Law 70: 33 Years of a Debt to Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal and Palenquero Communities

Bogotá, August 27, 2026. On this day in 1993, Colombia took a historic step with the enactment of Law 70, legislation that recognized and developed the territorial, cultural, economic, and social rights of Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal and Palenquero Communities. Thirty-three years later, the law remains one of the main achievements of the Afro-Colombian social movement, but it also reflects a debt that the State has yet to settle.

Law 70 emerged from Transitional Article 55 of the 1991 Constitution and recognized a fundamental principle: the territories these communities have inhabited, cared for, and defended for generations are not simply extensions of land. They are spaces of life, memory, culture, autonomy, and community organization.

For this reason, Law 70 is important not only because it recognizes and protects collective ownership of these territories, but also because it establishes guarantees that allow communities to preserve their cultural identity, participate in decisions affecting their territories, protect their traditional forms of production, and develop their own economic and social projects. In other words, it seeks to ensure that communities can remain in their territories and determine their own futures without their identities and ways of life being displaced or threatened.

Its importance also extends beyond the communities themselves. Colombia is a country built on profound ethnic and cultural diversity, and guaranteeing the rights of Afro-Colombian communities means protecting a fundamental part of that diversity, as well as the knowledge, cultural practices, and ecosystems that these communities have safeguarded for generations. Fulfilling Law 70, therefore, is not only an obligation to the Afro-Colombian population; it is also a condition for building a fairer, more diverse, and more equal country.

However, 33 years later, the implementation of Law 70 remains incomplete. Some of its provisions took decades to be regulated. For example, Chapter IV, concerning land use, the protection of forests and water, and the use of natural resources in collective territories, was not regulated until 2023, 30 years after the law was enacted. Other provisions are still pending. Meanwhile, communities have faced displacement, confinement, violence, illegal mining, and other forms of pressure on their territories.

An Earthquake That Once Again Puts Territory at the Center

The significance of this debt became even more evident following the earthquake of August 10, 2026, whose epicenter was near the municipality of San José del Palmar, in the department of Chocó, a territory with a significant Afro-Colombian population. The disaster left 331 people dead and affected this region and other cities across the country, according to Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD).

Among the territories affected were also Buenaventura and Cali, two places with significant Afro-Colombian populations and histories marked by profound social and territorial inequalities. This makes clear that the effects of a disaster cannot be understood separately from the conditions in which communities live.

In Chocó, the earthquake struck a department already facing the impacts of armed conflict, confinement, displacement, poverty, and longstanding difficulties in accessing services and infrastructure. The natural disaster thus compounded a social emergency that did not begin on August 10.

For many communities, reconstruction means much more than rebuilding a home. It means recovering their livelihoods, roads, schools, and community spaces, but also ensuring the conditions necessary to remain in their territories and continue developing their collective projects.

For this reason, reconstruction cannot be limited to rebuilding damaged infrastructure. It must recognize the specific characteristics of collective territories, their authorities, their forms of organization, and the historical relationship between communities and their land. How can these territories be rebuilt without first effectively guaranteeing the rights that Law 70 recognized 33 years ago?

A Debt the State Must Settle

At the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), we believe that the 33rd anniversary of Law 70 must be an opportunity for the Colombian State to move from the formal recognition of rights to their effective guarantee for Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal and Palenquero Communities. The Government must advance pending regulations, strengthen the protection of collective territories, and guarantee the effective participation of communities and their authorities in decisions that affect them.

The reconstruction of the areas affected by the earthquake must incorporate an ethnic and territorial approach and become an opportunity to address, rather than reproduce, the historical inequalities affecting territories such as Chocó, Buenaventura, and Cali. Reconstruction cannot simply mean rebuilding what collapsed. It must also mean guaranteeing that communities can live with dignity, exercise their autonomy, and remain in the territories they have cared for and defended for generations.

Afro-Colombian Day Is Not Just A Commemoration; It Is A Call For The Recognition Of Rights

Bogotá, May 21, 2026 – There is a way of being in the world that cannot be learned in a classroom or decreed by an institution. It is learned by living in community, by caring for one another.

In Colombia, Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquero communities have always lived this way; not because they had no other choice, but because they understood something that has taken others centuries to grasp: that life alone is not enough, that the land is cared for by all, and that dignity is not an individual achievement, but a collective endeavor.

