Blog Posts

Notes from the Evidence Project: Guatemalan Government to Dismantle its “Archives of Peace”

by Kate Doyle on June 06, 2012

In a surprise move, the Guatemalan government has announced the effective closing of the “Peace Archives,” one of the most active and important institutions created in the wake of the 1996 peace accords to promote peace, truth and reconciliation. According to Guatemalan press accounts, the Secretary of Peace Antonio Arenales Forno stated that by June 29 the government would “cancel [labor] contracts for which I see no justification and end the functions of an office that I find makes no sense.”

:2012, Blog Posts, Guatemala, Guatemala, Guest

What Should Be on the Agenda at the Summit: Protect Human Rights Defenders

by Lisa Haugaard on April 12, 2012

I can tell you what should be on the table for discussion at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia: The safety of the region’s human rights defenders.

Alexander Quintero campaigned for justice for the victims of Colombia's 2001 Naya River massacre, committed by paramilitary forces. “He brought us all together, indigenous, Afro-Colombian and mestizo communities,” said a colleague. “It could have been any of us,” a sobbing defender said, as she told me about his May 2010 murder.

:2012, Blog Posts, Colombia, Honduras, Latin America, Lisa Haugaard