“It is not just the pandemic of Covid-19 that strikes and ends the lives of peasants, but another pandemic that is far worse. This is the forced and violent eradication by the Army.” Community member from Cύcuta, Norte de Santander, May 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn_UtdZLn_0
Closure of the border with Bolivia in response to covid-19 has exposed a legal vacuum in Argentina surrounding the consumption, importation and cultivation of coca leaves in the country’s northern provinces.
Coca leaves have been used for millennia by indigenous groups in the area, as well as in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia, for...
A well-to-do white couple living in São Paulo, Brazil, adopt a black baby. The Past is an Imperfect Tense tells the story of this father-son relationship, which begins with great love and affection but ends up in ruin and rejection. Things start to go wrong in the boy's adolescence, when he becomes involved with marijuana, amphetamines...
By John Washington. Originally published on April 18, 2020 under the title 'We Need to Reverse the Damage Trump Has Done in Latin America. Biden’s Plans Don’t Cut It'. You can read the original here.
Republished with kind permission from The Intercept , an award-winning nonprofit news organization dedicated to holding the powerful accountable...
Colombia is once again at the of international news stories, with the announcement of a return to arms by some former leaders of the main guerrilla group, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). The peace agreement, signed in 2016, is at risk. Why has this happened? Here, we share the views and experiences of AfroColombian and...
In Colombia, a new voluntary crop substitution programme was designed with participation of many of the small-scale coca producers themselves. This was a key component of the Peace Agreement signed between the former Government and the now demobilized insurgent group, FARC-EP. Although the new Government of President Ivan Duque is largely failing to comply with its part...
The recent announcement by Iván Márquez – the second highest commander of the original Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) – that sections of South America’s largest demobilised guerrilla movement are returning to war, should come as little surprise to some observers of Latin America. In a recent video, Márquez, whose real name is Luciano Marín, said...
Dear LAB Supporter and Friend,
31 July 2019
Migration
and Displacement at crisis point
In addition to our website, LAB’s Facebook page provides a daily stream of summaries and links to articles published elsewhere. In this and future newsletters we will mention some of these, with the...
This article was prepared for Christian Aid by Nathalie Mercier (Guatemala), Maria Useche (Colombia), Tania Grande (El Salvador) and Javier SanVicente (Honduras)
Main image: migrant child detained at the US border. Source: Guardian podcast: 'What is happening to migrant children at the US border'
Three years ago, the Colombian government and its armed
opponents of fifty years signed a peace agreement that offered a framework for
ending violent conflict and starting to build peace.
While the peace agreement was in its final stages of negotiation, Christian Aid’s Research, Evidence and Learning team was beginning to design Ten Years, a...