Publicado por CESED Uniandes el 27 de julio de 2020.
An interview about coca eradication and substitution with Pedro Arenas of Corporación Viso Mutop, former mayor of San José del Guaviare.
July 27, 2020
Publicado por la Fundación Ideas para la Paz el 27 de julio de 2020.
Identifies loopholes and weaknesses in Colombia’s laws and procedures for limiting weapons sales.
July 27, 2020
Publicado por Verdad Abierta el 27 de julio de 2020.
The ELN is the largest of several armed groups operating, and mostly fighting each other bitterly, along the border between Norte de Santander department and Venezuela.
July 27, 2020
Caption: “Más de 15.000 matas de coca fueron erradicadas por tropas del Batallón de Infantería N.°9 Batalla de Boyacá, unidad de la #Brigada23 en el municipio de Cumbitara, #Nariño atacando de forma directa el fenómeno del narcotráfico.”
July 27, 2020
We’re pleased to share video of last Tuesday’s two-panel discussion of the state of Colombia’s peace accord implementation. The first panel presents the principal findings of the fourth comprehensive report on the peace accord by Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The second includes insights from experts on women’s rights, gender, and LGBT+ provisions.
This video does not include the translators’ track: speakers choose the language in which they prefer to speak. The first panel is in English, the second is in Spanish.
July 27, 2020
Publicado por Semana el 26 de julio de 2020.
The transitional justice system has moved forward on its investigation of one of the worst massacres in the history of the conflict, the 2000 paramilitary attack on the people of El Salado, Bolivar.
July 26, 2020
Caption: “El Equipo EXDE de la #Fudra3 desactivó controladamente dos minas antipersonales, presuntamente instaladas por el GAO – Eln, con las cuales pretendía atentar contra la población civil y Fuerza Pública en la vereda San Luis municipio de Ábrego #NorteDeSantander.”
July 26, 2020
Publicado por la Comisión de la Verdad el 25 de julio de 2020.
A discussion of how the armed conflict was lived in the Sumapaz region south of Bogotá.
July 25, 2020
Publicado por Semana el 25 de julio de 2020.
A top member of the FARC dissident group headed by former chief guerrilla negotiator Iván Márquez has been captured.
July 25, 2020
Publicado por la Comisión Colombiana de Juristas el 24 de julio de 2020.
The human rights group’s longtime director discusses risks to human rights, civil liberties, and peace accord implementation during the government’s response to COVID-19.
July 24, 2020
Publicado por la Fundación Paz y Reconciliación el 24 de julio de 2020.
A discussion of how urban security is changing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
July 24, 2020
Publicado por Semana el 24 de julio de 2020.
A debate over whether the FARC has fulfilled its commitments under the 2016 peace accord.
July 24, 2020
Publicado por Semana el 24 de julio de 2020.
Vice-President Marta Lucía Ramírez gives an update about military cooperation with investigations into allegations of sexual abuse by soldiers.
July 24, 2020
U.S. and Colombian civil-society organizations release Protect Colombia’s Peace, a joint report calling on the U.S. and Colombian governments to do more to implement the 2016 peace accord and to protect threatened social leaders. “The U.S. government’s diplomatic efforts in Colombia helped pave the way for peace, and this wise investment should not be wasted,” the report advises.
July 23, 2020
Maximum FARC party leader Rodrigo Londoño repeats the claim, uttered a day earlier by FARC Senator Griselda Lobo, that the guerrilla group did not recruit children as a matter of policy—while also admitting that the FARC’s policy was to accept recruits as young as 15 years old.
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July 23, 2020
Publicado por la Comisión de la Verdad el 23 de julio de 2020.
A discussion with social leaders from Colombia’s Pacific coast region.
July 23, 2020
Publicado por Semana el 23 de julio de 2020.
Maximum FARC party leader Rodrigo Londoño talks about transitional justice and the FARC’s past human rights crimes, including forced child recruitment, which the guerrillas are denying took place.
July 23, 2020
Publicado por Semana el 23 de julio de 2020.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) joins a panel to discuss human rights and U.S. military assistance to Colombia.
July 23, 2020
Outlines the current challenges of Colombia’s peace process, across the board, and makes recommendations for U.S. policy.
July 23, 2020
On July 23, the Latin America Working Group (LAWG), alongside the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and 22 other international and local civil society organizations, published a report entitled, Protect Colombia’s Peace.
The report outlines the current challenges of Colombia’s peace process, including: the obstacles to fully reintegrating ex-combatants, despite advances; the very partial implementation of the ethnic chapter and gender provisions; the increasingly dire situation of human rights defenders; the halting implementation of rural reforms; the return to drug policy solutions that are not sustainable and undermine the accords; and the impact of the Venezuelan refugee crisis on Colombia.
It is not too late to preserve Colombia’s peace accords.
The U.S. and the international community can play a critical role in catalyzing support for a sustainable peace, only if they boldly encourage compliance with the 2016 peace accords.
Key recommendations in the report advocate for U.S. aid and stronger diplomacy to call on the Colombian government to implement the peace accord’s ethnic chapter and gender provisions, ensure justice for the victims of the armed conflict, protect human rights defenders, advance sustainable drug policy and rural reforms to reach Colombia’s small farmers and Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities, end abuses by the Colombian armed forces, and dismantle the paramilitary successor networks.
The U.S. government’s diplomatic efforts in Colombia helped pave the way for peace, and this wise investment should not be wasted.
Read the full report in English here.
Read the executive summary in English here.
