FARC guerrillas during the Caguan peace talks
Study Reveals Toll of Colombian Armed Conflict: Colombia’s armed conflict has left a toll of over six million victims, according to a report released yesterday. The Victim’s Attention and Reparations Unit noted 6,073,453 Colombians have suffered from displacement, terrorist acts, threats, sexual violence, forced disappearance, murder, antipersonnel mines, loss of material goods, kidnapping, torture, or children and adolescents forced to join armed groups. The results were based on two years of research, gathered according to the 2011 Law of Victims and Land Restitution, which aimed to collate the numbers of internally displaced peoples and also increased the spectrum of crimes to be taken into account. The aim of the study is also to support compensation of the victims, for which Col $54.9bn (US$27m) has been set aside by the government. So far, over 350,000 people have received compensation, making Colombia the first country in the world to compensate victims of an armed conflict that has not yet ended. The country has been suffering from an internal conflict since 1964 when the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) took up arms to demand land reforms against the governing elite.
Brazilian Protests over Public Transport Fare Hikes: Over 2,000 people took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro yesterday in protest of the latest increase in public transport fares, which bring the price to R$3 from R$2.75. The manifestation, which started peacefully, turned violent after the crowd entered the city’s central station and police fired tear gas to disperse protesters. Dozens were arrested and several wounded, including Santiago Andrade, a television cameraman who was filming the events. Santiago remains in a critical condition in hospital after being struck in the head by an unknown object. Yesterday’s was the latest in a series of recent protests against hikes in the costs of public services, such as transportation, which many are tying to escalating costs of Brazil hosting the World Cup.
Mexico: Further Violence in Michoacán: The decapitated heads of four indigenous Purépecha men have been found in the troubled south-western state of Michoacán. The victims have been identified as Bulmaro Herrera Rincón, who was 55, brothers Alejandro and Noé Álvarez González, aged 22 and 24 respectively, and another man only identified as ‘Juan’. All four went missing in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and were last seen driving together in a truck from the town of La Palma to the Cocucho indigenous community. The discovery comes on the same day authorities found a further 25 bodies in two common graves, all said to be victims of the Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar) drug cartel. Authorities are said to have been given a tip off from a cartel insider, which led them to excavate the sites.
The post Latin America News Roundup: 7th February 2014 appeared first on The Argentina Independent.
