ONIC Neither the cold of the Savannah of Bogotá, nor the cold indifference of the state, will be able to extinguish the flame of the struggle for life in our territories! The Embera, Wounaan and Zenú Indigenous Peoples, of the Municipalities of RioSucio and Carmen de Darién del Chocó, in Minga for Life and dignity,…
Category: COLOMBIA
Indigenous Colombians Reach Bogota as Violence Continues
A group of over 400 Indigenous people is set to resume talks with the national government to ensure the fulfillment of agreements reached in 2017. Over 450 Indigenous peoples of the Embera, Wounaan, and Zenu nationalities of the Choco region in the Colombian Pacific reached Bogota Monday to demand the fulfillment of a set of…
Afro-Colombians and Indigenous Peoples Struggle for Water
Francia Márquez In a recent report from Colombia’s national health institute, only 15.1 % of people living in the Colombian countryside (barely 900,000 people) have access to good quality water. Water is guaranteed mostly to the urban people living in the city. The population that does not have water is mostly in the Colombian-Pacific and…
ELN: Duque’s Agenda is Determined by Washington
Colombia Informa Translation by Peoples Dispatch Pablo Beltrán, the chief negotiator of the National Liberation Army (ELN), said that the government of President Iván Duque has an agenda determined by the United States. He also emphasized on the ELN’s will to resume dialogues with the government, despite the differences. Beltrán denounced that 5,000 Colombian soldiers…
Brazil: Bolsonaro, and the Threat of War on Venezuela
Victor Figueroa Clark The presidential election victory of the far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil is not just bad news for the people and social organisations of Brazil, it opens the frightening prospect of an intervention against Venezuela’s socialist government. The Trump administration has repeatedly discussed the need to deal with the ‘Venezuela issue’, and…
Colombia is the Deadliest Country for Human Rights Defenders
José Fajardo Social leader Lucila Páez suffered violence and threats at the hands of the paramilitaries at the end of the 1990s. Here she is pictured in front of a mural on the building where her association is based in Norte de Santander, one of the areas facing renewed insecurity. (José Fajardo) The assassination of…
ELN: Colombia’s Peace Negotiations Have Been Handed Over to the Military
The head of the negotiating team of the Peace Agreements of the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN), Pablo Beltrán, said that there is a military onslaught by the government that Ivan Duque presides over to press the negotiations in favor of their interests. “Unfortunately, Duque has handed over this negotiating table to the military forces,”…
Colombian Social Organizations Send an Open Letter to Iván Duque
Colombia Informa Various social organizations gathered in the Popular Assembly wrote a letter to the government of Iván Duque. They demand measures to protect social leaders, to stop criminalization of social justice movements and to allocate more resources towards education. More than 1300 leaders of social organizations gathered in Bogotá expressed their concern about the…
Colombian Social Movements Converge in Bogotá to Build Common Struggles
Peoples Dispatch Photo: Colombia Informa The Popular and People’s Legislative Assembly began Tuesday in Colombia’s capital for the construction of a common struggle On October 9, 2018, more than 1,500 people gathered at the Claretiano School in Bosa, in the south of Bogota, Colombia, to begin the Popular and People’s Legislative Assembly. This assembly is…
Colombia’s Indigenous Organization Under Threat by Paramilitary
“We arrived to La Guajira to defend our sovereignty from the corrupt who call themselves defenders of Mother Earth that only hinder the country’s progress.” A Colombian paramilitary group known as the ‘Aguilas Negras’ (Black Eagles) spread pamphlets in the northern Guajira department threatening human rights defenders and indigenous organizations working in the region. “We…
Colombian Students on Strike to Defend State Education
Zoe PC Students march in Bogotá in May 2018. Photo: Sergio Ivan Acero Yate Thousands of students across the country will be on strike today in defense of public universities and to demand that President Ivan Duque increase the budget of public universities Colombian students, who have united under the banner of the National Union…
Colombia: Peace Court Rejects General Attorney’s ‘Meddling’ in FARC Case
The President of Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) Patricia Linares condemned Thursday the General Attorney’s office for “meddling” in cases related to kidnappings by the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In a statement, Linares said the Attorney General’s office had “improperly meddled in its judicial autonomy and independence” by ordering an investigation into…
