Colombians march in memory of victims of armed conflict. Photo: Anna Vogt
“One of our deepest concerns about the Alliance for Prosperity Plan is that it perpetuates the same economic policies that have already resulted in skyrocketing inequality,” said Kelsey Alford-Jones, Executive Director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission in Washington, DC. “We are especially alarmed by the proposed construction of large-scale infrastructure projects and the expansion of extractive industries, which have caused a lot of forced displacement throughout the region and is often associated with violence against communities that organize to defend their lands and livelihoods.”
Plan Colombia is not a model to be replicated
The reality is that Plan Colombia was implemented in a drastically different environment than what the Northern Triangle countries face today. MCC partners in Colombia have told us about the negative effects of Plan Colombia in their churches and communities. They agree that this type of intervention is nothing they would wish on their Central American neighbors. It’s not a pretty picture…but we made a picture to help explain it: A Plan for Central America
Continuing the Crackdown on Kids
Tucked into the administration’s 2016 budget request the plan has been christened “Biden’s Billion” for its major promoter and the amount he expects U.S. taxpayers to put up to support it. It divides aid into three “lines of action”: security, economic development, and governance. Yet in every one of these areas, the response repeats errors of the past. Rather than focusing on a response to the humanitarian crisis of child refugees, it serves as a vehicle for deepening the drug war and “free-trade” agendas that have contributed to the crisis.
The ‘invisible’ victims of Edomex, Mexico’s most dangerous place to be female
A staggering 1,258 girls and women were reported disappeared in Edomex in 2011 and 2012 – of whom 53% were aged between 10 and 17, according to figures obtained by the National Citizens Observatory on Femicides. Over the same period, 448 women were murdered in the state. Many of their mutilated bodies were left displayed in public places like roads, parks and shopping centres – an act which criminologists and feminist scholars say is associated with gender hate crimes.
Nearly 20 years after peace pact, Guatemala’s women relive violence
According to María Machicado Terán, the representative of U.N. women in Guatemala, “80% of men believe that women need permission to leave the house, and 70% of women surveyed agreed.” This prevailing culture of machismo and an institutionalized acceptance of brutality against women leads to high rates of violence. Rights groups say machismo not only condones violence, it places the blame on the victim.
China Doesn’t Want To Finance Nicaragua’s Canal, Panama Canal Authority Says
Nicaragua has long been planning a canal that would be wider, deeper and longer than Panama’s, ready to handle a new generation of container ships and make the country the epicenter of maritime transit in the region. But the plans have faced fierce resistance from environmentalists, local landowners and other Nicaraguans who doubt that the estimated $50 billion price tag will ultimately benefit the country. The government’s no-bid contract to build and maintain the canal, given to little-known Chinese telecommunications billionaire Wang Jing, also has stoked suspicions that the Chinese government may be quietly funding the project. (“Get out, Chinese” has been a common refrain at protests against the project.)
Nueva Trinidad: 3rd Municipality in El Salvador to Declare Itself a “Mining Free Territory”
This important landmark decision in El Salvador follows several community consultations that have occurred in Central America, such as in the municipality of Santo Domingo in Honduras and the municipality of Mataquescuintla in Guatemala. International observers from Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, joined in this historical democratic process to provide insight and support to the community consultation, as well as to learn about community consultations and its applicability in other national contexts.
Searching for Peace and Justice in Guatemala
The war no longer rages, but conflicts persist. That realization led James Rodriguez, a Mexican-American photographer living in Guatemala, to document the continuing search for justice in a country whose people find peace by leaving the country by any means necessary. “People talk about violence and gangs, but nobody connects it to the war, which they should,” he said. “People think the war ended. But the effects of the war are so current. To me, that has been a massive push factor in the whole immigration issue.”
How the UN caused a massive cholera outbreak in Haiti
The cholera outbreak in Haiti is the UN’s Watergate, except with far fewer consequences for the people responsible and an immeasurably more disastrous real-world impact. And an exchange of letters between three UN special rapporteurs and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon late last year shows that the world body is still shielding itself from scrutiny.
Coca Cola Workers on Hunger Strike
Coca Cola workers affiliated with the Sinaltrainal union are currently gathering in the center of Bogotá to protest unjust working conditions and serious human rights violations. The protest occurs shortly after the four year anniversary of the Labor Action Plan, a document intended to better labor rights in the country but that has not been upheld. Unionists across different sectors of the Colombian workforce continue to risk their lives as they demand justice. The original article in Spanish can be found here.
Killing of 10 Soldiers Deals a Setback to Colombian Peace Talks with FARC Rebels
Earlier on Wednesday, a military official said that the soldiers were attacked with grenades, gunfire and explosive devices. He said one FARC fighter was killed. It was the first large-scale skirmish since the FARC declared a unilateral cease-fire in December. “More than anything, this has an impact on public opinion — many people don’t understand how you can keep negotiating — and a major political impact,” said Ariel Avila of the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation.
No, MAS
The results in regional and local elections held on March 29th came as a shock. Opposition candidates for mayor won in eight out of Bolivia’s ten largest cities, up from five at the last vote in 2010. The MAS won four of the gubernatorial races in the nine autonomous administrative departments (like states), down from seven last time. In two where nobody won a majority, run-off votes are to be held on May 3rd. The vote count in a third awaits an official ruling on a run-off. In those states splintered anti-government forces have an opportunity to unite behind a single candidate. The vote was a stinging rebuke to the MAS, and a warning to Mr Morales.