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COLOMBIA: Vote-Buying and Front Men
By Javier Darío Restrepo*
BOGOTÁ - During Sunday's legislative elections in Colombia - in which rightwing President Álvaro Uribe's allies were the big winners - polling stations in one-third of the country's municipalities were at risk of violence, corruption or fraud, according to the ombudsman's office and election observers, who reported vote-buying and pressure on voters.
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RIGHTS-MEXICO: Reporters, Activists Demand State Protection
By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY - Journalists and human rights activists in Mexico are frantically seeking a mechanism to protect them from attacks related to their work, but the state has been slow to respond. The Colombian model might provide a solution.
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COLOMBIA: Magazine Closure Deals Major Blow to Investigative Reporting
Analysis by Javier Darío Restrepo*
BOGOTÁ - What would have happened in Colombia if the financing of former president Ernesto Samper's (1994-1998) election campaign by the Cali cartel had not been uncovered?
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COLOMBIA: Same Paramilitary Abuses; New Faces, New Names
By Constanza Vieira
BOGOTÁ - A leading international rights group urged the Colombian government to take action against what it called the "successors" to the far-right paramilitary militias, which continue attacking civilians and human rights defenders.
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COLOMBIA: Who Cares About the Victims of Forced Displacement?
By Helda Martínez
BOGOTÁ - "Why is the government, which is so generous towards the richest sectors of the economy, so stingy towards the displaced?" asked activist Marco Romero at the presentation of a new report on the dire situation faced by the millions of Colombians who have been forced out of their rural homes by the country's nearly half-century old armed conflict.
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RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Soldiers Accused of Extrajudicial Killings Freed
By Helda Martínez
SOACHA, Colombia - Over the last two weeks, 31 Colombian soldiers accused of the forced disappearance and murder of 11 young men from the poor Bogotá suburb of Soacha have been released from prison on the grounds that they were not formally indicted within 90 days of their arrest, as established by Colombian law.
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US-LATAM: More Continuity Than Change
By Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON - Nearly one year after his inauguration, hopes that President Barack Obama would bring fundamental changes to U.S. relations with Latin American have faded badly.
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COLOMBIA: Farm Subsidy Scandal Exposes Corrupt Policies
Helda Martínez interviews Senator JORGE ROBLEDO
BOGOTA - 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.
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VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA: Paramilitaries Rule Border Area
By Humberto Márquez
SAN ANTONIO DEL TÁCHIRA, Venezuela - "We’re second-class citizens, victims of a war that hasn’t broken out," said José Duque from behind the wheel of a car carrying passengers from San Cristóbal, in southwestern Venezuela, to the border with the northeastern region of Colombia, near the city of Cúcuta.
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VENEZUELA: Colombian Refugees in Undocumented Limbo
By Humberto Márquez
EL NULA, Venezuela - Peasants fleeing Colombia's armed conflict are still trickling into Venezuela, joining the multitude who in the last seven years have requested refugee status and an identity document to help them rebuild their lives in their new country.
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US-COLOMBIA: Activists Target "World of Coca-Cola"
By Matthew Cardinale
ATLANTA, Georgia - Activists from the U.S. and Colombia are targeting the World of Coca-Cola museum, located near its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, accusing the company of "union busting", paying its workers "poverty wages", and engaging in environmentally destructive practices.
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Q&A: "If You Find Yourself in a Minefield, Shout for Help"
Constanza Vieira interviews ANDRÉS, a teenager in a war zone
CALOTO, Colombia - Putting on a white t-shirt or wearing olive-green pants can be life-or-death decisions in the conflict zone in the steep Andes mountains in western Colombia where 14-year-old Andrés lives and attends eighth grade.
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RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Less Torture, More Impunity
By Helda Martínez
BOGOTÁ - 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.
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COLOMBIA-VENEZUELA: Border Killings Heat Up Tension
By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS - The activities of Colombian armed groups across the border in western Venezuela are aggravating the diplomatic conflict between the two governments, which are ideological opposites, and some analysts have begun to wonder just how far the tension will escalate.
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COLOMBIA: Sexual Violence as Weapon of War
By Helda Martínez
BOGOTA - 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.
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Colombia - A Nation Torn in RSS As Colombia's nearly five-decade civil war simmers on, the country remains the world's third-largest recipient of U.S. military aid, and has the second-largest displaced population in the world. The cocaine trade continues to fuel the armed conflict; there are abundant reports indicating that the supposedly demobilised paramilitaries, blamed for the lion's share of the atrocities committed in the civil war and led by drug lords, have regrouped; and nearly half of the population lives in poverty. The scandal over ties with paramilitary groups dogs the Álvaro Uribe government. Small farmers and indigenous and black communities are often caught in the crossfire between the guerrillas, the paramilitaries and the security forces. The conflict's victims are the civilian population, human rights and truth.

Heavy Metal Colombia - El Blog de  Constanza Vieira
Special Report from Colombia - The Unusual Wealth of the Chocó
News in RSS
ECONOMY: Greek Crisis Impacts the Balkans
U.S.: Families Sue Over Guantanamo Deaths
NIGERIA: Acting President Consolidates Power Amid Unrest
CLIMATE CHANGE: A Year On, Little Change in Political Climate
LATIN AMERICA: Still a Long Way to Go, for Black Women
ZAMBIA: School Policy for Teen Mothers a Partial Success
KENYA: Trying to Rebuild Communities After Floods
IRAN: New Budget May Add to Uncertainties, Political Strains
Q&A: Sri Lanka Remains Defiant of U.N. Chief
MEXICO: Kidnapping - A Growing Risk for Central American Migrants
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  UNDP Colombia
  UN Refugee Agency - Colombia
  Consultancy on Human Rights and Displacement
  Colombian Commission of Jurists
  Millennium Campaign - MDGs and Colombia
  Amnesty International - Colombia
  Human Rights Watch - Colombia
  Acción Andina
  World Rainforest Movement

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