Today, May 21, Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquero communities commemorate Afro-Colombian identity from this very place: from the organizational processes that have been shaping the agenda for decades; from the community councils that govern the territory with their wisdom; from the women’s organizations that have sustained daily life at times when everything else was falling apart. From the youth who received an enormous legacy and are carrying it forward with commitment and pride.

That legacy goes back a long way. And to understand what we are commemorating today, we must understand what they have resisted in order to get this far. Because the struggle of Black people in this country did not begin in 1851, when slavery was abolished. It began when the first Africans were brought to these lands, torn from their families, their languages, their names, and their identity. And from that moment on, the struggle was to reclaim the humanity that had been taken from them.

The palenques were the most visible expression of that resolve; entire communities that said no, that built their own territory. San Basilio de Palenque, a town in the Colombian Caribbean, survived. It defended its autonomy, preserved its language, and maintained its memory. And today it still stands.

Freedom arrived in 1851 without land, without resources, without the actual conditions to exercise it. And the communities had to keep fighting. For their territory. For education. For the right to participate, to decide, to be recognized.

That struggle found its way into the 1991 Constitution. Black community organizations didn’t wait to be given a space; they built it themselves. They arrived with their own agenda and succeeded in having ethnic and cultural diversity recognized. They secured Law 70 of 1993, which recognized collective territories and the right to prior consultation. That was no gift. It was the result of decades of organizing, of people who dedicated their lives to making possible what seemed impossible.

And yet, the gap between what the law says and what reality shows remains enormous. Between May 4 and 14 of this year, for example, the United Nations Mechanism of Independent Experts to Promote Justice and Racial Equality in Law Enforcement (EMLER) heard from communities, organizations, and state institutions. And upon concluding, it stated what communities have been saying for decades: that racism in Colombia is not a collection of isolated incidents, but a structural, historical, and sustained system. One that manifests itself in health indicators, in maps of violence, in unprotected territories, and in bodies that do not generate the same sense of urgency when they disappear.

Over the centuries, Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquero communities have demonstrated that identity is neither decreed nor granted. It is built, defended, and passed down. And that is precisely what this country holds in its hands: a living, organizational, cultural, and political heritage that continues to grow, that continues to shape leaders, that continues to care for territories, and that remains, after all that has been thrown in its path, a transformative force.

That is why this day is not just a commemoration; it is also a call for this country to honor with deeds what it has recognized with words, and for the rights that took centuries of struggle to achieve to be exercised without anyone having to pay with their life to defend them.

At the Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights, we echo Alomía’s words and join in commemorating this date to remind everyone that racism affects millions of Afro-Colombians; at the same time, we demand that the Colombian government provide guarantees for the recognition of the rights of the Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquero communities in this country.

Dayana Alomía, Legal Consultant on Race and Equality in Colombia

Activists from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela denounce transnational repression in exile before the IACHR

Guatemala City, March 16, 2025. Transnational repression carried out by the dictatorships of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela is a reality. This became evident during the regional hearing “Situation of Transnational Repression,” held last Thursday, March 12, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Guatemala City, within the framework of the 195th session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), Cubalex, the Association for Legal Defense, Registry and Memory for Nicaragua, the World Organisation Against Torture, and the Virtual Museum Against Gender-Based Violence in Cuba participated in this space for dialogue, accompanying three activists from these countries who have faced acts of transnational repression in exile: Cuban activist Kirenia Yalit Núñez, director of the Cuban Youth Dialogue Table; Nicaraguan activist Claudia Vargas, widow of activist Roberto Samcam and member of the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress; and Venezuelan activist Luis Peche, director of the organization Sala 58.

During the hearing, they denounced murders, attempted homicides, persecution, and harassment in the countries where they have sought refuge after being forced into exile due to repression by the authoritarian regimes in their countries of origin.

Claudia Vargas warned that the Nicaraguan regime continues to persecute opposition figures even outside its territory. “The regime’s persecution does not end when we cross the border. On the contrary, it transforms, expands, and reaches us even where we seek refuge,” she said. She also denounced the arbitrary deprivation of nationality affecting more than 450 people, which has resulted in the annulment of documents, academic records, pensions, and property.

She also recalled that at least five murders of Nicaraguan opposition figures in exile have already been documented, including the killing of campesino leader Jaime Luis Ortega in Costa Rica in 2024 and that of her husband, Roberto Samcam, a former major in the Nicaraguan Army and political analyst who was murdered in San José in June 2025. “His assassination represented a message directed at the exile community: an attempt to silence us and a demonstration of power beyond borders,” she stated.

