Dear Friends,
Donations of $100 or more to FOR will be doubled through the end of this month. Double your support here. And read on.
 By Emily Schmitz
Weaving a concrete thread through red dust and boiling sun, a winding two-lane highway curves through the northern department of Cesar, Colombia, carving out a familiar route. Passing between housing settlements of mud and brick stained the color of the earth, open-pit mines and mineral dumping grounds, it traces deep pockets of coal deposits. The meeting on the afternoon of November 27 is tense. An estimated 6.8 billion metric tons of recoverable coal reserves lie throughout the country, with the largest concentrations in the northernmost sector. Read more.
 By Liza Smith
On October 26, two young men from the small town of San Francisco, Antioquia were in Bogota and fell victim to an illegal street round-up. FOR has brought many delegations to this town, where the Antioquia Peasant Association (ACA), an organization FOR accompanies, works. After the round-up, the young men were taken to Arauca state and incorporated into the military ranks there. The recruitment of these young men was illegal in three ways. Read more.
 By Alfredo Molano Jimeno, El Espectador
A holistic agrarian reform, deconcentration of property ownership, policies for food and land sovereignty, strengthening of peasant and indigenous economies, technical training and rural education with a focus on livestock, regulation of mining and of land sales to foreign interests, are among the proposal that nearly 3,000 people put forth on the issue of land in regional work groups organized by the United Nations and the Congressional peace committees. Read more.
By John Lindsay-Poland
The Leahy Amendment prohibits US assistance to any foreign military or police unit if there is credible information that the unit has committed a gross human rights abuse, unless effective steps have been taken to bring to justice those responsible. I have worked for application of Leahy Law in Colombia for several years. How can people in civil society contribute to making this law work? Here are some lessons learned as a researcher and activist, presented in Washington on December 14 at a conversation on how to more effectively apply the Leahy Law.
Colombia in the last decade brought together eight extraordinary conditions. Read more.
By Lisa Haugaard, Latin America Working Group
On December 11, the day after International Human Rights Day, the Colombian Congress approved a justice “reform” bill that will likely result in many gross human rights violations by members of the military being tried in military courts—and remaining in impunity. The bill, along with a separate ruling by the Council of State, unravels the reforms put in place after the “false positives” scandal in which over 3,000 civilians were killed by soldiers. Read more.
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