It was a well-publicised event: Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez had previously announced he was prepared to risk and march through the streets of Caracas. On Tuesday he voluntarily handed himself over to police but not before urging tens of thousands of anti-government protesters to remain firm. “Don’t leave the streets…we must take up our right to but we must do it peacefully. Brother, I ask you and every Venezuelan who wants change…we must inform ourselves,...

Richard Blanco, an opposition legislator and deputy president of opposition Alianza Bravo Pueblo party, stressed that the number of violent deaths in Venezuela has skyrocketed by 483% since Chavezism took office in 1998. He claimed that high crime rates have been recorded even though Chavezism has implemented 22 different security plans and changed the minister of the interior and justice 12 times. The politician explained that some 4,000-5,000 people died annually in the country as a...

The general director of the Scientific, Criminal and Forensic Investigation Agency (Cicpc), José Gregorio Sierralta, confirmed on Thursday the detention of seven individuals allegedly involved in the robbery and murder of Venezuelan actress and former beauty queen Mónica Spear and her partner, Thomas Berry. The individuals have also been held accountable for the injuries caused to the couple's five-year-old daughter. The shooter was identified as 19-year-old Jean Carlos Colina...

The Honduran government is putting human rights activists at risk by failing to repudiate dangerous remarks by a senior military officer, Human Rights Watch said today. An army colonel recently claimed that Annie Bird, co-director of the US-based nongovernmental organization Rights Action, was working to destabilize the Bajo Aguán region, where land disputes have led to violence. The commander of Operation Xatruch III, a military-police task force based in the Colón province,...

The Argentine Senate promoted Maj. Gen. César Milani, the commander in chief of the Armed Forces, to lieutenant general on December 18, 2013, despite allegations by victims and human rights groups that he had participated in serious human rights abuses during the military dictatorship, from 1976 to 1983. The credible allegations of abuses implicating Milani cast a serious doubt on his ability to head the Armed Forces of Argentina, Human Rights Watch said. Instead of promoting Milani...

At least 23 bodies with gunshot wounds and hands bound have been found in western Mexico where drug cartels, vigilantes and and security forces have been fighting for much of the year. The bodies were discovered on an abandoned property near the town of Buenavista Tomatlan in Michoacan state along with a sign indicating they may have been members of the Knights Templar cartel, state prosecutor's spokesman Alejandro Arellano said. The area near the Jalisco state border has suffered a wave of...

The Mexican government should ensure that the process of developing a national database of the disappeared is thorough, efficient, and transparent, Human Rights Watch said today. Development of the database should be coupled with serious investigations to determine the fate of thousands of people who remain unaccounted for. The government announced in February 2013 that it was revising a database of more than 26,000 people reported disappeared or missing (extraviadas) that had been compiled by...

Honduran government officials should publicly repudiate recent criticism of two leaders of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Human Rights Watch said today. The officials should protect the right to speak out about human rights abuses and to express opinions and concerns about the country’s upcoming elections. On a November 5, 2013 episode of the Honduran television talk show “Frente a Frente,” the host, Renato Álvarez, read from what he said was a leaked diplomatic...

(Montevideo) - The founding of a global federation of domestic workers is a sign of the growing strength of the movement, and a key moment to assess progress for workers long excluded from basic labor protections, the International Domestic Workers Network (IDWN), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and Human Rights Watch said today. There are an estimated 53 million domestic workers worldwide - the majority of whom are women and girls, and many of whom are migrants. In the...

(Bogotá) - Internally displaced Colombians face killings and widespread death threats for attempting to reclaim their land, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Abuses targeting displaced families for trying to return home almost always go unpunished, as do the original crimes of forcing them off their land and stealing it. The 184-page report, documents killings, death threats, and new incidents of forced displacement committed against displaced Colombians in relation...