“In the face of this serious problem, it is urgent that states in the region, especially host countries, recognize the fight against this form of persecution as part of their international protection obligations,” Vargas added.

For his part, Luis Peche explained that he was forced to leave Venezuela in 2025 following the increase in political persecution after the electoral process. The activist reported that he was the victim of an assassination attempt in Bogotá in October last year, when armed men opened fire on him and on human rights defender Yendri Velásquez. Peche received six gunshot wounds and Velásquez eight. Both survived the attack and are currently out of danger. “This fear is not abstract; it is concrete and persistent. It is part of a regional pattern of transnational repression that seeks to silence those of us who denounce these abuses,” he said.

From Cuba, Kirenia Yalit Núñez denounced that the Cuban regime has developed mechanisms of extraterritorial persecution against activists and journalists in exile. She recounted that she has faced numerous incidents of harassment in different countries, including acts of intimidation, surveillance, and migration-related obstacles. “The Cuban regime projects its intimidation beyond its borders to silence those of us who continue to denounce human rights violations from exile,” she said.

During the hearing, Cuban lawyer Laritza Diversent, director of the organization Cubalex, also participated. She warned that transnational repression seeks to silence critical voices even outside their countries of origin. Diversent urged the IACHR to recognize and systematically monitor this phenomenon, strengthen protection mechanisms for exiled individuals—especially in host countries such as Costa Rica, Colombia, and the United States—and promote coordinated regional responses to the extraterritorial expansion of political persecution.

She also called on the Commission, as it has done in other countries in the region, to establish a specific mechanism to monitor the humanitarian crisis and serious human rights violations in Cuba, in order to document these patterns and strengthen international accountability mechanisms.

During the hearing, the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) and the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela participated jointly for the first time. These bodies noted that transnational repression is a real phenomenon affecting opposition figures and human rights defenders from Nicaragua and Venezuela, and emphasized the importance of continuing to investigate and document these patterns of persecution beyond national borders.

Race and Equality will continue to monitor and denounce the human rights violations suffered by activists and defenders from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. We reiterate the need for states in the region to strengthen protection measures for exiled individuals and to ensure effective investigations into acts of transnational persecution, as well as coordinated regional responses to this phenomenon.

The collective manifesto of six women activists from Latin America and the Caribbean

Washington, D.C., March 6, 2026—On February 19, six women activists from Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic gathered for a virtual meeting that we at Race and Equality called “When Women Create, Memory Endures.” For an hour and a half, they shared who they were, where they were fighting from, and the realities they were facing in their territories. From that exchange, a collective manifesto was born that takes on special meaning today in the context of March 8, International Women’s Day.

Participants in this space included Eva Rafaela Calça, from Rede Trans Assis in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Andrea Ceballos, from the Indigenous Organization of the Pasto Territory in Colombia; María Camila Zúñiga, from the Movement of United, Diverse, and Emancipated Women (Mude), also from Colombia; Lourdes Esquivel, member of the Damas de Blanco organization in Cuba; Daniela Islas, from the Afrocaracolas collective in Mexico; and Estefany Feliz Pérez, from the Reconoci.Do youth movement in the Dominican Republic. For many of them, it was the first time they had shared a common space among such diverse struggles, but all driven by the same urgency: dignity.

The exercise culminated in the writing of a manifesto that reflects their collective voice and their main demands:

We, the women of Latin America and the Caribbean, unite in a powerful cry to demand equality and justice. Love and strength are what sustain us in this daily struggle.

From yesterday and today, we recognize the strength and determination of our history. We are the driving force. We are treasures of the world.

We fight to feel safe and equal, to be recognized and treated with dignity, from an anti-racist and decolonial perspective.

Today and always, we demand respect and freedom in all spaces!”

This call does not come out of nowhere. Latin America and the Caribbean continue to be marked by structural violence against women. In the last five years, at least 19,254 femicides have been recorded in the region, according to ECLAC’s Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (OIG). In most cases, violent deaths are perpetrated by partners or ex-partners, demonstrating that gender-based violence continues to be present in everyday spaces.

