Category: Human Rights

In Her Name: Nadia Vera

December 11, 2015

Nadia’s strength, creativity, bravery and determination to create a world of justice is a legacy to learn from. It’s vital to follow Nadia’s lead, to seek justice for her, Yesenia, Mile, Alejandra, Rubén, and the thousands of other victims of human rights violations in Mexico. It is crucial to continue the fight to change our world so this epidemic of violence against women, and women human rights defenders comes to an end. Women of the world have the right to live full lives, and to be their whole selves, in peace.

Caravan of Mothers of Disappeared Migrants

December 10, 2015

Today, we are with mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters from Central America who are searching for their loved ones, who are not in their places of origin, nor their destinations, and the last communication they sent was from here, from the country of transit.

In Her Name: Rocío Mesino Mesino

December 10, 2015

It’s been two years since Rocío Mesino, environmental and human rights activist, was shot to death in broad daylight in the Mexican state of Guerrero while helping rebuild a community destroyed by a hurricane. It’s been two years of impunity, and a rise in violence against women human rights defenders, defensoras, in Mexico. Rocío is one of many defenders who lost her life for protecting others.

Mexico City’s Global Climate March 2015

December 9, 2015

Thousands of people gathered at Mexico City’s symbolic Monument to the Revolution, demanding climate justice and respect for the environment in anticipation of the COP21 talks in Paris. A mix of environmental organizations, families and concerned citizens joined cities around the world, on Nov. 29 as world leaders from more than 190 countries arrived at the annual climate conference to discuss the current crisis and agree on plans to eradicate climate change.

Bishop of San Salvador Suspended for Sexual Abuse

December 7, 2015

Bishop Jesús Delgado, third in line from the Archbishop of El Salvador and the leader of the effort to canonize the martyr Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, has been suspended from all his functions in the Catholic Church after confessing to having sexually abused a nine-year-old girl.

Former Salvadoran Soldiers Working as Mercenaries in Yemen

December 1, 2015

The fact that Salvadorans form part of the mercenary armies operating in Yemen is an open secret. A military intelligence source from the Salvadoran Ministry of Defense, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed to the Americas Program that there are 100 Salvadorans carrying out operations of that type in Yemen.

In Her Name: Marisela Escobedo Ortiz

November 30, 2015

The defensoras, or women human rights defenders, embody courage every moment as systematic violence has broadened its target toward them as a way to disempower women activists, weaken movements for social change, and maintain the patriarchal, militarized Mexican State. Women human rights defenders risk their lives every day to create a Mexico where being a woman doesn’t inherently mean a doomed fate.

Tlatlaya Massacre and U.S. Military Aid

November 12, 2015

The suspension of U.S. aid should indeed extend to all security aid to Mexico. Not only are serious cases of human rights violations piling up, but also because the militarized war on drugs model is in itself a violation of human rights.

Marijuana Prohibition Violates Human Rights, Mexican Supreme Court Rules

November 11, 2015

Mexico just joined the growing list of countries that have moved towards legalization of marijuana. In a ruling last Thursday, the Supreme Court of Mexico granted injunctive relief to a group of four plaintiffs who had filed a complaint in 2013 requesting to be able to grow, transport and consume marijuana.