International
Latin America defends the Cartagena Process on refugees in cases of xenophobia
Authorities of the region, representatives of civil society and international organizations commemorated this Wednesday in Chile the 40th anniversary of the Cartagena Process, a pioneering model of regional collaboration for the protection of refugees, and claimed its importance in the face of the increase in xenophobic discourses and the suspicion of multilateralism.
“We are in a world where the successes of multilateralism are scarce and the international community seems increasingly unable to prevent and resolve conflicts. A world in which mixed movements of refugees and migrants have reached unimaginable figures,” Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said at the ceremony.
In that scenario, Grandi added, “reaching agreements that positively and significantly change the course of history has become difficult,” so – he said – “it is a pleasure and an honor to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the historic Cartagena Declaration on Refugees.”
40th anniversary of the Cartagena Process
Adopted in 1994, the declaration is a technical, legal, political and strategic instrument of cooperation and shared responsibility between Latin American countries to develop solutions and strengthen the international system of protection for refugees, forcibly displaced and stateless persons.
With this adoption, the so-called Cartagena Process began and the concept of refugee stipulated in the 1951 Refugee Statute was expanded.
“This process that in an innovative, flexible, pragmatic, gradual, cumulative and multi-stakeholder way has created an institutionality that, recognizing the links with international human rights law, plays a crucial role in the protection of displaced persons,” said the secretary of the ECLAC Commission, Luis Fidel Yanez.
From 2004, the creation of common ten-yer action plans were established.
Roadmap for the next decade
Authorities of the region, such as the foreign ministers of Chile, Brazil or Colombia, representatives of civil society and international organizations will debate for two days at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in Santiago, the roadmap for the next 10 years to continue protecting refugees and displaced people.
“Only through cooperation and regional integration will we be able to consolidate the protection of human rights and provide effective responses to the challenges we face,” said Chilean Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren.
Due to various social conflicts, poverty, climate change or natural disasters, thousands of Latin Americans have been forced to migrate in recent years and have plunged the region into a recent unparalleled migration crisis.
A recent study by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) revealed that up to 7 out of 10 migrants or mobile people in the Americas need comprehensive health services due to their situation.
International
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
A 65-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested at a border checkpoint in Croatia after attempting to enter the country in his car with a deceased woman sitting as a passenger, police announced on Tuesday.
The man was detained in a routine check in late November in Gunja, a border area separating Bosnia from Croatia, the police told AFP. Suspicious because they saw “no consciousness or movement” from the passenger, Croatian officers called a doctor, who confirmed the death of the 83-year-old woman, also Austrian, according to her identification.
The woman’s relationship to the suspect is unknown. She had died in Bosnia, and the man intended to repatriate her body to Austria to “avoid the formalities related to transporting a corpse,” according to the police. Croatian media reported that the man was her legal guardian.
Once her death was confirmed, a funeral service took charge of the body.
International
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Colombian authorities arrested two nationals accused of the illegal trafficking of migrants to the United States and of endangering lives due to the disappearance of a boat with 40 people aboard, U.S. Department of Justice officials reported on Tuesday.
Hernando Manuel de la Cruz Rivera Orjuela, 52, and Luis Enrique Linero Pinto, 40, both Colombian citizens, were arrested on December 13 in Colombia at the request of the United States for their alleged involvement in a “transnational human trafficking operation,” the department said in a statement.
According to the charges, the detainees were transporting migrants to San Andrés Island in the Caribbean, where they would then be taken by boat to Nicaragua. The goal was to reach the United States through Central America and Mexico.
The accused are said to have advised the migrants on how to reach San Andrés Island, where they personally received them, arranged accommodations, and “took them to the boats that transported them to Nicaragua so they could enter the United States illegally,” the statement reads.
“These defendants put several migrants on the boat that disappeared off the coast of Nicaragua in 2023,” said Deputy Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as cited in the statement.
Both men are “directly and personally responsible for the illicit trafficking of migrants on that vessel,” according to the indictment dated October 23.
International
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
Two soldiers were killed and five others were injured by the explosion of homemade landmines planted by a criminal group in a mountainous area of the Mexican state of Michoacán (west), the Secretary of Defense reported on Tuesday.
The attack occurred on Monday morning in the municipality of Cotija, a border area between Michoacán and the state of Jalisco, when the military was conducting a reconnaissance mission after receiving information about an armed camp in the area, explained Secretary General Ricardo Trevilla.
“At that moment, an improvised explosive device detonated. Unfortunately, two soldiers lost their lives, and five others were injured,” the military leader detailed. The affected soldiers were airlifted to hospitals in the region by a military helicopter, while the rest of the team continued with the reconnaissance of the area.
Trevilla stated that before the explosion, the military unit had located the dismembered bodies of three people, and upon continuing the mission, they confirmed the camp was abandoned.
Asked about the individuals responsible for placing the explosives, the general suggested they could be criminals linked to the local group Cárteles Unidos, which operates in Michoacán and uses these tactics in their territorial dispute with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country.
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
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