THE SURGE IN MIGRATION EL NORTE
More than 27,000 displaced in Colombia violence in 2021AFP 4.27.2021
More than 27,000 people were displaced during the first quarter of 2021 due to a surge of violence in lawless areas of Colombia, the human rights ombudsman said on Monday.
© Luis ROBAYO Despite a 2016 peace accord, Colombia has seen a surge of violence in lawless areas due to a multi-faceted conflict
People have either fled or been chased from their land by threats, murders, forced recruitment by armed gangs, clashes between such gangs, and others pitting them against the armed forces.
It amounts to a 177 percent increase in displacements on the same period in 2020, the ombudsman said.
Colombia thought it had seen the back of more than a half century of armed conflict when in 2016 the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a peace deal with the government to disband and form a political party.
But violence has continued pitting dissident FARC members, other leftist guerrillas from the National Liberation Army (ELN), drug-traffickers, right-wing paramilitaries and the armed forces in a multi-faceted conflict.
Between January 1 and March 31, there were 65 "massive displacement events" compared with just 35 in the same period the previous year, said the ombudsman.
In a statement, the United Nations deplored "the violence carried out against communities, people defending human rights, social and community leaders, as well as ex-combatants of the former FARC, a situation that has worsened in recent weeks."
The UN said seven ex-guerrillas were murdered in an eight-day period recently.
The leftist Comunes party, which was formed after the peace deal, claims that 271 former fighters that signed the accord have been killed.
lv/jss/gma/bc/st
People have either fled or been chased from their land by threats, murders, forced recruitment by armed gangs, clashes between such gangs, and others pitting them against the armed forces.
It amounts to a 177 percent increase in displacements on the same period in 2020, the ombudsman said.
Colombia thought it had seen the back of more than a half century of armed conflict when in 2016 the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a peace deal with the government to disband and form a political party.
But violence has continued pitting dissident FARC members, other leftist guerrillas from the National Liberation Army (ELN), drug-traffickers, right-wing paramilitaries and the armed forces in a multi-faceted conflict.
Between January 1 and March 31, there were 65 "massive displacement events" compared with just 35 in the same period the previous year, said the ombudsman.
In a statement, the United Nations deplored "the violence carried out against communities, people defending human rights, social and community leaders, as well as ex-combatants of the former FARC, a situation that has worsened in recent weeks."
The UN said seven ex-guerrillas were murdered in an eight-day period recently.
The leftist Comunes party, which was formed after the peace deal, claims that 271 former fighters that signed the accord have been killed.
lv/jss/gma/bc/st
U.S. announces $310 million in humanitarian, food aid to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, in a virtual meeting with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday, announced an additional $310 million in U.S. government support for humanitarian relief and to address food insecurity in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the White House said.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, in a virtual meeting with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday, announced an additional $310 million in U.S. government support for humanitarian relief and to address food insecurity in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the White House said.
© Reuters/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN U.S. Vice President Harris holds videoconference with Guatemala's President Giammattei at the White House in Washington
The two leaders also "agreed to open Migrant Resource Centers in Guatemala to provide services for people seeking lawful pathways of migration as well as those in need of protection, asylum referrals, and refugee resettlement," the White House said.
Gallery: Migrants deported from U.S. find shelter in Mexico (Reuters)
4/25 SLIDES © Reuters
An asylum-seeking migrant child from Central America, who was airlifted from Brownsville to El Paso, Texas, and deported from the U.S. with his mother, is seen inside the El Buen Samaritano shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico April 1, 2021. Young families who crossed the U.S. border seeking a better life find themselves forced to head back south into Mexico. They had hoped President Joe Biden would allow them and their young children to stay in the U.S. until their immigration cases could be heard. Instead, many were promptly deported. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Kim Coghill)
The two leaders also "agreed to open Migrant Resource Centers in Guatemala to provide services for people seeking lawful pathways of migration as well as those in need of protection, asylum referrals, and refugee resettlement," the White House said.
Gallery: Migrants deported from U.S. find shelter in Mexico (Reuters)
4/25 SLIDES © ReutersAn asylum-seeking migrant child from Central America, who was airlifted from Brownsville to El Paso, Texas, and deported from the U.S. with his mother, is seen inside the El Buen Samaritano shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico April 1, 2021. Young families who crossed the U.S. border seeking a better life find themselves forced to head back south into Mexico. They had hoped President Joe Biden would allow them and their young children to stay in the U.S. until their immigration cases could be heard. Instead, many were promptly deported. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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