Colombia
A Scandal We Cannot Close Our Eyes To
This week the Colombian government confirmed that members of the armed forces are involved in killing innocent civilians to show results in their war against “narco-terrorism.” The use of "false positives" by the Colombian Army, involves the killing of civilians and passing them off as guerillas fallen in combat.
The revelation comes amidst a rapidly deteriorating situation for human rights defenders and union leaders. The scandal has led to the resignation of Colombian army commander Mario Montoya and the firing of 27 military officers from the armed forces.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation reports
that most of the officers commanded units that
had been 'vetted' by U.S. officials for human
rights abuses and approved to receive U.S.
military assistance in 2008, or received
training for some officers, in spite of
extensive reports that their units had carried
out murders of civilians.
Trade and War in Colombia
After five decades of
internal conflict rooted in economic
inequality, Colombia is in crisis as military,
paramilitary and guerilla groups continue to
terrorize the countryside in battles over land
and power.
Learn more about Colombia's history
View our interactive timeline of the
history of conflict and peacemaking in
Colombia.
The Minga Continues!
We want to thank you yet
again for your swift and awesome response to
our urgent actions concerned the indigenous
struggle in Colombia. Indigenous peoples
of Colombia are grateful for your international
support and the key role it played in attaining
a meeting with Colombian government
officials.
Attaining the meeting was an achievement
but there was considerable disagreement on just
about every issue discussed and nothing was
resolved. As a result the indigenous
people along with other sectors of Colombian
civil society plan to march to Colombia's
capital of Bogota.