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...
A year ago, a video spread online where the Canadian Sebastian Woodroffe was lynched and killed by indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon. He had previously shot dead the 81-year-old environmental activist and medicine woman Olivia Arévalo, after she denied him ayahuasca.
Olivia Arévalo was a Healer and...
The relationship between the natural environment and the armed conflict in Colombia is deeply interwoven and complex, and the issue of governance is at the root of the environmental challenges Colombia faces. Exploitation of the country’s natural resources sustained the operations of armed groups, while acts of sabotage to oil and mining operations were used to...
26 April 2019
Dear LAB Supporter and Friend,
Patricia Gualinga, a Sarayaku Kichwa activist from Ecuador, in New York for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She is holding a copy of Voices at an Amazonwatch event
The shocking suicide of former President...
Latin America is often on the news for its gang violence and brute use of police force. In this video we analyse the state of criminal violence in the region and look at some good practices in the region such as Plan Cuadrante in Colombia. Read more on the subject on the report "Citizen...