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You may have seen that Colombia’s transitional justice tribunal recently found that the country’s armed forces likely killed a shocking 6,402 civilians between 2002 and 2008. WOLA is putting on an event today at 4:00 Eastern to talk about it, and I’ll be presenting. Here’s the text of the announcement at WOLA’s website, where you can RSVP:
**Due to emergency security concerns, Sergeant Mora will not present during this panel**
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) cordially invites you to our webinar:
Afro-Colombian Sergeant Carlos Eduardo Mora of Colombia’s 15th Mobile Brigade of Ocaña observed inconsistencies in the combat deaths that members of his battalion were reporting in their counterinsurgency statistics. In 2008, Mora denounced his colleagues for killing civilians and later passing them as enemy combats. These extrajudicial killings were widespread throughout the country and became nationally known—and erroneously termed as “false positives”—when a scandal involving 19 murdered young men from the southwestern Bogotá neighborhood of Soacha was undercovered.
Mora has suffered greatly for his role as a whistleblower, having faced multiple types of retaliation like public humiliation and death threats. His security situation became so serious that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a resolution in 2013 urging the Colombian state to protect Mora and his family.
In February, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz, JEP)—Colombia’s transitional justice tribunal devised in the 2016 peace accord—revealed that the Colombian armed forces committed at least 6,402 extrajudicial killings between 2002 and 2008. In light of these disturbing revelations, WOLA’s Director for the Andes Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli will moderate a panel to discuss the role of individuals like Sergeant Mora and hear from two human rights and U.S. military aid experts. Alberto Yepes, Coordinator for the Human Rights Observatory of the Colombia-Europe-United States Coordination (Coordinación Colombia-Europa-Estados Unidos, CCEU) coalition, will discuss the implications of the JEP’s recent order on extrajudicial killings. Adam Isacson, WOLA’s Director for Defense Oversight, will discuss U.S. funding to Colombia’s armed forces and what actions can be taken to guarantee justice in these horrific cases.
10:30-11:30 at CLIP: Corriendo la cortina de las relaciones China – Venezuela (RSVP required).
1:00 at Noria Research Zoom: Opium & the War on Drugs: Mexico into International Perspective (RSVP required).
5:00 at atlanticcouncil.org: COVID-19 recovery: A partnership strategy for the Biden administration in Latin America and the Caribbean (RSVP required).
7:00 at centroprodh.org.mx: Militarización y derechos de las mujeres (RSVP required).
2:00-3:30 at refugeesinternational.org: From Displacement to Development: Challenges and Opportunities to the Economic Inclusion of Venezuelans in Perú (RSVP required).
3:30 at Zoom: Indigenous rights and Canadian mining in Mexico (RSVP required).
Friday, March 12
11:00 at atlanticcouncil.org: International trade and Mercosur on its 30th anniversary: A foreign minister conversation (RSVP required).
Many thanks to our longtime friends and colleagues at the International Crisis group for joining us at this event. Though the topic is complex and often frustrating to teach, everybody explained well what they’ve been learning in the field, and the points that they wanted to get across. The moderation, interpretation, and technical aspects were all spot-on. We had well over 150 live viewers—I was glad to see the number not dropping as we passed the one-hour mark—and at least 200 more since then.
And don’t miss the February 26 ICG report on coca in Colombia, “Deeply Rooted,” on which this discussion centers.
10:00–11:00 at csis.org: Brazil’s Accession to the OECD: A Conversation with Paulo Guedes, Brazilian Minister of the Economy (RSVP required).
10:00–11:15 at juridicas.unam.mx: Hacia Elecciones Transparentes y Participativas en el Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos: una conversación con el Panel Independiente 2021 (RSVP required).
10:00–12:00 at uk.rodeemoseldialogo.org: Dis/information and Peace (RSVP required).
1:00 at Zoom: Tráfico de armas de Estados Unidos hacia México: Diagnóstico y propuestas (RSVP required).
2:00–3:30 at columbiauniversity.zoom.us: Police Violence in Comparative Perspective (RSVP required).
9:00–10:00 at thedialogue.org: China’s Global Energy Finance & China-Latin America Development Finance Database Updates (RSVP required).
2:00–3:15 at wilsoncenter.org: Rethinking Brazilian Development: The Political Economy of Democratic Brazil (RSVP required).
