This month we bring you news from Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, an Urgent Action on Ecuador and summaries of Amnesty’s annual reports on all the countries that we cover.   Highlights are:

• Colombia – A short Amnesty film showing the devastating impact of a “less than lethal” weapon on Leidy Cadena in the April 2021 National Strike in Colombia.  Please write to President Petro and Defence Minister Velásquez demanding police reform now. 
• Colombia – A call by the San José de Apartadó Peace Community for support from the international community. Please write to President Petro demanding protection for them
• Venezuela – An Amnesty public statement on the relentless persecution of civil society and dissidents – translation attached, please share.
• Ecuador – An Urgent Action calling for access to food and medication to be restored to detainees in five prisons.
• Brazil – An Amnesty report to the UN raising concerns of gender-based violence against Black women and other women of African descent.  
• Chile – An update on efforts to secure justice for those killed and maimed during the 2019 protests, including Gustavo Gatica
• Argentina – protests against proposed budget cuts to public education

COLOMBIA

Amnesty has published its Annual Report on Colombia detailing human rights abuses. These include huge numbers of people being forcibly displaced, the high risk of indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant communities, femicide, violence against LGBTI people, attacks against human rights defenders and lack of protection for Venezuelan refugees. The government failed to implement comprehensive police reform. Progress was made on the use of force during demonstrations, measures to protect human rights defenders and on investigating war crimes

Amnesty issues a short film showing the devastating impact of a less than lethal weapon on Leidy Cadena in the April 2021 National Strike in Colombia.  Please write to President Petro and Defence Minister Velásquez demanding police reform now.  During the National Strike, at least 84 people lost their lives, thousands were arbitrarily detained and more than 100 people sustained eye trauma. Amnesty has denounced torture, gender-based violence, sexual violence and excessive use of force in the context of the 2021 National Strike, attacks on Indigenous peoples and torture of the civilian population.

Colombia is included in Amnesty’s new report on abortion rights in the Americas. “In Colombia, we’ve seen harassment, slander, and insults levelled against those who provide abortions, who are often ostracized at work. We always have to constantly be wary because the threats never stop”, explained Dr. Gil. “For example, they slashed one of my friend’s car tires. They glued shut a different colleague’s padlock so she couldn’t open her locker. When a friend who is a psychiatrist stood up for a patient who was asking to terminate her pregnancy… one of her colleagues hit her with a folder.”

The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó says that a leading paramilitary with the alias Mateo told an audience of civilians, “We know that this community has the habit of murdering its own members, blaming us, and then demanding reparations from the victims,” calling on them to “unite against the peace community.” The meeting was hosted by the Board Chair of Community Action of a neighbouring community. The Peace Community calls on support from the international community. Please write to President Petro demanding protection for them, sending copies to Roy Barreras, Colombian Ambassador 3 Hans Crescent, London SW1X 0LN elondres@cancilleria.gov.co

The Supreme Court has elected criminal law attorney Luz Adriana Camargo Garzón as the country’s new  Attorney General. She is seen as willing to carry through prosecutions that were impeded by her predecessor. She was head of the investigation and litigation department at the UN International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, and a consultant for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.

The Guardian reports on how Colombia’s deforestation of the Amazon has surged, following  a sharp reduction thanks to President Petro’s peace negotiations with dissident FARC rebels who banned deforestation.  However, as peace negotiations flounder, this armed force has returned to allowing deforestation as a bargaining chip with the government. [Read more…]

This month we bring you news from Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela,  Argentina and Bolivia. Highlights are:

• Colombia – A petition demanding that the Colombian authorities protect human rights defenders.
• Brazil – 2 politicians and an ex-police chief have been arrested over the murder of Marielle Franco
• Venezuela – Presidential Elections have been brought forward to 28 July, with leading opposition leaders barred from standing.
• Argentina – An Urgent Action calling for charges to be dropped in a prosecution centred on social media comments about a public figure.
• Bolivia – A new report on the human rights situation in the country has just been published.

COLOMBIA

The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó remembered the killings of seven of their members in recent years, including the boy Deimar Usaga, who was found with a bullet wound to his head opposite the Army barracks in 2019. None of the killings have resulted in prosecutions. 19 March 2024 30 year-old Nalleli Sepulveda and 14 year-old Edinson David were the latest Peace Community members to be killed. The perpetrators of the killings are believed to be Gaitanistas paramilitaries, whose presence is tolerated by the Army and the State.

Amnesty International has written to President Petro demanding that the State protect the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó and end impunity for those who have perpetrated human rights violations against members of the Community. Please sign Amnesty’s petition demanding that the Colombian authorities protect human rights defenders.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) has published an excellent analysis of the risk the ‘Gaitanistas’ (Gaitanista Self-Defence Force) pose to the ‘Total Peace’ plan of the Colombian government. The ICG warns that failure to bring the heavily armed and well-organised Gaitanistas to the negotiating table will both undermine negotiations with the ELN (National Liberation Army) and two dissident FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) groups as wells as enabling the Gaitanistas to take over the territory and businesses run by their rivals, the ELN and FARC dissidents.

The UK’s UN Ambassador has urged the Colombian Government to take further steps to protect vulnerable groups including indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities most affected by conflict. ´Through the UK’s Conflict, Stability and Security Fund which has provided £79 million in support of peace agreement implementation, security, and stability in Colombia since 2015, we will continue to monitor the human rights situation in Colombia and prioritise funding interventions to help protect indigenous communities, including through the UN Human Rights Office in Colombia.’ [Read more…]