Colombia, U.S. Leaders Talk Cooperation While Community Leaders Continue to Die

[Judi Lynn]

Lisa Haugaard
Executive director, Latin America Working Group
Posted: October 29, 2010 04:36 PM
Colombia, U.S. Leaders Talk Cooperation While Community Leaders Continue to Die

Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and an unprecedented host of high-level U.S. officials visited Colombia on October 24 and 25. One positive outcome was the establishment of a "human rights and good governance working group" between the U.S. and Colombian governments.

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Attacks and threats against human rights and community leaders in Colombia continue full blast since the president's August 7th inauguration, as detailed in a report by a Colombian human rights coalition. Paramilitary and new armed groups retain control over territory. Colombian armed forces collaborate with these illegal groups in many areas--and continue to commit abuses. Soldiers threaten relatives and lawyers of victims of extrajudicial killings by the army. Government authorities still all too often fail to prosecute rights violations and protect individuals and communities at risk.

Norma Irene Pérez, La Unión human rights committee president, was found dead August 13th, three weeks after she helped organize a public hearing about graves filled with hundreds of unidentified bodies next door to an army base in La Macarena. Then-President Uribe had publicly denounced the organizers.

Displaced leader Hernando Pérez was assassinated September 19th, the same day he attended a ceremony in which the government returned land to 34 families. He asked for protection after receiving threats, but government authorities termed his risk level "ordinary" and denied him protection. He is one of at least 46 murdered leaders who had been working for return of land in the last three years. Four have been assassinated since Santos's inauguration.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-haugaard/colombia-us-national-lead_b_775613.html