Omar Martinez

2012 has come and gone and Colombia still has far to go in following up on the Labor Action Plan (LAP). The Labor Action Plan was signed by both the U.S. and Colombian governments during the contentious debate for approval of the Colombia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.  It was intended to serve as a road map to address severe labor rights problems in Colombia as well as the systemic problem of anti-union violence which has made Colombia in recent years the most dangerous country in the world to exercise worker rights...

Granito: How to Nail a Dictator will be nationally broadcasted on June 28, 2012 by PBS as part of the Documentaries with a Point of View (POV) program.

In a stunning milestone for justice in Central America, a Guatemalan court recently charged former dictator Efrain Rios Montt with genocide for his brutal war against the country's Mayan people in the 1980s -- and Pamela Yates' 1983 documentary, When the Mountains Tremble, provided key evidence for bringing the indictment. Granito: How to Nail a Dictator tells the extraordinary story of how a film, aiding a new generation of human rights activists, became a granito -- a tiny grain of sand -- that helped tip the scales of justice.

It was a beautiful day in Bogotá, Colombia. It had not rained at all and the sun was shining with no clouds. Taking in the beautiful sunshine and enjoying the chilly yet comfortable temperature, my colleagues and I sat in a beautiful park in downtown Bogotá and discussed our upcoming meeting with ASOTRECOL, the Association of Injured and Ex-Workers of GM Colmotores de Colombia. After a brief intro into their labor plight and subsequent firings, we hailed taxis and made our way to the U.S. Embassy.