(Tobias Skarlovnik/Getty Images)

Dear John,

It has been another eventful week for Latin America. In my home country, Venezuela, a bill that seeks to control and criminalize civil society organizations is pending approval from the National Assembly. The move represents an attack on civil society, human rights and democracy itself and replicates a strategy used in other countries in the region. It is particularly worrisome in an election year.  As we communicated in writing to the U.S government and various international organizations and in a video that we rushed to produce late last week, elections in Venezuela cannot be free and fair without a fully functioning civil society.

U.S officials, the UN, and our civil society partners in Venezuela appreciated our rapid response and the video was picked up by key international players on social media. 

In other news this week, WOLA was relieved as President Bernardo Arévalo was finally inaugurated late on January 14, despite last minute attempts by outgoing authorities to delay the process. Our expert, Ana María Méndez Dardón, who features here on CNN, was in Guatemala to document these events. Pressure from the international community has been key in ensuring that democracy prevailed.

And finally this week, WOLA’s Gimena Sánchez is keeping an eye on Argentina, where a “mega decree” seeking to overturn over 70 laws, and restrictions on the right to protest under the government of Javier Milei are threatening to undermine human rights.

Best,

Laura Dib

Director for Venezuela

🇻🇪  As Venezuela's National Assembly seeks to approve a bill that could curtail the activities of civil society organizations in Venezuela, WOLA's Director for Venezuela, Laura Dib, calls on the international community to speak out against these attacks. 

Heather Hanson, former Executive Director for the U.S. Office on Colombia and Peace Brigades International volunteer, recently released “Hope for a Better Past: A Novel About Human Rights in Colombia.” This novel gives readers an inside look into the reality faced by civilians in conflict ridden areas of Colombia and the experience of advocating for human rights in Washington, D.C.. 

According to the Institute of Studies in Development and Conflict (INDEPAZ), Colombia experienced 93 massacres with a total of 300 victims in 2023 alone. Also in 2023, 188 social leaders (including human rights defenders, indigenous and afro-colombians, local community council leaders, trade unionists, land rights, LGBTQ+ and cultural leaders) were murdered. 

WOLA’s Colombia program works to prevent social leaders from harm and to advance justice for the relatives of the leaders who were assassinated. We also work on building strong U.S.-Colombia relations in order to advocate for peace, human rights, justice, and Afro-Colombian and Indigenous rights, all with a gendered approach.

If you are interested please make a gift on our website by today Friday January 19, 2024. For any questions, please contact Jillian Leslie, Director for Individual Giving at [email protected]. 

WOLA extends a heartfelt thank you to Heather for this offer, and for h er work to preserve and restore human rights.  

In April 2022, WOLA launched its one-of-a-kind Border Oversight Database, which documents hundreds of reports of human rights violations and abuses against migrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

"What we have seen in Nicaragua is the deepening of a strategy of repression that began in 2018 and that extended to the persecution of any social or political group perceived as opposition [...]" (Interview in Spanish)

Carolina Jiménez Sandoval,

WOLA President

– NTN24, Destierro: el arma de la dictadura de Nicaragua en contra de los disidentes

Ana María Méndez Dardón,

Director for Central America

– CNN en Español, Esta es la situación política de Bernardo Árevalo como nuevo presidente de Guatemala

"U.S. demand for drugs and lax U.S. gun regulations certainly have contributed to the violence and insecurity in Mexico."

Maureen Meyer,

Vice President for Programs

– The New Republic, What the Media Gets Wrong About the So-Called Border Crisis

📸 Check out this photo exhibition on migrants in Mexico City's Museo de la Cancillería by WOLA's Digital Content Creator, Sergio Ortiz now through February 17, 2024!  

🎉 WOLA is officially on Threads!

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