President Iván Duque assumed office on August 7, 2018, after an election campaign pledging to reform the historic 2016 peace accord. The first two years of the Duque administration have seen the continued killings of social leaders, a spate of massacres that occurred during one of the strictest COVID-19 lockdowns in the Western Hemisphere, and various instances of democratic rollbacks throughout the country. The administration’s faltering implementation of the peace accord has resulted in this intensifying violence throughout rural and ethnic territories and has further exposed Colombia’s deep social inequalities.
In September 2020, over 500 Colombian and international civil society organizations published a new report evaluating the Duque administration’s second year in office. The report, entitled The Apprentice’s Misrule: Authoritarianism, War, and Pandemic (El desgobierno del aprendiz: autoritarismo, guerra, y pandemia), provides cross-cutting analysis from various sectors about President Duque’s performance over the past year and takes stock of the administration’s actions amid the alarming upsurge in violence, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the economic downturn in Colombia. Included in the report is an article written by the Washington Office on Latin America’s Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli and the Latin America Working Group’s Lisa Haugaard about why consolidating peace in Colombia should be a priority for the United States and the international community. Overall, the report’s seven chapters demonstrate how the Colombian government’s failure to fully and effectively commit to implementing the accord has intensified the country’s multiple crises and provide recommendations for concerted efforts to consolidate peace.
Join us for a webinar to hear directly from some of the organizations that authored the report. They will discuss the Duque administration’s ongoing democratic rollbacks, the government’s strategies of repression, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The panelists will also examine a repertoire of human rights violations, recent police and military abuses, and obstacles to implementing the peace accord. Finally, LAWG will share recommendations on how U.S. policymakers can address these issues, drawing from Protect Colombia’s Peace, a separate report collectively written by U.S. and Colombian civil society organizations.
Event Details:
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. EDT
This webinar will be uploaded to WOLA’s YouTube page after the event.
Panelists:
José Luciano Sanin Vasquez
Director, Viva la Ciudadanía
Linda Cabrera
Director, Sisma Mujer
Diana Sánchez Lara
Director, Asociación Minga
Moderation and comment by:
Lisa Haugaard
Co-Director, Latin America Working Group (LAWG)
Simultaneous interpretation into English will be available.