Colombia Archives - Page 6 of 6

27Jul

By SHOAHNo Comments

Colombia

ELN Seeks ‘Temporary and Renewable’ Ceasefire in Colombia

NOVANEWS teleSUR The chief negotiator of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Colombia’s peace talks, Pablo Beltran, said on Tuesday that the objective of the third round of negotiations is to reach a “temporary and renewable” bilateral ceasefire, a process which he said takes time because it requires “very precise procedures.” During an interview with TeleSUR on the Enclave Politica program, Beltran said that the ELN is committed to peace talks and the peace process, and that a consensus has emerged among its members that there “must be a bilateral ceasefire.” The task of the third round of dialogue is “to make the agreement, design the protocols, sign them, and then apply them. This round must be about the bilateral ceasefire that we want to last beyond the visit of Pope Francis,” a...

30Jun

By SHOAHNo Comments

Colombia

Colombia’s Uribe Still Refuses to Give Peace a Chance

NOVANEWS Colombia's Uribe Still Refuses to Give Peace a Chance, Vows to Roll Back Deal with FARC If His Party Wins in 2018 Election Far-right senator and former president, Alvaro Uribe, leads a march against Colombia's peace deal in Cartagena, Sept. 26, 2016. | Photo: EFE Uribe has long defended the fringe opinion that demobilized FARC members should be behind bars and not participating in politics. Even as Colombia’s largest guerrilla army is just days away from laying down the last of its weapons once and for all, the country’s far-right former President Alvaro Uribe remains unwilling to give peace a chance after over half a century of civil war, vowing Wednesday to roll back the historic peace accords with the FARC is his party wins next year’s elections. RELAT...

27Jun

By SHOAHNo Comments

Colombia

Ceremony Marks FARC’s Disarmament in Colombia

NOVANEWS Timochenko and the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos during the disarmament ceremony | Photo: EFE The former rebel group plans to move into civilian life and continue its social struggle via political means. The United Nations has confirmed that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, has delivered 7,132 weapons, as part of the peace process to end decades of conflict and start their transition into politics. RELATED: A Timeline of Colombia’s Peace Process The group's representatives and the government have been attending a disarmament ceremony in the Mesetas, around 250 kilometers south of Bogota. The rebels' leader Rodrigo Londoño, also called Timoleon Jimenez, or Timochenko, and the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos were also presen...

24Jan

By SHOAHNo Comments

Colombia, South America

Colombian Human Rights Leader Assassinated

NOVANEWS Colombian human rights defender Emilsen Manyoma | Photo: Conpaz teleSUR On Tuesday police in the Pacific coast city of Buenaventura announced they had discovered the body of Afro-Colombian human rights activist Emilsen Manyoma, 32, and her partner Joe Javier Rodallega, who had been missing since Saturday. A prominent leader in the Bajo Calima region since 2005, Manyoma was an active member of the community network CONPAZ where she was an outspoken critic of right-wing paramilitary groups and the displacement of local by international mining and agribusiness interests. For the past year Manyoma played a key role in documenting attacks on human rights leaders in the region as part of the recently created Truth Commission. The police said they had found the bodies in an advanc...

3Dec

By SHOAHNo Comments

Colombia

Leftist Leader Says ‘Political Genocide’ Looming in Colombia

NOVANEWS Aida Avella, president of the Patriotic Union, leads a rally in Bogota, Colombia in a photo from Nov. 15, 2013. | Photo: EFE Recent attacks on leftist activists in Colombia is leading some to draw parallels with the systemic extermination of leftists in the '80s and '90s. Left-wing politician Aida Avella warned that Colombia could be witness to the kind of targeted killings of political activists like those seen in the 1980s and 1990s that saw an entire political party be virtually wiped out. RELATED: Colombia's Patriotic Union: A Victim of Political Genocide Avella is the president of the Patriotic Union, a party that saw no less than 5,000 of its supporters, including sitting politicians and presidential candidates, killed by the state and its paramilita...