COLOMBIA: Women Empowered by Restoring Desertified Land

Indigenous and rural women from southern Tolima, a province located in the heart of Colombia, are lending a hand to the bleak land around them, with the aim of simultaneously recovering the ecosystem and regaining their own dignity, in a community effort that is changing their environment and their lives.

COLOMBIA: Farm Subsidy Scandal Exposes Corrupt Policies

The Attorney General's Office of Colombia is keeping a tight lid on developments in its investigation of 113 million dollars in farm subsidies handed out over the last three years to wealthy families, many of whom have no involvement in the agricultural sector whatsoever.

COLOMBIA: Chicha, Fashionable Survivor

Chicha, a traditional homemade brew produced all the way from Mexico to Chile since the days of the Inca, has largely been a rural drink over the centuries. But it is enjoying a new popularity in bars and restaurants in Bogotá and other Colombian cities, as a hip alternative to mass-produced beer.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Less Torture, More Impunity

The number of cases of torture attributed to the armed forces in Colombia increased 80 percent from 2003 to 2008, in a context of near total impunity for such crimes. However, the number of documented torture cases overall fell 43.5 percent, compared to the 1998-2003 period.

COLOMBIA: Sexual Violence as Weapon of War

Sexual violence is used as a weapon of war in Colombia by all parties in the country’s longstanding armed conflict, and its main victims are women and girls, states a report recently released by Intermón Oxfam, backing up claims made repeatedly by national and international human rights groups.

COLOMBIA: Talking About Peace in the Middle of War

Organisations representing sectors of the Colombian population that have suffered from four decades of armed conflict, like indigenous and black communities, shared their experiences over the weekend in the "World Peace Summit", which also drew prominent international experts on Latin America.

FILM-COLOMBIA: A Priest’s Passion for Justice

The latest film out of Colombia is based on the true story of a priest in a rural town whose passions include a search for justice in an area that, like so many in this civil war-torn country, is hemmed in by armed groups, whether far-right paramilitaries, leftist guerrillas or state security forces.

COLOMBIA: Women Lead Opposition to Gold Mine

Women in the small Andean town of Cajamarca and the nearby city of Ibagué, in the central-west Colombian province of Tolima, are leading the struggle against a major gold mining venture that threatens to alter their way of life.

COLOMBIA: Displaced People Evicted From Protest Camp

Thousands of displaced Colombians living in a protest camp in a park in central Bogotá are the target of an eviction plan by the local authorities, who admit they are overwhelmed by the influx of people fleeing violence in the countryside.

COLOMBIA: Gold vs Preservation in the Central Mountains

In a protected area of the Cordillera Central, Colombia's central mountain range, gold mining plans are clashing with the desire of farmers, activists and environmental officials to preserve forests and water resources.

Gold Conflict in Colombia's Central Mountains

The Colombian authorities could determine this month whether they will move forward on a giant gold mining project in a nature preserve in the central mountain range.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Trafficking Victims’ Ordeal Never Over

A mixture of rage, impotence and terror is evident behind the sadness in María’s* eyes. It’s been five months since she escaped from her captors in the United States, where she was taken under a false job contract, and she still can’t shake off her fear.

ENVIRONMENT-COLOMBIA: Coal Mine Hurts Highlands Lake, Farms

Protests by indigenous farmers in the Colombian village of Cuayá, 75 km north of Bogotá, have failed to bring to a halt the unregulated extraction of coal, which has had disastrous environmental effects on Lake Suesca, 3,000 metres above sea level.

COLOMBIA: Equal Rights for Same-Sex Partners

Members of the gay civil rights advocacy group Colombia Diversa just celebrated their fifth anniversary with a big event, which the occasion clearly merited due to a recent landmark decision by the Constitutional Court recognising equal rights for heterosexual and same-sex partners in common-law unions.

COLOMBIA: Deforestation and Deluge, a Recipe for Disaster

The lack of policies against indiscriminate deforestation in river basins, in synergy with the rainy season, which is heavier than usual this year because of the La Niña climate phenomenon, has had devastating effects in Colombia.

COLOMBIA-US: Will Democrats Bury Free Trade Deal?

Ratification by the United States Congress of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia appears to be further away than ever, due to the victory of president-elect Barack Obama, who has declared his opposition to the treaty, and to the effects of the financial crisis.

COLOMBIA: Brutal Crackdown on Indigenous Protest

More than 75 people were injured and at least one was killed in a crackdown on indigenous protests being held in different areas of Colombia.

COLOMBIA: Indigenous People Protest in Face of Threats

At the top of the list of demands of some 7,000 people mobilising in the Cauca municipality of Piendamó is the clarification of the deaths of 13 indigenous people killed over the past two weeks in different parts of Colombia.

COLOMBIA: Women Working Abroad Keep Provincial Economy Alive

The so-called Coffee Belt region accounts for 60 percent of Colombians who leave the country, and the majority of those leaving are female. Once they are abroad, these women become the breadwinners of their families, with the resulting impact on household income extending to the provincial economy.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: US-Based Lawyers to Defend Victims of Paramilitaries

Two human rights lawyers from the United States announced in the Colombian capital that they will defend the victims of paramilitary chiefs who were recently extradited to the United States.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Defending Women’s Defenders

After nearly six years of the "democratic security" policy of the government of rightwing President Álvaro Uribe, women activists in Colombia are as vulnerable to human rights abuses as ever, said female rights defenders who met recently in the Colombian capital.