COLOMBIA: Magazine Closure Deals Major Blow to Investigative Reporting

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?

COLOMBIA: Same Paramilitary Abuses; New Faces, New Names

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.

COLOMBIA: Who Cares About the Victims of Forced Displacement?

"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.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Soldiers Accused of Extrajudicial Killings Freed

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.

US-LATAM: More Continuity Than Change

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.

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.

VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA: Paramilitaries Rule Border Area

"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.

VENEZUELA: Colombian Refugees in Undocumented Limbo

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.

US-COLOMBIA: Activists Target “World of Coca-Cola”

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.

Q&A: “If You Find Yourself in a Minefield, Shout for Help”

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.

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-VENEZUELA: Border Killings Heat Up Tension

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.

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: U.S. Aid Must Leverage Reforms, Rights Groups Urge

Defending human rights in Colombia – never an especially safe endeavour – has become even more dangerous lately, several NGO leaders and Colombian human rights defenders testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

COLOMBIA: US Should Open Its Files on Palace of Justice Massacre

A declassified U.S. State Department cable dated January 1999 blames Colombian soldiers for the killings of civilians rescued by the military operation to retake the Palace of Justice from guerrillas who had seized the building in November 1985.

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.

COLOMBIA: Neutrality Impossible for Indigenous Groups

The latest killings of Awá Indians in southern Colombia – 12 members of a family, including four children and three teenagers –, the forced displacement of hundreds of native villagers, and death threats against indigenous leaders and teachers are signs indicating that their demand to be considered neutral in the armed conflict is still being ignored.

SOUTH AMERICA: Uribe Defends US Base Deal from Neighbours

At a special summit Friday in Argentina, the presidents of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) questioned the agreement under which Colombia will allow the United States to use seven military bases in its territory.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Justice for Indigenous Leader’s Murder – 21 Years On

One night in February 1988 in the native Nasa territory of Jambaló, in southwest Colombia, soldiers barged into Etelvina Zapata's home and snatched her 21-year-old son, barefoot and clad only in shorts, accusing him of working with the leftwing guerrillas.

COLOMBIA: From Espionage to Sabotage – and the Dirty War (Part 3)

For decades now, privacy in personal electronic communications has existed only on paper. But the most serious aspect of the espionage scandal that broke this year in Colombia lies in the use given to the information that was gathered.

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.