El 23 de julio, el Grupo de Trabajo de América Latina (LAWG), junto con la Oficina en Washington para Asuntos Latinoamericanos (WOLA) y otras 22 organizaciones internacionales y nacionales de la sociedad civil, publicaron un informe titulado, Protejan la paz en Colombia.
El informe describe los desafíos actuales del proceso de paz en Colombia que incluyen: los obstáculos para lograr la plena reintegración de los excombatientes, a pesar de los avances; la muy incompleta implementación del capítulo étnico y las disposiciones de género; la situación cada vez más difícil de los defensores de los derechos humanos; la vacilante implementación de las reformas rurales; el regreso a las soluciones de políticas de drogas que no son sostenibles y debilitan el acuerdo; y el impacto de la crisis de los refugiados venezolanos en Colombia.
Aún no es demasiado tarde para preservar la frágil paz colombiana
Los Estados Unidos y la comunidad internacional pueden desempeñar un papel fundamental para catalizar el apoyo a una paz duradera, solo si actúan con determinación para impulsar el cumplimiento del acuerdo.
Las recomendaciones claves en el reporte abogan por la cooperación de Estados Unidos y una diplomacia más fuerte para pedirle al gobierno colombiano que implemente el capítulo étnico y las disposiciones de género del acuerdo de paz, garantice la justicia para las víctimas del conflicto armado, proteja a los defensores de los derechos humanos, promueva una política de drogas sostenible y reformas rurales para alcanzar a los campesinos y las comunidades afrocolombianas e indígenas de Colombia, ponga fin a los abusos de las fuerzas armadas colombianas y desmantele las redes sucesoras de los paramilitares.
Los esfuerzos diplomáticos del gobierno de los Estados Unidos en Colombia ayudaron a allanar el camino hacia la paz y esta sabia inversión no debe desperdiciarse.
Lea el informe completo en español aquí.
Lea el resumen ejecutivo en español aquí.
July 23, 2020
Publicado por Rodeemos el Diálogo el 22 de julio de 2020.
A discussion with a leader of a community from the Montes de María that suffered a major paramilitary massacre in 2000.
July 22, 2020
Publicado por la Comisión de la Verdad el 22 de julio de 2020.
The Truth Commission hosts a discussion of forced coca eradication, with community leaders from Guaviare and Meta.
July 22, 2020
Publicado por Semana el 22 de julio de 2020.
A narco-criminal organization has taken control of politics and corruption in La Guajira, one of Colombia’s poorest departments.
July 22, 2020
Publicado por El Espectador Colombia 2020 el 22 de julio de 2020.
A profile of Sandra Ramírez, the FARC senator just named to the post of second vice-president of Colombia’s Senate.
July 22, 2020
On Tuesday, July 22, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 2021 fiscal year, which authorizes budget appropriations for Department of Defense-related activities.
The approved bill includes two key amendments about U.S. engagement in Colombia: it prohibits funding to be used for aerial eradication in any way that violates Colombian law, and it requires a report on illegal surveillance of civilians by the Colombian government, and a plan for avoiding the misuse of support for that activity.
The NDAA still needs Senate approval. The Republican-majority Senate is currently considering its version of the bill, which does not include these Colombian provisions. For several weeks, a House-Senate committee will work to reconcile differences between the two bills; they are likely to finish their work before Fiscal Year 2020 ends on September 30.
The House-approved language underscores rising alarm among members of Congress over Colombian government policies and inaction that are undermining efforts to build peace, address the root causes of the country’s civil conflict, and improve accountability of the security forces.
The first NDAA amendment, introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), prohibits the use of U.S. funds to “directly conduct aerial fumigation in Colombia unless there are demonstrated actions by the Government of Colombia to national and local laws and regulations.” The Iván Duque administration is trying to restart aerial spraying of coca crops in Colombia, as part of an aggressive push to intensify coca eradication efforts—an expansion that is being aided by nearly a quarter of billion dollars in 2020 U.S. assistance for drug interdiction and eradication.
Aerial fumigation is a counter-drug strategy that brings few benefits (none of them long-lasting), and which carries very high risks of harm to health and the environment. Eradication efforts carried out without input from local communities will likely intensify violence and social protests—a phenomenon that we’re already seeing without aerial spraying.
The U.S. government shouldn’t support aerial spray programs in Colombia—the fact that the NDAA bill makes this clear is a significant step in the right direction, and should help signal to the Iván Duque government that U.S. Members of Congress recognize the problems and risks of the eradication-heavy approach.
The second NDAA amendment, introduced by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts), states that no U.S. intelligence equipment donated to or purchased by the Colombian government should ever be used in illicit surveillance operations. The amendment also orders the Department of Defense to produce a report on recent instances of illegal surveillance of social leaders, journalists, and military officials by the Colombian government, to be published 120 days after the NDAA becomes law.
The amendment correctly recognizes that U.S. assistance should not, in any way, be linked to military intelligence activities that involve illegally spying on reformers and the free press. It sends a strong message that, with Colombia facing an urgent moment in building peace and security, it’s of critical importance that rogue elements of military intelligence be held accountable.
These amendments to the NDAA cap a few weeks of notable activity in favor of peace and human rights in Colombia in the House of Representatives. A July 6 letter that 94 Members of Congress sent to the Colombian government asks that the Iván Duque administration intensify efforts to implement the 2016 peace accords and protect social leaders. On July 15, the House Appropriations Committee approved language in the State Department and Foreign Operations bill for the 2021 fiscal year that is very supportive of funding initiatives related to Colombia’s historic 2016 peace deal. WOLA enthusiastically applauds the House’s important push to support more effective, rights-respecting drug and security policies in Colombia.
July 22, 2020