Femicide Violence in the Region

Brazil tops the most alarming figures. In 2025, it recorded 1,470 femicides, the highest number in the last decade, an average of four women murdered per day, according to data from the Ministry of Justice. In this context, Eva Rafaela Calça insisted that violence is not limited to murder: it is also expressed in exclusion and overload. For her, there is an urgent need for “a public space that values childhood as a responsibility of society as a whole, and not just of the mother,” because often “the mother is overburdened,” as well as policies that expand job opportunities for trans women “beyond informality and prostitution.” Her reflection connects femicide violence with the lack of care policies and the structural marginalization of trans women.

In Colombia, where the Colombian Observatory on Femicide reported 973 cases in 2025, impunity remains an open wound. María Camila Zúñiga recalled that, in addition to demanding justice for the murders, it is essential that “the work that women do with children, from the territories, be recognized” and that their lives be dignified. “We know that when a woman is murdered, justice does not always come,” she added.

In Mexico, where the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System recorded 721 femicides in 2025, violence is intertwined with structural racism. Daniela Islas warned that for Afro-Mexican women, recognition is also urgent: “What we need most urgently is recognition of our rights, more public policies for Afro-Mexican women, where we are guaranteed medical care.” She also referred to what she most desires: “We imagine a world without racism, without discrimination, where our rights as Afro-Mexican women are recognized and protected.” Gender-based violence in her territory cannot be separated from racial discrimination.

In Cuba, independent organizations such as the Alas Tensas Gender Observatory (OGAT) and Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba (YSTCC) recorded 48 femicides in 2025 and warn that these crimes are the result of prolonged violence. Lourdes Esquivel expressed it from the harshness of her reality: “In Cuba, all women’s rights are violated. They imprison our children, they kill them, they beat us. We go hungry. There are children who have nothing to eat.” Her testimony reminded us that violence also manifests itself in hunger, repression, and daily pain.

In the Dominican Republic, where 59 murders of women were recorded last year (according to the Vida Sin Violencia Foundation), these figures coexist with policies and practices that particularly affect migrant women and women of Haitian descent. Estefany Feliz Pérez reported that, without identity documents, “they do not receive health care, nor can they study,” and that there is “persecution against Haitian women and Dominican women of Haitian descent” that even involves arbitrary detentions and undue payments.

Globally, women have only 64% of the legal rights that men have, according to UN Women. At the current rate, closing the gaps could take centuries. Against this backdrop, the virtual meeting on February 19 was more than just a symbolic space: it was a commitment to regional coordination.

This manifesto is also proof that it is possible to build agreements amid diversity. Six women from different backgrounds, with their own stories and struggles, managed to come together without having met before, listen to each other attentively, and recognize each other in their differences. In this exercise in honest and respectful dialogue, they identified common needs and forged a collective voice. This virtual space not only allowed them to share complaints, but also to demonstrate that regional coordination is a powerful tool when it is based on listening, respect, and the awareness that no struggle is isolated.

At Race and Equality, we reaffirm our commitment to giving a voice to those who resist from the territories and to supporting their demands. Because when women create together, memory endures; and when memory endures, the future is also built.

We condemn violence against Danne Belmont, trans leader and executive director of the GAAT Foundation in Colombia

Bogotá, February 2, 2026 – The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights expresses its solidarity with Danne Belmont, executive director of the Trans Support and Action Group Foundation (GAAT), and her partner, who were victims of transphobic violence on February 1, 2026, in Bogotá, Colombia.

At Race and Equality, we strongly reject all forms of violence based on prejudice, particularly that directed against people because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. This incident constitutes a serious violation of human rights and is part of a broader context of structural violence that transgender people in the region persistently face.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), in its country report, indicated that Colombia is one of the countries in the region with the highest number of violent deaths of LGBTI people. Between 2022 and 2023 alone, there were 302 murders. Colombia ranks third in Latin America in terms of the number of murders of transgender people, which highlights an extremely dangerous situation. In turn, according to figures from the Defensoría del Pueblo, as of May 2024, this institution had dealt with nearly 290 incidents of violence against people with diverse sexual orientations and identities, including physical violence.

In its observations following its 2024 on-site visit, the IACHR warned of the persistence of violence against this population and the obstacles that LGBTI people face in accessing justice, especially in areas affected by armed conflict. Similarly, the Defensoría del Pueblo has warned of an increase in extreme violence against women and people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, both in private and public spaces, and insisted that every femicide and transfemicide is preventable if the State acts in a timely manner.

