, for entry into the US
Venezuelan opposition figures often take harder anti-government lines if they flee abroad. Exiles’ voices are important, but those trying to end Venezuela’s crisis should listen to others as well, recalling that compromise offers the only peaceful exit
I’ll be hard to reach today. (How to contact me)
I finished one internal writing assignment yesterday and am almost done with a smaller one, and will also write up a weekly border update today. I’m sitting in on an event this morning about Latin America security, meeting with colleagues at a border/migrants’ rights organization, and have two coalition meetings in the afternoon. All of this will delay my reply to any attempt to get in touch with me today.
The center— now known as the Biscayne Influx Care Facility — is preparing to house migrant teens ages 13 to 17
El objetivo es atacar organizaciones dedicadas al narcotráfico que, a juicio del gobierno y las policías, estarían detrás de gran parte de los atentados
Según dijo, adoptar una política pública para desmantelar los grupos herederos del paramilitarismo es fundamental para mejorar las garantías de seguridad de líderes, defensores y comunidades en Colombia
Son ocho modernas aeronaves con dos equipos de 16 pilotos, las principales herramientas para comenzar la aspersión en el país, tarea que espera el día D para comenzar
La comisionada Patricia Tobón y el comisionado Leyner Palacios denunciaron públicamente la intensificación de acciones armadas sobre los pueblos étnicos del Pacífico colombiano
Lo ocurrido en Tumaco en los últimos días es el fiel reflejo de lo que ocurre en diferentes latitudes del país: matanzas en zonas disputadas por grupos armados ilegales de diferentes extracciones
“Two armed groups tried to seize the criminal leadership of the detention centers”
Un grupo de exmilitares realizó una marcha en el centro histórico para exigir una indemnización por su participación en el conflicto armado interno
Nearly 700 were arrested at seven chicken plants across Mississippi that August 2019 morning, in one of the largest workplace immigration stings in U.S. history. A year and a half later, on January 22, López ended up shot
Many people in Haiti believe that the Trump administration made a deal with Mr. Moïse: If he supported the U.S. case against Venezuela, then Washington would look the other way when it came to human rights abuses in Haiti
The United States cannot remain silent in the face of deeply alarming corruption and human rights abuses being committed at the highest levels of the Honduran government
The petition submitted to Congress against Gov. Francisco Cabeza de Vaca is supposed to be ratified by prosecutors on Thursday
Salgado’s candidacy has become a major political liability for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has stood by his longtime friend and political ally
Salgado’s candidacy has become a major political liability for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has stood by his longtime friend and political ally
Corruption in Mexico’s security forces is a key contributor to the sharp rise of organized criminal violence and severely handicaps US-Mexico security cooperation against drug cartels
De acuerdo al Ministerio Publico, la diligencia judicial fue ordenada debido a “la eexistencia de una presunta Organización Criminal denominada Los Mercenarios, la cual se encontraría enquistada en el Ejército Peruano operando desde el año 2013”
DOD estimated that it would incur nearly $1 billion in unreimbursed costs by supporting DHS’s border security mission from fiscal year 2018 through fiscal year 2020.
The majority of child migrant facilities are subject to state licensing requirements; temporary influx centers like Carrizo are not
Biden Takes On Trump’s Migrant Policies and Confusion Reigns at the Border
The family was attempting to cross the river from Piedras Negras in the Mexican state of Coahuila to reach Eagle Pass, Texas, in frigid conditions
Both governments have prioritized the Matamoros camp due to the difficult humanitarian conditions there. Other individuals with active MPP cases residing outside the Matamoros camp will also be processed
The Biden administration need not and should not leave this to the courts. You have the power to halt these expulsions by repealing the Title 42 order, and you should use it as soon as practicable
A pandemic-related order put in place by former President Donald Trump remains in effect, allowing officials to continue to turn away thousands of migrants
El bloque comunitario europeo dio a conocer este 22 de febrero, nuevas medidas restrictivas
De acuerdo a un reporte divulgado por el Centro para los Defensores y la Justicia los principales responsables de las agresiones contra ONG y defensores de DDHH fueron funcionarios públicos (40%), medios de comunicación oficialistas (29%), organismos de seguridad (19%) e instituciones públicas (7%)
Juan González, director senior de asuntos del Hemisferio Occidental y que forma parte del consejo de seguridad de la Casa Blanca, aseguró que la prioridad de EEUU no es el levantamiento de las sanciones a la administración de Nicolás Maduro sino de fomentar el diálogo
Mr. Reyna is part of a growing chorus of Venezuelan voices and regional experts calling on the United States to redirect its focus from pressing for a quick return to democratic rule to addressing a humanitarian crisis
I should be reachable much of the day. (How to contact me)
Other than an internal meeting mid-day, I should be mercifully free from Zoom today, and plan to get a lot of writing, research, and correspondence caught up.
