Colombia’s Congress president tried for alleged land theft of war victims
Colombia’s Congress President is being investigated for land theft and influence peddling in the...
Tag: disappeared
More than 200 disappeared in Cali this year
More than 200 people have disappeared in Colombia’s third largest city Cali in the first six months of 2012, the local Ombudsman’s Office said Monday. What causes most concern about the disappearances, “is the...
EU criticized for silence on human rights in Colombia
A network of European organizations have stepped up pressure on the European Union to condemn human rights crimes in Colombia. The International Office for Human Rights-Action on Colombia (OIDHACO) called for the European...
Army commander accuses major of murdering civilians
A Colombian army major is accused of taking part in the murder of 11 youths and falsely presenting them as guerrillas killed in battle, local media reported Tuesday. Ex-Colonel Luis Fernando Borja, the former commander of a task...
Nearly 62,000 Colombians disappeared: Ombudsman
Nearly 62,000 people have been disappeared in Colombia, announced the country’s ombudsman on Tuesday, the International Day of the Disappeared. The Commission for the Search for Disappeared Persons, a division of the...
NGOs call for protection for besieged Afro-Colombian communities
Human Rights organizations have called for urgent action to be taken to protect Afro-Colombian communities following a recent spate of atrocities committed by paramilitary groups acting with impunity. The Afro-Colombian...
Ex-AUC commander gets 26 years for north Colombia massacre
A former commander of the AUC was sentenced to 26 years in prison for mass murder that took place under his command in the north Colombian department of La Guajira in 2004. Arnulfo Sanchez Gonzalez, alias “Pablo,” the former...
Over 2,000 bodies from mass graves remain unidentified
The Prosecutor General’s Office has said that only 1,243 bodies have been identified and returned to their families out of a total of 3,892 exhumed from mass graves across Colombia in the last five years, media reported Monday....
Where have all Colombia’s disappeared gone?
The current Colombian administration denies the kidnapping, torture, and murder of thousands of citizens. In an interview this past Wednesday, 23 March, Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera spoke with certainty about what he called a...
One judicial official murdered every month in Colombia
287 Colombian judicial officers have been assassinated and hundreds more were subjected to violence and intimidation over the past 20 years, the association of judicial employees said Friday. Over the past two decades, 750...
Former paramilitary sentenced to 22 years
A former paramilitary commander was sentenced to 22 years in jail on Thursday for the kidnapping, torture, and disappearance of a mayor in 2003. Edilson Cifuentes Hernandez, alias “Richard,” former commander of the...
Breaking the silence on Colombia’s disappeared
The number of “disappeared” in Colombia may be far higher than the official figure of 51,000, according to a report from the Latin America Working Group Education Fund (LAWG) and the U.S. Office on Colombia. Victims...
