Tag: Chocó

Colombia earthquake strikes at challenging time

ColombiaAid organizations responding to the powerful earthquake that hit Colombia face significant challenges, including difficulties accessing some of the worst-hit areas in remote western regions that have been seeing rising violence. The quake comes as Colombia was already facing its worst humanitarian crisis in years. In Chocó department, where the earthquake's epicenter is located, restrictions on humanitarian aid by illegal armed groups are common. The region is not only one of the poorest in the country but also one of the hardest hit by armed conflict. (Map: OpenStreetMap via The New Humanitarian)

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Arauca

Multi-sided warfare across Colombia

Despite a peace process that has faltered under President Ivan Duque, the internal war in Colombia continues nearly across the country—now involving multiple armed actors: remnant guerilla groups, resurgent paramilitary forces, regional cartels, and the official security forces. Thousands have been displaced… Read moreMulti-sided warfare across Colombia

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paramilitaries

Colombia: inactive guerillas join active paras off US terror list

BurmaBurma's ruling junta acknowledged that it withdrew its forces from a key city on the border with China after it was seized by an alliance of ethnic rebel armies. The fall of Laukkai is the most significant defeat the junta has suffered since the self-declared Three Brotherhood Alliance launched its offensive in northeastern Shan state in October. Days earlier, at least 150 junta soldiers fled across the border into India's Mizoram state, driven from their outposts in Burma's northwestern Chin state by the rebel Arakan Army. The soldiers turned themselves over to a detachment of India's paramilitary Assam Rifles, and had to be flown back to Burmese territory. (Map: PCL)

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paramilitaries

UN rights chief warns of heightened violence in Colombia

BurmaBurma's ruling junta acknowledged that it withdrew its forces from a key city on the border with China after it was seized by an alliance of ethnic rebel armies. The fall of Laukkai is the most significant defeat the junta has suffered since the self-declared Three Brotherhood Alliance launched its offensive in northeastern Shan state in October. Days earlier, at least 150 junta soldiers fled across the border into India's Mizoram state, driven from their outposts in Burma's northwestern Chin state by the rebel Arakan Army. The soldiers turned themselves over to a detachment of India's paramilitary Assam Rifles, and had to be flown back to Burmese territory. (Map: PCL)

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Indigenous target in Colombia human rights crisis

LatakiaAmnesty International urged Syria's transitional president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, to ensure the publication of all the findings of a fact-finding committee's investigation into the targeted killings of members of Syria's Alawite minority. The fact-finding committee was established in March, as al-Sharaa pledged to hold perpetrators accountable following mass killings in the coastal provinces of of Latakia and Tartous. The killings, which followed insurgent attacks on security forces in the region, appear to have been carried out by Sunni militias aligned with Syria's transitional government. (Map: Google)

The Andes

Colombia: will Duque resume talks with ELN?

ELNFollowing up on his pledge to address the matter within 30 days of taking office, Colombia's new right-wing President Iván Duque spoke about his conditions for resuming his predecessor's peace dialogue with the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country's last significant guerilla group that remains in arms. Duque listed three conditions: the concentration of guerilla fighters in pre-determined areas (akin to the "concentration zones" used in the FARC demobilization), the liberation of all captives held by the guerillas, and a firm time-table for the dialogue process. The president spoke days after the ELN freed three soldiers who had been taken captive the same week Duque was inaugurated last month in Arauca department. But some 20 other captives remain in the guerillas' hands, including six soldiers who were also seized a month ago in Chocó department. (Photo: Colombia Reports)

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Colombia rebuked over continuing rural violence

paramilitariesThe Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a statement calling on the government of Colombia to "take urgent measures" to protect social leaders and human rights defenders in response to the wave of assassinations over recent months. The statement asserted that 22 rights defenders had been killed in Colombia in the first two months of the year, and over 100 more threatened with death. The assassinations come in an atmosphere of violence across much of the country's rural areas, with some 2,500 displaced in recent months. Despite government denials, community leaders insist resurgent paramilitary networks are behind the attacks. (Photo via Contagio Radio)

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US approves new Colombia aid —amid para terror

peace in ColombiaThe US Congress approved a $390 million aid package for Colombia, despite efforts by President Trump to have it slashed. The package includes large sums slated for human rights training and aid to the displaced, with some advocates hailing it as a boost to Colombia's peace process. But despite moves toward peace, paramilitary terror against peasant and indigenous communities continues across the country. Bogotá's central Plaza Bolívar has seen an ongoing protest vigil against the wave of assassinations, demanding that measures against the paramilitary networks be included as part of the peace process. The International Court of Justice has meanwhile opened an investigation into several Colombian military officers and generals over thousands of extrajudicial executions. (Photo: ELN Voces)

The Andes

Colombia: rural violence persists despite ‘peace’

ColombiaColombia's peace process continues to advance, with institutional mechanisms for a post-war order falling into place. But violence in the countryside across Colombia remains at an alarming level, as social leaders are targeted for assassination by paramilitary factions. The ELN guerilla organization—which, unlike the FARC, remains in arms—released a statement noting that January had seen an assassination every day across the country, and charged that rightist paramilitary networks are carrying out a "systematic genocide."