We deeply recognize and value the work that Danne Belmont has done as a trans leader and human rights defender, as well as the historic work of the GAAT Foundation in promoting, protecting, and defending the rights of trans people, particularly those in situations of greater vulnerability. Attacks against social leaders and human rights defenders seek to silence voices that are fundamental to building more just and inclusive societies, and cannot be tolerated.

We urgently call on the Colombian State and the competent authorities to conduct prompt, thorough, and gender-based investigations, guaranteeing effective access to justice, the punishment of those responsible, and the adoption of adequate protection measures for Danne Belmont and her partner.

At Race and Equality, we reiterate our commitment to the eradication of transphobia, discrimination, and violence, and we reaffirm that the dignity, life, and integrity of transgender people must be fully guaranteed.

To Danne, her partner, and the GAAT Foundation: know that you are not alone. We stand with you in solidarity and respect, and we reaffirm our commitment to walk alongside you, support your struggles, and raise our voices firmly and consistently.

We denounce the dismantling of a fence in Santa Marta that demanded freedom for political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela

Santa Marta, November 8, 2025 — Race and Equality denounces the censorship exercised by the local authorities of Santa Marta, who on Friday, November 7, ordered the removal of a billboard installed by our organization outside Simón Bolívar International Airport. The billboard demanded the release of political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, in the context of the IV CELAC-EU Summit.

The billboard bore the message: “Every person imprisoned for defending human rights in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela represents a broken promise of democracy. How long will this continue?”

Accompanied by the image of an imprisoned man and the flags of the three countries, the billboard sought to remind representatives of the member states of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU) meeting in Santa Marta of the urgent need to address the lack of democracy in the region. However, it was dismantled in less than 24 hours by order of the Mayor’s Office of Santa Marta, in compliance with supposed guidelines prohibiting the display of messages “of political content” during the summit.

This decision violates our right to freedom of expression and limits the possibility of denouncing human rights violations in these three countries, precisely in a space that presents itself as a forum for dialogue on democracy, cooperation, and human rights.

In 2023, a similar incident occurred in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when, on the eve of the CELAC Summit, a billboard installed by our organization demanding the restoration of democracy in Cuba and Nicaragua was also removed.

The IV CELAC-EU Summit, held from November 7 to 10 in Santa Marta, addresses key issues such as the triple transition (energy, digital, and environmental), gender equality, food security, and the strengthening of bi-regional cooperation. All this is happening while Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela continue to be marked by repression and the imprisonment of those who defend human rights.

Until the end of October 2025 alone, civil society organizations had documented 749 political prisoners in Cuba (according to Justicia 11J), 77 in Nicaragua (Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners), and 875 in Venezuela (Foro Penal). These figures reflect the magnitude of the closure of democratic spaces and the persistence of serious human rights violations.

Similarly, in a recent resolution on the Union’s political strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean, the European Parliament reaffirmed the importance of bi-regional cooperation and condemned the weakening of democracy in these three countries, which it described as some of the most authoritarian regimes in the world.

At Race and Equality, we denounce this censorship and reaffirm our commitment to freedom of expression, justice, and democracy. We will continue to call on the international community to denounce human rights violations in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and to ensure the restoration of democracy in these countries.

MUDE, a shelter threatened for defending the rights of black women and children in Palmira, Colombia

Bogotá, October 20, 2025 – On July 15, 2024, members of the Movimiento de mujeres unidas, diversas y emancipadas (MUDE, by its initials in Spanish) reported that, in the early hours of the morning, several people violently entered the house where the organization’s headquarters were located, in the municipality of Palmira, Valle del Cauca. Through their social media accounts, they made public how computers were destroyed, along with the shelter of more than 300 people, including children, adolescents, and black and diverse women from this region of Colombia who are beneficiaries of MUDE.

That day, the women of this organization felt that the “last straw had been drawn,” after years of threats, harassment, acts of racism, transphobia, and hate campaigns spread through social media. They were left with a clear message: if they continue to do this work, their lives are in danger.

A year after the raid, the events remain unpunished and the members of MUDE continue to denounce what happened and demand recognition and guarantees of their rights in this area of the Colombian Pacific. “We continue to call on the authorities and other organizations to listen to us and respond to our demands. We want to know that we have support, that our lives matter, that people care about what happens to MUDE, to children, and to diversity,” says María Camilia Saa, a member of the organization.

