In Colombia, weeks of protests and clashes between civilians and the police over a now-defunct tax proposal have claimed dozens of lives. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights office received reports of local ombudsmen being harassed and threatened — raising further concerns about violence against protesters.
Thirty years ago, Colombia was one of the first countries in the Americas to create a national Human Rights Ombudsman office (known in Spanish as “Defensoría de Derechos Humanos”) — a semi-independent office to advocate for the people. The agency and the human rights defenders who work for it are known by the same name: the ombudsman.… Seguir leyendo »
Edy Fonseca, una mujer de 51 años, cuenta que durmió 28 días en el sótano de un edificio residencial de Bogotá, sobre un colchón, con apenas lo necesario para comer. Hélber Bolívar, de 56 años, dice que pasó más de 50 días en una bodega viendo el mundo de lejos a través de una ventana estrecha. Ambos trabajaban como vigilantes privados, y sus casos de esclavitud moderna desataron un nuevo episodio de indignación masiva en las redes sociales.
Fonseca denunció que la retuvieron bajo engaño. “En cuarentena nadie podía salir”, recuerda que le dijeron. El encierro complicó su diabetes, le provocó una parálisis facial y la mandó de emergencia a una clínica.… Seguir leyendo »
Los colombianos en la diáspora claman por la dignidad y la vida, para que las balas no impidan a nadie defender los derechos humanos en su país. Luego de la firma del Acuerdo de Paz en 2016 y recién celebradas unas elecciones locales que han elegido a más de 1.100 alcaldes, 32 gobernadores y cientos de concejales y diputados departamentales, la violencia persiste con especial crudeza. Por ello, al igual que ya lo hicieron en el pasado mes de julio, el colectivo se concentrará en las principales capitales del mundo en apoyo a la gran movilización que paralizará al país el próximo 21 de noviembre.… Seguir leyendo »
On Aug. 23, 2008, Víctor Gómez left his home outside of Bogotá, telling his family he had been offered work in another region of Colombia. The 23-year-old man had been struggling to provide for his young daughter as a part-time doorman. Two days later Mr. Gómez was dead, with a bullet between his eyes, in a faraway morgue, where the army had reported him an enemy combatant killed in action.
Mr. Gómez was just one of possibly thousands of civilians executed by Colombian military personnel between 2002 and 2008. Civilian prosecutors are investigating more than 3,000 cases, many involving young men lured by fake job offers to distant towns, where the army murdered them.… Seguir leyendo »
Now that Congress is returning from the August recess with plans to vote on pending free-trade agreements, partisan bickering must not be allowed to kill the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The Colombia of President Juan Manuel Santos is a far different country from the Colombia of his predecessor, Alvaro Uribe. Liberals should recognize that some progress has been made on human rights concerns that kept them from supporting the agreement for nearly five years. It is time for the United States to recognize that progress by passing the bilateral FTA, which virtually eliminates tariff and other trade barriers between the two countries.… Seguir leyendo »
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