This month we bring you news from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Peru.
Highlights are:
Colombia: there is an Urgent Action calling on the Colombian Government to ensure the safe return to their territory of 26 families of fisherpersons who have been forcibly displaced.
Brazil: there was an Urgent Action calling on President Lula da Silva to veto the ‘Devastation’ bill. Update: Lula has vetoed some clauses of the bill, which is now law.
Venezuela: the UN Human Rights High Commissioner, Volker Turk, has called for the immediate release of human rights activist Martha Lia Grajales.
Argentina: UN Human Rights Special Rapporteurs have issued a formal warning to the Argentine government over allegations of judicial harassment.
Chile: A UN Special Rapporteur has warned that urgent action is still needed to address outstanding issues for victims of human rights abuses during the 2019 social unrest.
Ecuador: President Noboa’s fight against spiralling gang violence has led to serious human rights abuses.
Peru: President Boluarte attacked the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for its opposition to the recently passed amnesty bill that grants amnesty to soldiers, police officers and other security personnel involved in Peru’s internal conflict from 1985 to 2000. Update: the bill is now law.
COLOMBIA
Amnesty has called on the Colombian Government to ensure the safe return to their territory of 26 families of fisherpersons living near the lakes and rivers surrounding the city of Barrancabermeja who were forcibly displaced to Bucaramanga, the capital of the Santander department on 24 June. On February 15, the fishers’ association FEDEPESAN had warned that a collective forced displacement was imminent due to harassment, threats, robbery, extortion, and even attempted murder, committed by armed groups seeking control of the waters or retaliating against those exposing potential cases of pollution and corruption affecting the environment. Please support the Urgent Action here.
BRAZIL
Amnesty called on President Lula da Silva to veto the ‘Devastation’ bill, approved on 17 July by Brazil’s Congress without public debate and transparency. The bill drastically weakens environmental licensing and undermines critical environmental institutions. It threatens the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, the rights to access to information, public participation and access to justice, as well as the rights of Indigenous Peoples and climate justice.
VENEZUELA
Human Rights Watch has published a new report documenting the killing and continued detention of hundreds of protesters and activists since the 2024 disputed election. According to the report, Venezuelan authorities have frequently denied carrying out arrests or hidden detainees’ whereabouts, actions that amount to enforced disappearances under international law; families have been left searching for their loved ones in detention centres and morgues for days or weeks.
The report notes that some detainees have been held incommunicado for months. These include Freddy Superlano, national coordinator of the opposition party Voluntad Popular; Perkins Rocha, of the opposition party Vente Venezuela; Jesús Armas, a member of the opposition’s campaign team; Enrique Márquez, a 2024 presidential candidate; and Eduardo Torres, a lawyer with the human rights organisation Venezuelan Program for Education and Action on Human Rights (Programa Venezolano de Educación Acción en Derechos Humanos, Provea).
ARGENTINA
The UN Rapporteurs also drew particular attention to the continued repression by police of elderly pensioners who for months have gathered every Wednesday in central Buenos Aires outside Congress. They reported cases of beatings, pepper spray burns, and arbitrary arrests, including of individuals over 80 years old. Human rights watchdog Comisión Provincial por la Memoria (CPM) also presented a report in July, documenting an “exponential rise” in police violence, with more people injured and arrested in the first six months of 2025 than in the whole of last year, most of them during the Wednesday pensions protests.
This comes as President Milei vetoed laws passed last month to increase spending on pensions, to extend the pensions moratorium (recently the subject of an AI Urgent Action), and a law expanding protections for people with disabilities. Congress can still overturn these vetoes with a two-thirds majority in both chambers. But should that happen, Milei has already announced he intends to challenge the bills in court.
CHILE
In an official visit, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Gina Romero, warned that urgent action is still needed to address outstanding issues for victims of human rights abuses during the 2019 social unrest. Romero highlighted that, while the investigation of senior police officers represents progress, there is ongoing impunity and a lack of comprehensive reparations. She also warned of arbitrary and discriminatory application of laws that restrict the right to peaceful assembly for certain groups.
One person badly injured during the 2019 protests was Moisés Órdenes. In 2022 the public prosecutor decided to close its investigation into seven out of the 13 officers charged with the attack, leading to an AI Urgent Action. That decision was subsequently rescinded. The attack on Moisés, televised and broadcast live, caused multiple fractures, loss of teeth, and permanent eye damage. The oral trial started last month and will be monitored by Amnesty Chile, who described the attack as a “very serious case of collective torture committed by state agents”.
ECUADOR
In this article, Freedom House explain how President Noboa’s fight against spiralling gang violence has led to serious human rights abuses. Rights monitors have described torture of detainees, include beatings, electric shocks, sexual violence and tear gas misuse, as well as deaths in custody. There have been allegations of security forces keeping detained individuals incommunicado and denying them access to legal counsel and medical care. Many of those affected are Afro‑Ecuadorians, Indigenous peoples, youth, and those living in poverty.
PERU
OUR TEAM AND YOU
All the best,
South America Team – David Rogers (Argentina and Chile), James Baird (Venezuela) and Graham Minter (rest of South America). Please check out our new website, and don’t forget that you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
