The achievements had been stunning. Uribe's U.S.-backed military pounded Marxist guerrillas while his peace envoys convinced 30,000 right-wing paramilitaries to disarm — the two feats leading to a steep reduction in kidnappings and homicides and making Uribe the most popular Colombian leader in decades. But if the war is being won, why then are so many terrified Colombians abandoning their farms in the hinterlands and crowding into the cities?

Washington, D.C., August 13, 2009 — The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expresses its deep concern regarding information that has recently come to light about Colombian intelligence operations targeting the IACHR.

Colombian human rights activists Thursday asked U.S. president Barack Obama to put pressure on the Uribe government to push forward the investigations of the DAS wiretapping scandal and to punish those responsible.

At a conference of the Washington Office for Latin America (WOLA) the activists sought Obama to be "consistent" with his message of "change" and to require Colombia to take accountability about the wiretapping scandal.

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16 June 2009

A secret rewards program aimed at eliminating rebels has been horribly perverted, rights groups say.

GRANADA, Colombia -- Fabio Rodríguez Benavides, 23, a cheerful young man known as Little Horse because of the size of his teeth, said goodbye to his mother at about 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 24, 2007, to meet his girlfriend and have some drinks.

Colombia's government proudly claims that it is the biggest producer of biodiesel and ethanol in Latin America after Brazil, but human rights groups do not share that enthusiasm.

Critics warn that the cultivation of palm trees to produce biodiesel is a threat to Colombia's indigenous groups and other minorities, including Afro-Colombians.

In rural areas, there is evidence that some people have been forcibly displaced to make way for biofuel production.

In Kolumbiens Regenwäldern spielt sich eine Tragödie ab. Für den Anbau von Palmölplantagen werden in der Provinz Chocó Zehntausende Kleinbauern vertrieben und massakriert. Christliche Missionare versuchen die Bedrohten zu schützen, jedoch mit mässigem Erfolg. Unter den Missionaren ist auch der Schweizer Pater Josef Schönenberger. Der Filmemacher Frank Garbely ist mit ihm in den Regenwald gereist und zeigt die Hintergründe dieser Vertreibungstaktik auf.