6:00 at Zoom: Hacia una política de integración de migrantes en México (RSVP required).
Thursday, February 25
8:00 at uniandes.edu.co: Alcances y contenidos de la reconciliación (RSVP required).
8:30–4:15 at sais.jhu.edu: Latin America in the World Order: Stepping Up (RSVP required).
9:00–4:45 at lack.fiu.edu: Extreme Events in Central America: Reducing Risk, Enhancing Resilience (RSVP required).
1:00–3:00 at uk.rodeemoseldialogo.org: Football and Nation-building in the Colombian Peace Process (RSVP required).
4:00–5:00 at csis.org: A Discussion with President Iván Duque on Granting Temporary Legal Protection to Venezuelan Migrants in Colombia (RSVP required).
3:30–4:45 at wilsoncenter.org: Barred at the Border: Compassionate Policy Options for Safe Family Reunification (RSVP required).
Tuesday, February 9
10:00–1:00 at Zoom: Tortura y Crisis Sanitaria: Acciones urgentes para cumplir los compromisos internacionales y garantizar la integridad personal en tiempos de COVID-19 (RSVP required).
11:00 at rodeemoseldialogo.org: Perspectivas de Paz con el ELN en 2021 (RSVP required).
2:00–3:00 at wilsoncenter.org: Mexico and United States: From subordination to expectation (RSVP required).
Wednesday, February 10
11:00–12:00 at uchicago.edu: Violence and Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean—Gang Rule: An Experiment in Countering Criminal Governance (RSVP required).
11:30–1:00 at wilsoncenter.org: El Salvador’s Legislative Elections: Whither Democracy? (RSVP required).
3:00 at venezuelablog.org: ‘Venezuela Speaks:’ An open window to transformation (RSVP required).
Thursday, February 11
7:00–8:00pm at williamjperrycenter.org: Security Challenges in the Caribbean in the Age of COVID: 2021 and Beyond (RSVP required).
8:30pm at Migratory Notes: Migratory Notes Town Hall: Covering Central American Migration (RSVP required).
Friday, February 12
9:30–11:00 at wola.org: Evaluating the Impact of Ending Diesel Swaps in Venezuela (RSVP required).
10:00 at migrationpolicy.org: Prospects for a U.S. Legalization Program and the Unauthorized Immigrant Groups that Could Factor in the Debate (RSVP required).
11:30–12:45 at Zoom: Fiscalías y Estado de Derecho (RSVP required).
3:00 at Zoom: Black LGBT Rights and Activism in Brazil (RSVP required).
Friday, February 5
10:00–11:00 at csis.org: A Conversation with Martha Bárcena, Outgoing Ambassador of Mexico to the U.S. (RSVP required).
12:30–1:30 at newschool.edu: Decolonizing Drug Policy: Perspectives from the Americas and Asia (RSVP required).
Tuesday, January 26
10:00–12:00 at wilsoncenter.org: Ninth Annual US-Mexico Security Conference: Part 1 (RSVP required).
3:00–5:30: Política energética, capitalismo extractivista y medio ambiente (RSVP required).
8:00pm at Zoom: ¿Por qué hablamos de drogas? (RSVP required).
Wednesday, January 27
10:00–11:30 at refugeesinternational.org: From Displacement to Development: Challenges and Opportunities to the Economic Inclusion of Venezuelans in Colombia (RSVP required).
12:00 at uk.rodeemoseldialogo.org: Cowards Don’t Make History by Joanne Rappaport (RSVP required).
2:00 at Zoom: In the vortex of violence. Lynching, Extralegal Justice, and the State in Post-Revolutionary Mexico (RSVP required).
3:00 at notredame.zoom.us: Ethnic Report from the Barometer Initiative (RSVP required).
4:00–6:00 at elespectador.com: ¿En qué va la Reforma Rural Integral?Information here.
Thursday, January 28
5:00–6:00 at williamjperrycenter.org: Regional Security and Defense: The Next Decade (RSVP required).
5:30–7:00 at Zoom: Author Meets Critics: MS-13 the Making of America’s Most Notorious Gang w/Steven Dudley (RSVP required).
9:00-2:30 at ips-dc.org: Setting a Progressive Foreign Policy Agenda: Restoring the United States’ Standing During the Biden Administration (RSVP required).
