Author: Daniel Chia

A Long-Awaited Holiday

Public holidays in a country say more about its national identity than we might think. Sometimes these dates are inherited from old colonial times; others are a reminder of heroic feats; occasionally they are meant to commemorate an instance of grief and, on many occasions, they are a symbol of

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Getting There But Not Quite Yet: F.A.R.C. On Trial

Four years ago, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (F.A.R.C.) signed an agreement to assist the Colombian government with a transitional justice system. The peace deal stipulated that former combatants confess their crimes, go on trial, receive sentences, and contribute concrete measures of reparation for their victims. This transitional justice

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The Triple Frontier, And No, Not The Netflix Movie

Colombia, Brazil and Peru share a triple frontier. A frontier which exists more in the maps than in reality. A frontier crossed by the amazing Amazon River where migration processes are hardly followed and where the local communities are bonded by something more than a nationality. The Amazon rainforest, apart

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COVID-19 In Latin America

What might happen in Latin America with weak economies, fragile public health systems, high rates of unemployment, and huge inefficiencies in the delivery of other public services, if the continent reaches a peak in the cases of coronavirus infections? Timeline Of Outbreak The first case of COVID-19 in Latin America

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The Right To Live In Peace

Victor Jara was a Chilean teacher, songwriter, singer, poet, and dramatist. His poems and songs were the accompaniment of the social movement that led the socialist Salvador Allende to the presidency of Chile in 1970. In 1973 during the military coup headed by Augusto Pinochet, Allende was killed. A few

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Crisis In The Andes

During the last few weeks, a crisis has erupted in the Andes. For 24 hours Peru had two presidents and currently has a dissolved congress. Ecuador, on the other hand, faced a set of violent riots with a regrettable and mortal response from the government of President Lenin Moreno. On

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Nothing New

We all saw a few days ago how the social media went crazy with hashtags regarding the Amazon rainforest and the fires that were taking place in the Brazilian Amazon. #PrayForTheAmazon, #PrayforAmazonia, and #SaveTheAmazon were some of the statements that became viral on Twitter and Instagram and were used to

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#IAmTheSudanRevolution

A month ago, in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, the security forces wiped out the protest camp that was based near the military headquarters and that held dozens of protesters. The violent dispersion triggered the assassination of at least 100 people and injured more than 700 dissenters. The atrocity continued

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The Canadian ‘Genocide’ On Indigenous Women and Girls

Canada’s report on missing indigenous women and girls is alarming and horrifying. The results of a government enquiry launched by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2016 revealed a few weeks ago that in recent decades, violence against Indigenous women and Indigenous girls has reached the levels of genocide. Although the

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An Odyssey Of 19 Years Seeking Justice

On May 2000 in Bogotá, when journalist Jineth Bedoya was heading to jail for an interview with paramilitary leader Mario Jaimes Mejía, she was intercepted before reaching prison and was tortured and sexually abused. Bedoya was held in captivity for 16 hours and was left on the outskirts of Bogotá

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Minatitlán And A Sad History Of Massacres

Thirteen people, including a one-year-old baby, were killed last Good Friday in Minatitlán, Mexico. The authorities claim that the killings were a product of the war between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and Los Zetas for control of the regional drug market. This despicable act now joins an unfortunate list

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Some Comments On The Revoke Of Assange’s Diplomatic Asylum

In 2012, after losing at the U.K. Supreme Court the appeal that would avoid his extradition to Sweden, the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, requested refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, claiming political persecution and an eventual possibility of death if he were extradited to the United States, where still

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International Day For Mine Awareness And Assistance In Mine Action

According to the Humanitarian Challenges 2019 report, presented by the Colombian delegation of the International Committee of The Red Cross, the humanitarian situation in the country has deteriorated in the last year.  The ICRC has stated that there are still five non-international armed conflicts within the borders of Colombia and

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