The Movimiento de mujeres unidas, diversas y emancipadas was founded in 2019 and, since then, has accompanied and transformed the lives of more than 6,000 children, adolescents, women of African descent, and diverse women, along with their families, in Palmira and other municipalities in Valle del Cauca. Sady Carreazo, another member, affirms that MUDE is a space for “collectivization.”

“Coming together guarantees the lives of Black people; it is another way in which we can be and live in freedom. It is another opportunity to study, work, be, and express ourselves,” adds Carreazo. The organization promotes advocacy, training, and visibility strategies with an ethnic and diverse focus through art and music. One example of this is MUDE’s Agojie group, whose songs address issues such as Afro hair, feminism, and sexual and gender dissidence.

Following the attack, MUDE was forced to relocate its headquarters to another area of Palmira, while its members continue to report ongoing threats and harassment due to their diverse identities and their work defending the rights of their communities.

From the Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality) expresses its support for MUDE and reiterates its urgent call on the competent authorities to act diligently, guarantee the protection of its members, and ensure that acts such as these do not go unpunished. Defending the lives, diversity, and leadership of Black and diverse women is an inescapable responsibility of the Colombian state.

We condemn the attack against Venezuelan human rights defenders Yendri Velásquez and Luis Peche, an example of transnational repression

Bogotá, October 14, 2025 – On Monday, October 13, 2025, Venezuelan activists Yendri Velásquez and Luis Alejandro Peche were victims of a shooting in northern Bogotá. Both were wounded in the legs and are recovering and out of danger. According to official information, three armed men intercepted them and shot them repeatedly before fleeing the scene. The Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality) strongly condemns this attack, which represents a new case of transnational repression, a form of political persecution that seeks to silence those who defend human rights even beyond their borders.

“We are alarmed by the growth of transnational repression in Latin America: a practice that seeks to punish activism and silence critical voices, even in exile. This attack against Yendri and Luis violates not only their right to life, but also the collective right to defend human rights,” said Carlos Quesada, Executive Director of Race and Equality.

Yendri Omar Velásquez Rodríguez is a renowned Venezuelan LGBTIQ+ advocate and founder of the Venezuelan Observatory of LGBTIQ+ Violence. In 2024, he received the Human Rights and Rule of Law Award from the French and German embassies; but that same year, in August, he was the victim of state persecution when he was preparing to travel to Geneva to participate in a session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. He was arbitrarily detained at Maiquetía airport and his passport was revoked. Weeks later, he was forced into exile in Colombia.

Luis Alejandro Peche Arteaga, 34, is an internationalist and political consultant. He was an advisor to the Venezuelan National Assembly between 2017 and 2018, during the opposition’s parliamentary presidency, and collaborated with citizen participation organizations such as Voto Joven. In 2025, he left Caracas after receiving threats.

This attack is part of a pattern of transnational violence that is becoming increasingly visible in the region. In June 2025, Race and Equality condemned the murder of retired Nicaraguan Army Major Roberto Samcam in San José, Costa Rica, an event that demonstrated that the persecution of critical and opposition voices transcends national borders.

Urgent call to the Colombian State

In this context, Race and Equality urgently and respectfully calls on the Colombian State to adopt immediate and effective protection measures, through the National Protection Unit, in order to safeguard the lives, integrity, and safety of Yendri Velásquez, Luis Peche, and their families. It also urges the Attorney General’s Office to conduct a prompt, thorough, and expeditious investigation to identify those responsible for planning and carrying out the attack and to ensure that there is no impunity.

Similarly, it calls on the authorities to coordinate actions with international organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), with the aim of strengthening the institutional response and providing specialized support.

Race and Equality also calls on the State to strengthen national protection policies for defenders, journalists, and social leaders, incorporating an intersectional, differential, and gender-based approach that recognizes the multiple vulnerabilities faced by migrant and LGBTIQ+ defenders.

Finally, we urge the international community, social organizations, and civil society not to remain silent in the face of these events. We strongly condemn expressions of transnational repression in Latin America and the Caribbean, and we reaffirm our commitment to accompany and stand in solidarity with the victims of these acts of violence.

Protecting the lives of those who defend human rights is a collective commitment and a universal ethical obligation. Defending rights cannot continue to be a risk that is paid for with one’s life. Colombia and the entire region must be territories of refuge and hope, not spaces where fear and persecution are prolonged.

