Amnesty International has called on the Colombian authorities to investigate the killing of a human rights defender who was campaigning against abuses committed by paramilitaries and the security forces in the north-western region of Sucre. Rogelio Martínez, who represented displaced rural communities in the area of San Onofre, was shot dead by a group of hooded men dressed in black as he travelled home by motorbike taxi on Tuesday. “Rogelio Martínez campaigned long...

Washington, DC - Today, Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade issued the following statement concerning the draft United Nations Security Council resolution. “Achieving consensus on a new round of United Nations sanctions among the permanent five members of the Security Council is a positive step. There are some good provisions in the resolution, including a partial arms embargo and...

The United States contractor detained in Cuba last month and accused of being a spy is a 60-year-old social worker from the Washington suburbs who had gone to Cuba to provide communications equipment to Jewish nonprofit organizations, according to American officials. In postings on the Internet, the contractor, Alan P. Gross - whose identify had not previously been made public - said he had more than 20 years’ experience in development work around the world. One of his Internet...

Amnesty International has called on the Mexican authorities to protect an Indigenous community blockaded by more than 30 paramilitary gunmen with links to one of the country's main political parties. The 700 people living in San Juan Copala, in the Indigenous Triqui region of Oaxaca state, are virtually cut off from the outside world. They have restricted access to food and electricity and the armed group has also cut their water supply. Those trying to break the blockade have been...

Congressman Brad Sherman, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade delivered the following statement concerning the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act during the initial meeting of the conference committee on April 28, 2010. “The Iran Nuclear Program is the number one national security threat we face. The State Department identifies Iran already as the number one state sponsor of terrorism. A nuclear Iran...

Amnesty International has reiterated its call for the Mexican federal authorities to thoroughly investigate the attack on human rights observers in the southern state of Oaxaca, which left two people dead and several injured. Around 30 people in an International Caravan of Human Rights Observers were ambushed by armed men in the Indigenous Triqui area on Tuesday 27 April. Jyri Antero Jaakola an observer from Finland, and Indigenous human rights defender Alberta Cariño -also known...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has agreed "in principle" to Brazilian mediation to revive a U.N.-brokered nuclear fuel swap deal with world powers, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Wednesday. The powers see the deal as a way to remove much of Iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile to minimize the risk of this being used for atomic bombs, while Iran would get specially processed fuel to keep its nuclear medicine program running. But the proposal broke down over...

Mexico's Supreme Court has overturned the kidnapping convictions and ordered the release of two Indian market vendors whose case received international attention. Otomi Indians Alberta Alcantara Juan and Teresa Gonzalez Cornelio have spent almost four years in prison on 21-year sentences for the alleged kidnapping of six federal agents. Prosecutors say the agents were confiscating pirated good at a market in 2006 when angry vendors overpowered them and held them against their will. The...

A senior US Army general on Tuesday dismissed any role of Iranian special forces in Venezuela, saying that Tehran's activities there were diplomatic and commercial in nature, and not military. His comments appeared to run counter to a Pentagon report forwarded to the US Congress earlier in April. The report claimed that the elite Qods Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps had a growing presence in Latin America, "particularly in Venezuela," Reuters reported. President...

A day after vowing to ease tensions with Colombia, on Monday President Hugo Chávez charged that his neighboring country recently allowed a US military aircraft to carry out "electronic warfare" operations against Venezuela. The Venezuelan ruler said that his intelligence services detected the US plane that, he said, took off from a Colombian base and flew along the border between the two South American countries, whose tense relations have worsened in recent months, AP...