Category Archives: Interview

“The right to freedom of expression is the most essential right in a democracy” Father Javier Giraldo

At the end of last year, in the context of Christmas celebrations, PBI-Colombia met with Father Javier Giraldo, a recognized human rights defender and political and spiritual advisor to the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó.[1] During a coffee break in La Holandita, brigadistas from the PBI team in Urabá took advantage of Father Javier’s visit to talk about Constitutional Court ruling T-342/[2]020 that directly pertains to the Peace Community and, indirectly, to the defense of human rights throughout the country.

Continue reading “The right to freedom of expression is the most essential right in a democracy” Father Javier Giraldo

“What we see is a permanent attack on the administration of justice,” Reynaldo Villalba

August 2020 brought a ruling without precedent; the Supreme Court of Justice ordered an arrest warrant against Álvaro Uribe Vélez for alleged procedural fraud and witness tampering.  PBI spoke with Reynaldo Villalba of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective about the background on this case, the pressure and threats against the Court, Uribism’s proposal to unify the courts in Colombia, and other open cases against ex-President Uribe. Continue reading “What we see is a permanent attack on the administration of justice,” Reynaldo Villalba

“We are right when we make denouncements,” Fabian Laverde

Fabian Laverde loves the countryside and, like any good farmer, he can walk for hours up and down hills to get to the community that needs his help. He understands all too well what the peasantry’s historic exclusion signifies and the “guerrilla” stigma that falls on those who live in distant regions abandoned by the State, because he has lived this story. “I am a classic young person… who is now over 40,1” he mentions in passing with a mischievous smile. His story as a human rights defender began in 1993 when he was still in high school, during a strike led by peasants who were drowning under predatory loans. They took to the streets to achieve better conditions and prices for their coffee. Continue reading “We are right when we make denouncements,” Fabian Laverde