Los efectos de la emergencia sanitaria, económica, social y política se sentirán con especial fuerza en América Latina y el Caribe. Al mismo tiempo, es posible observar una impotencia política de la región frente a la coyuntura crítica global
Posesionó a nuevos jefes militares en los máximos cargos de las Fuerzas Armadas y hasta el momento no ha enviado las listas de ascensos al Parlamento
El informe de la auditoría permite ver que, al margen de medidas concretas de control migratorio, no existe estrategia de cooperación con Centroamérica
Tras la seguidilla de atentados registrados en la macrozona sur, el Mandatario anunció una batería de medidas legislativas para combatir lo que calificó como “actos de violencia y terroristas”
El tema nació a inicios de este mes cuando dos exmilitares en sus declaraciones ante la JEP hablaron sobre presiones que estarían recibiendo para modificar sus testimonios ante esa justicia especial
Tiene que ver con posibles irregularidades del gobierno de Juan Manuel Santos con la autorización de estadía en Cuba a Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista, alias Gabino, uno los jefes máximos del Eln
In various parts of Colombia, there has been an intensification of violence and increased territorial and social control by non-state armed groups and criminal groups
Este es el panorama de lo que hay y de lo que falta para que despegue el primer avión con glifosato
Con este doble asesinato, ya son seis los policías muertos en el plan pistola ejecutado por este grupo armado ilegal. Entre el 8 de febrero y a la fecha, han perdido la vida dos agentes en Sucre, uno en Caucasia, uno más en Montería
Estos están usando la fachada de ‘Frente Iván Ríos’ cuando en realidad está integrado por hombres del grupo conocido como ‘Los Contadores’. Un grupo aliado con estructuras paramilitares
Local politicians and citizens are calling on President Iván Duque to come to Buenaventura to support the protests
Según Rodríguez, las autoridades venezolanas «tienen a alguien escuchando todo» y que al parecer, sería alguien dentro de la administración de Iván Duque que estaría «indignado» de que ese tipo de reuniones ocurran en Colombia
Con la notoriedad, aparecieron señalamientos de corrupción y vinculaciones al narcotráfico (sin procesos penales en su contra, pero sí de un hermano) que no la han hecho tambalear—aunque Estados Unidos la vigila
The United States is disturbed that Haiti’s prolonged period of rule by decree continues. We believe decrees should be limited to actions necessary for essential functions, safety, and the conduct of elections
The potential for fraud in November’s presidential elections also underscores the challenge facing Washington, which is yet to call for free and fair elections
En el Estado de Guerrero no se ha tenido registro alguno de este tipo de siembra
It remained unclear on Monday night why federal authorities arrested Ms. Coronel now after implicating her in her husband’s crime more than two years ago
Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen, of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, was arrested today at Dulles International Airport
La vigilancia que mantienen estructuras como los Gabinetes de la Familia, mejor conocidos como “CPC”, es uno de los pilares del autoritarismo sandinistaen Nicaragua
Government officials say the camp is needed because facilities for migrant children have had to cut capacity by nearly half because of the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the number of unaccompanied children crossing the border has been inching up
Last week, U.S. border agents apprehended more than 1,500 migrant children, according to government statistics reviewed by CBS News. On Sunday, an additional 300 minors were taken into custody
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement on Monday that “given current operational considerations”, it could no longer say when it would begin bringing in migrants through ports in Brownsville and El Paso
Ceballos tiene el grado de almirante y se desempeña como Jefe de Estado Mayor del (CEOFANB). También es miembro de la Infantería de Marina de Venezuela y dentro de su perfil de carrera se maneja que recibió entrenamiento militar en Estados Unidos e Israel
I’ll be intermittently available during the afternoon. (How to contact me)
I’m trying to finish two bits of writing this morning. This afternoon I have two internal meetings, conversations with a student and a Colombian colleague, and an interview. I should be reachable but there will be long stretches when I’m not.
