Another Political Prisoner Absolved!
News from Colombia | on: Tuesday, 31 May 2011
On 30th May, political prisoner and trade unionist Rosalba Gaviria Toro was finally absolved by the Judge presiding her case after being imprisoned unjustly for over two years. The collapse of the case comes just days after another imprisoned trade unionist, Aracely Cañaveral, was released. Rosalba was jailed on read more 
Trade Unionist Shot Dead at Work
News from Colombia | on: Tuesday, 31 May 2011
SINTRAEMCALI, the union of the public sector workers of Cali has reported that Carlos Arturo Castro Casas, a 41 year-old engineer and father of three, was killed on May 23rd while working in the El Poblado sector of the city. The car he was travelling to a pumping station in read more 
Unions Denounce Glencore for Anti-Union Activity
News from Colombia | on: Tuesday, 31 May 2011
The SINTRAMIENERGETICA miners’ union has reported an escalation in anti-union activity by subsidiaries of the Swiss Glencore company in Colombia. Workers at CMU, CDJ and CI Prodeco have reported that management is offering workers cash bonuses for them to leave the union, and that those who refuse are having disciplinary read more 
Children Shot by Army in Caguan
News from Colombia | on: Monday, 30 May 2011
Communities in the region of Caguan, Southern Colombia, have reported an attack by army troops that left 16 civilians wounded, including several children. The civilians were travelling in a lorry on the road between Floresta and Rosal early on the evening of 9th May 2011 when they were ambushed by read moreMore Than 57 Thousand Disappeared Says UN in Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Saturday, 28 May 2011
Christian Salazar, the Colombia representative of the UN High Commission for Human Rights has estimated that there are more than 57 thousand disappeared in Colombia. The statement came at a conference on disappearances held in Bogota on the 23rd May. Many of the disappearances involve “agents of the state and read more 
Democratic Pole Reports Threats
News from Colombia | on: Wednesday, 25 May 2011
The President of the opposition Democratic Pole party has written to the Colombian Minister of Interior to report “serious and recurring” acts of intimidation and violence against several leaders of the party. Among these acts were direct threats to the President of the Democratic Pole, Clara Lopez Obregon, that were read more 
JFC at ETUC: ETUC Reiterates Position Against FTA with Colombia
Justice For Colombia News | on: Tuesday, 24 May 2011
JFC and Jorge Gamboa of the CUT recently returned from a successful visit to the ETUC Congress in Athens. Whilst at the Congress Gamboa met with the UK delegation to the ETUC, as well as with union leaders from across Europe as part of JFC’s campaign on behalf of the read more 
POLITICAL PRISONER FREED!
Justice For Colombia News | on: Monday, 23 May 2011
Justice for Colombia is extremely pleased to announce that Aracely Cañaveral Velez, the Colombian trade unionist and political prisoner has finally been released after a national and international campaign calling for her freedom. A Judge ordered her release on May 16th. Aracely was arrested in Medellin on January 17th this read more 
NGO Reports Alarming Increase in Extrajudicial Executions in 2010
News from Colombia | on: Monday, 23 May 2011
CINEP, the respected Colombian human rights NGO has published its annual report on extrajudicial executions committed by the army in Colombia. The reports documents a 58.3% increase in cases of extrajudicial executions and an increase of 69.5% in the number of victims of such executions. The report notes that the read moreSupreme Court Says Evidence from FARC Computers is Illegal
News from Colombia | on: Saturday, 21 May 2011
The Colombian Supreme Court has declared that evidence from the computers allegedly belonging to murdered FARC Commander Raul Reyes being used against former Congressman Wilson Borja, does not fulfil legal prerequisites and is therefore illegal. The decision will have a huge effect on the many cases that the government opened read more 
University Union Denounces Repression
News from Colombia | on: Friday, 20 May 2011
SINTRAUNICOL, the Colombian union of university workers and employees, has expressed its anger at the expulsion of Lina Sofia Duran, a mathematics student at the Santander Industrial University in the city of Bucaramanga. Since her expulsion on April 29th students at the university have been on hunger strike, calling on read moreSantos Recognises Existence of an Internal Armed Conflict
News from Colombia | on: Friday, 20 May 2011
President Santos’ 4th May recognition of the existence of an internal armed conflict has been welcomed by human rights organisations and peace campaigners in Colombia marking a difference from former President Uribe’s insistence that there was no conflict in Colombia. The admission came as part of the government’s efforts read more 
GMB Calls on Lib Dem MEPs to Block FTA
