A couple of weeks ago I was all set to attend my second criminal hearing in Colombia, though this time accompanying the defense lawyer, not a lawyer on the prosecution side (representing the victims is a role permitted in the Colombian justice system), as I did in 2010 in the San Jose de Apartado massacre [...]

The PBS program Worldview from WBEZ Chicago interview Jesus Emilio. The program aired on May 17, 2010 and can be listened to here. The following article originally appeared in the Catholic Courier from the Diocese of Rochester, NY on April 25, 2011 Group’s efforts against Colombian violence recounted By Annette Jiménez/Catholic Courier PITTSFORD — Jesús [...]

This urgent action from the Latin American Working Group asks you to take action to protect the communities accompanied by PBI described in our last post. Afro-Colombian and mestizo communities in Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó living in “Humanitarian Zones”–or areas where the peaceful civilians who declared themselves neutral in the conflict could be clearly differentiated from [...]

Last week David Ravelo Crespo, secretary general for the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) in Barrancabermeja, was detained by Colombian authorities at CREDHOS’s office. From there he was taken to the Public Prosecutor’s office in Bogotá where he was charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and agravated homicide. David is [...]