While the pandemic has opened the door to much-welcomed Chinese aid, it’s also made it harder for governments to pay their bills to Beijing
Six countries across the region — Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Venezuela — have now authorized use of the Sputnik V vaccine. Others are considering authorization requests
Alberto Fernández estará en La Mañanera del presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador este martes y participará en la celebraciones del bicentenario de la Independencia de México
El Southcom es más que en otros momentos un comando naval
El presidente Iván Duque acaba de anunciar una medida extraordinaria: la regularización de un millón de venezolanos. Qué diferencia con la actitud del gobierno de Chile que, en cambio, expulsó a muchos venezolanos
“Hemos presenciado versiones voluntarias (ante la JEP) en que unos militares advierten que hay una estrategia del Fondo de Defensa de los miembros de la Fuerza Pública (Fondetec) para ocultar información que implique a altos mandos”
Lo más preocupante de las revelaciones de la JEP es que corroboran que la justicia ordinaria fracasó, pues fue incapaz de procesar a los responsables y de determinar el verdadero número de ejecuciones
Analizamos los datos entregados por el alto tribunal y encontramos quiénes eran los altos mandos en las unidades militares que presentan la mayor cantidad de víctimas de este delito
Declaraciones de testigos y militares ante la JEP establecen que los abogados adscritos a Fondetec han presuntamente aplicado —mediante supuestas jornadas de pedagogía— diferentes métodos de presión para generar temor
A pesar del anuncio de que Fiscalía y Defensoría del Pueblo unificarían cifras sobre agresiones contra líderes sociales, esta última entidad reveló sus propias cuentas
El comandante del Ejército, el general Eduardo Enrique Zapateiro, argumentó que su criticado trino sobre “víboras venenosas y perversas” que quieren atacar y debilitar al Ejército no se refería a la JEP
The Colombian government needs to improve security and infrastructure in the countryside so that farmers have genuine incentives to switch out of coca into legal crops that have a proven market
Los militares de ese país, al parecer, pidieron apoyo al ELN para atacar a las disidencias de las FARC como respuesta al derribamiento de uno de sus helicópteros
Dos de ellos trabajaron en campañas electorales para John McCain y Jeb Bush; otro es un guatemalteco con experiencia en inteligencia y considerado uno de los responsables del desmantelamiento de la Cicig
She became a champion of survivors of torture and helped compel the release of documents showing U.S. complicity in decades of human rights abuses in Guatemala
She was forced to defend her credibility, as a U.S. Embassy official at one point described her account as a “hoax” designed to derail an aid package to the government
Lo invirtieron y arriesgaron todo en la búsqueda de una vida más digna: viajar a Estados Unidos sin papeles para trabajar. Pero acabaron asesinados a tiros y calcinados en el norte de México
Because Moïse held no legislative elections in 2019, parliament was dissolved in early 2020, and he has since been ruling by decree
La ASF destaca que pese a tratarse de una fuerza civil, el 70% de elementos de la Guardia Nacional son militares y la nueva fuerza carece de bases e infraestructura propia
En el cementerio clandestino de Arbolillo familiares de personas desaparecidas y autoridades localizaron 2 mil restos humanos desde su descubrimiento hasta marzo del año pasado
Tras la caída del precio de la goma de opio, agricultores de amapola voltearon a los bosques de Coyuca de Catalán; sin embargo, los grupos armados dominan la zona todavía
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry estimates that more than 2.5 million guns have flooded over America’s southern border in the last decade
Jean Humberto González Zeledón y Cristian David Meneses Machado, que estuvieron exiliados en Costa Rica tras la revuelta popular que estalló en abril de 2018
After getting verified for eligibility using the CBPone application and testing negative for COVID-19, approximately 25 individuals were transported by international organizations to the U.S.-Mexico border
Advocates who opposed the Trump administration’s use of the emergency shelters now acknowledge they might be a necessity for the short term
Migration agents patrolling the river’s edge in Piedras Negras in Mexico’s Coahuila state, opposite Texas, had observed four people enter the water, the migration institute said in a statement. Two of them reached the United States
Migrants are expected to input data from their court documents into the four-page online platform, but confusion set in just as quickly as the website went live
Early afternoon is probably the best time to reach me. (How to contact me)
I averaged 6 hours of meetings per day on Wednesday-Friday of last week, then did a lot of writing and podcasting on Friday through the weekend. That means I’m very behind on basic things like e-mail, and I’m a little afraid to look at my to-do inbox to see what else I committed to doing.
Today I have a staff meeting, a border coalition meeting, and a meeting with a few Colombian colleagues. When not present at those, I’ll just be getting caught up, if possible.
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