News from Colombia | on: Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Bert Schouwenburg, the GMB International Officer has written to LibDem MEPs calling on them to block the EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. His letter comes after Madeleine Moon MP received a letter regarding the proposed FTA from Jeremy Browne, the LibDem Minister of State responsible for South America, in which he read moreOpposition Politician and Survivor of Patriotic Union Killed
News from Colombia | on: Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Argemiro Hernandez, a 51 year-old baker and member of the Democratic Pole was killed by a shot to the head on the evening of May 14th in the militarised town of Chaparral, southern Tolima department, leaving behind four orphaned children. The assassination occurred yards from Chaparral’s central marketplace as Mr read more 
Army and Paramilitary Abuses Strike Fear into Civilian Population of Cauca
News from Colombia | on: Monday, 16 May 2011
Human rights groups in Cauca department have reported a series of abuses committed by the Colombian army in Argelia and Miranda regions between the 23rd April and the 6th May 2011. They accuse the armed forces of intimidating and threatening local people, and of working alongside paramilitary groups. On the read moreColombian Labor Rights Lawyer in Critical Condition after Assassination Attempt
News from Colombia | on: Monday, 16 May 2011
On May 13, 2011, armed men on motorcycles fired five bullets into labor rights lawyer Hernán Darío in the heart of downtown Cali, Colombia. Mr. Darío is the lead attorney in a high-profile case defending the leaders of a group of sugarcane workers who led a labor strike in 2008 read moreVenezuela Hands Exiled Journalist to Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Tuesday, 10 May 2011
On April 25th the Venezuelan government deported journalist Joaquin Perez Becerra, the director of Anncol, the Sweden-based New Colombia News Agency, to Colombia at the government’s request. The Venezuelan government was informed of his arrival to Caracas on the 23rd of April, where he was arrested and after being held read more 
Human Rights Hearing Exposes Army Abuses
News from Colombia | on: Saturday, 7 May 2011
Between April 29th and 30th the first public human rights hearing in Cauca department was held in the town of Popayan. The hearing was called by local and national human rights organisations to highlight the increase in abuses being reported in a department that is the target of one of read more 
Colombia Not a Legitimate Partner: Leader of EU Labour Party Protests Signing of FTA
Justice For Colombia News | on: Friday, 6 May 2011
The leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party, Glenis Wilmot MEP, has written to both the President of the European Commission and the EU Trade Commissioner to express disappointment with the initialling of the EU – Colombia draft free trade agreement. In the May 2nd letter she reiterates the position read more 
Academics call for release of Colombian political prisoner, Dr Miguel Angel Beltran
Justice For Colombia News | on: Thursday, 5 May 2011
Over 4,000 international academics have signed an open letter to the Colombian president calling on him to order the release of Dr Miguel Angel Beltran, a Colombian academic imprisoned since May 2009 without being convicted of any crime. The letter, coordinated by the University and College Union, shows that international read moreArmy Bombs Indigenous and Afrocolombian Communities Killing Three
News from Colombia | on: Thursday, 5 May 2011
The OREWA association of indigenous groups has reported that 3 civilians were killed and 4 were severely wounded during indiscriminate bombing and strafing by the army in the Rio Sucio region of Choco on the 17th of April 2011. According to indigenous and afrocolombian sources the army overflew their settlements read more 
Afrocolombians Call on Obama to Rethink FTA with Colombia
News from Colombia | on: Thursday, 5 May 2011
The Black Communities Process (PCN) of Colombia has declared its opposition to the steps taken in early April by President Barack Obama and President Santos in moving forward the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The afrocolombian organisation has rejected the proposed 'Action Plan', presented by the administrations as a solution read more 
Teacher Killed in Cordoba Department
News from Colombia | on: Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Colombian news media have reported the killing of Lucely Florez, a teacher in Ayapel, Cordoba department.Lucely was a 28 year-old teacher member of the ADEMACOR teachers union. Reports state that she was shot by armed men riding a motorbike on the road to Palotal from Ayapel whilst walking home with read moreInterAmerican Commission on Human Rights Says Freedom of Expression ‘Seriously Hampered’ During 2010
News from Colombia | on: Sunday, 1 May 2011
The April 15th IAHCR report on freedom of expression in the Americas confirmed ongoing concern at the attacks on journalists in Colombia. The report’s chapter on Colombia details the murders of 3 journalists as well as “physical violence, death threats and incidents obstructing journalists’ work during the first half of read more
