International

Colombia’s new ombudsman will prioritize gender violence on her agenda

Colombia’s new ombudsman, Iris Marín, will prioritize gender violence and discrimination against women as one of the main axes of her agenda, which will develop over four years of management.

“I want to emphasize that, unfortunately, one of the human rights crises is the crisis of violence and discrimination against women,” said the defender, who took office on September 1 and is the first woman to occupy this position, at a press conference in Bogotá.

Marín assured in the framework of the celebration of the National Human Rights Day that sexist violence is not usually seen “as a human rights crisis” because when thinking about human rights in Colombia “they think of war, but they don’t even think about gender violence.”

Between May 2023 and May 2024, 630 femicides were recorded in Colombia and, so far this year, the National Institute of Health has registered more than 100,000 cases of gender violence, whether physical, sexual, neglect or psychological abandonment. In addition, in 2023 the Institute of Legal Medicine carried out more than 20,000 examinations for alleged sexual offense, of which 14,366 were for children under 18 years of age.

Therefore, since his administration in the Ombudsman’s Office, he wants to strengthen protection programs, access to justice, issue early warnings for gender violence and improve the technical defense of victims.

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Other axes of its agenda will be to monitor human rights in the conflict, in climate change and will place special emphasis on the rights of minors.

Since 2017, the Ombudsman’s Office has issued 320 early alerts in territories due to the situation of violence, of which 143 are still active. This is a system that was implemented after the peace agreement to alert the institutions of a possible aggravation of the conflict and the danger of communities.

In addition, until the end of August, 166 social leaders were murdered in Colombia and the defender considered that “the situation of protection of leaders is not improving,” so she hopes that the Ombudsman’s Office will serve as prevention and that “it is a neutral actor to promote that humanitarian agreements can be adopted in a low-profile way.”

In this sense, Marín asked that the Ombudsman’s Office be taken into account in the peace processes with armed groups and was emphatic in pointing out that the people who signed the peace agreement and then deserted, the Government “must demand the consequences of having returned to arms.”

“There should be no incentives to enter infinite circles of negotiation and return to arms,” Marín said, without referring but alluding to the negotiations that the Government has just undertaken with the Second Marquetalia, a dissent commanded by ‘Iván Márquez’, who in turn was a peace negotiator of the FARC in the 2016 agreement.

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On the other hand, the defender assured about the crisis and climate disasters that it is important to address them, especially from an approach of adaptation of the communities, and that minors will also be a priority, because among other data, she highlighted that between 2019 and 2023 51,553 children and adolescents tried to commit suicide and 1,462 did.

For all this, Marín declared himself independent in the defense of human rights and promised to work hand in hand with the communities and defending the public service of the entity: “I do not want the Ombudsman’s Office to be used for the politicization and polarization of the country,” he said.

International

Marco Rubio warns Venezuela against military action against Guyana

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Venezuela on Thursday that a military attack on Guyana would be “a big mistake” and “a very bad day for them,” expressing his support for Georgetown in its territorial dispute with Caracas.

“It would be a very bad day for the Venezuelan regime if they attacked Guyana or ExxonMobil. It would be a very bad day, a very bad week for them, and it would not end well,” Rubio emphasized during a press conference in Georgetown alongside Guyanese President Irfaan Ali.

International

Ecuador oil spill worsens as containment dam collapses

The collapse of a containment dam holding back part of the 25,000+ barrels of oil spilled from a pipeline rupture nearly two weeks ago has worsened the environmental crisis in northwestern Ecuador, contaminating rivers and Pacific beaches.

The Ecuadorian government attributed the March 13 pipeline rupture—which led to the spill of 25,116 barrels of crude—to an act of sabotage. The spill affected three rivers and disrupted water supplies for several communities, according to authorities.

On Tuesday, due to heavy rains that have been falling since January, a containment dam on the Caple River collapsed. The Caple connects to other waterways in Esmeraldas Province, a coastal region bordering Colombia, state-owned Petroecuador said in a statement on Wednesday.

Seven containment barriers were installed in the Viche River, where crews worked to remove oil-contaminated debris. Additional absorbent materials were deployed in Caple, Viche, and Esmeraldas Rivers, which flow into the Pacific Ocean.

Authorities are also working to protect a wildlife refuge home to more than 250 species, including otters, howler monkeys, armadillos, frigatebirds, and pelicans.

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“This has been a total disaster,” said Ronald Ruiz, a leader in the Cube community, where the dam was located. He explained that the harsh winter rains caused river levels to rise, bringing debris that broke the containment barriersthat were holding the accumulated oil for extraction.

International

Federal court blocks Trump’s use of Enemy Alien Act for deportations

A federal appeals court upheld the block on former President Donald Trump’s use of the Enemy Alien Act on Wednesday, preventing him from using the law to expedite deportations of alleged members of the transnational criminal group Tren de Aragua.

With a 2-1 ruling, a panel from the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed previous decisions by two lower court judges, maintaining the legal standoff between the White House and the judiciary.

On March 14, Trump invoked the 1798 Enemy Alien Act, a law traditionally used during wartime, to deport hundreds of Venezuelans whom he accused of belonging to Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization that originated in Venezuelan prisons.

The centuries-old law grants the president the power to detain, restrict, and expel foreign nationals from a country engaged in a “declared war” or an “invasion or predatory incursion” against the United States, following a public proclamation.