United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent to hold regional consultation in Bogotá

Bogotá, September 16, 2025. This Friday, September 19, the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent will hold a regional consultation for Spanish-speaking Latin America, a space that is part of the process of drafting the future United Nations Declaration on the respect, protection, and fulfillment of the human rights of people of African descent.

This meeting, which will begin at 9 a.m. at the headquarters of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will bring together more than 60 leaders, is part of the regional consultations being conducted by the Permanent Forum in different parts of the world to gather input and ensure that the voices of Afro-descendant communities are taken into account in the drafting of the Declaration. The meeting in Bogotá will be the second regional consultation, following the one held in December 2024 in Barbados, which focused on the Caribbean.

According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), around 200 million people of African descent live in the region, equivalent to 30% of the total population. However, structural barriers persist that limit their access to justice, political participation, education, health, and decent employment. These gaps are even greater in the case of women of African descent, who face the intersectional effects of racism and sexism. The regional consultation in Bogotá, aimed at Afro-descendant communities in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries, seeks to generate an assessment of the multiple forms of discrimination and structural racism in the region, while consolidating proposals to strengthen the draft Declaration.

The event, which will take the form of a broad and participatory dialogue, will focus on priority issues identified by the Permanent Forum, including: the recognition and addressing of systemic and structural racism; restorative justice in the face of the legacies of colonialism, slavery, apartheid, and genocide; the collective rights of Afro-descendant peoples; sustainable development and the reduction of inequalities; as well as urgent and emerging human rights issues, such as the impact of artificial intelligence, climate change, environmental injustice, and the need to reform the international economic order.

The Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality) supports the participation of prominent women leaders from the region, who will contribute their experiences and expertise to the discussion. Among them are: Paola Yánez from Bolivia, coordinator of the Network of Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean, and Diaspora Women; Mirtha Colón from Honduras, president of the Central American Black Organization (ONECA); María Bizenny Martínez from the Dominican Republic, coordinator of the Human Rights and Political Advocacy Department at MOSCTHA; Luz Marina Becerra Panesso from Colombia, legal representative of the Coordination of Displaced Afro-Colombian Women in Resistance (La Comadre); and Teresa Mojica from Mexico, president of the Petra Morga Afro-Mexican Foundation. Their participation will raise awareness of the specific realities faced by women of African descent in the face of racial violence, forced displacement, and exclusion.

Voices of the diaspora: Women of African descent in resistance and global leadership

As a prelude to the consultation, on Thursday, September 18, at 4:00 p.m., at the Hotel Suite Jones (Chapinero, Bogotá), a dialogue will be held entitled Voices of the Diaspora: Women of African Descent in Resistance and Global Leadership. This meeting will feature the participation of the aforementioned leaders and Professor Justin Hasford, a member of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, whose career in the United States and involvement with Afro-descendant movements in the diaspora will allow for a comparative analysis between Latin America and the Global North.

The event, organized by Raza e Igualdad, will have simultaneous English-Spanish interpretation and seeks to consolidate a space for exchange and collective construction, strengthening the link between the historical struggles of Afro-descendant communities in Latin America and those that are developing in other international contexts.

Race and Equality will hold two Kátia Tapety School meetings in Colombia

Bogotá, September 16, 2025 – The Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality), in partnership with the Grupo de Acción y Apoyo a personas Trans (GAAT) and the Fundación Somos Identidad, will hold two meetings of the Kátia Tapety School of Political Training in Colombia, which will take place on September 23 in Cali and on September 26 in Bogotá.

The Kátia Tapety School of Political Training is a project of the Institute created in Brazil in 2022, with the purpose of training LBTI, black, and indigenous women so that they can fully participate in spaces of power and decision-making. Since its creation, more than 60 women leaders in Brazil have participated in these training sessions.

The program is named after Kátia Tapety, recognized as the first transvestite elected by direct vote in Brazil in 1992, whose political legacy is a benchmark in Latin America for the defense of human rights and the expansion of political participation by trans women, transvestites, black women, and indigenous women.

During the meetings to be held in Colombia, sessions will be held on the following topics:

Concepts and scope of political participation.
Manifestations and consequences of political violence.
International mechanisms for the protection of human rights.
Exchange of experiences and lessons learned from the School in Brazil.

If you are an LBTI, Black, or Indigenous person and would like to participate in this space, please register at the following link. Space is limited: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/sckf9qMPXt

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