The Latin American Report # 642
Several political and civil society actors are denouncing or expressing concern about an operation by the Colombian Army that resulted in the death of seven minors in the department of Guaviare, (ilegally) enlisted with the dissidents of the extinct FARC-EP, and particularly in the group led by Iván Mordisco. The number of minors represents 35% of the total guerrilla forces who were fatal victims of the bombing personally authorized by Gustavo Petro himself. The Colombian branch of the UN Office for Human Rights did not fail to attribute to the armed groups the responsibility for using the minors as "human shields," but also called on the security forces to take "all necessary precautions to protect and prevent the death of boys and girls who have been victims of recruitment by illegal armed groups."
I find the justification from the House of Nariño unacceptable and reprehensible, even cynical. The narrative that the ultimate goal was to protect the lives of twenty soldiers is a sort of copy of the one usually adopted by Israel to somehow defend the death of innocent children as part of its bombings against Hamas. The Minister of Defense was even less sensitive, alleging that "what gives combatant status is not age, but the function they fulfill within a criminal organization," and that the deceased minors "were fulfilling [that] combatant function." "The simple fact that they are found in the camps of illegal armed groups and have lost their civilian status and become combatants, that is, with continuous combat functions, does not enable the possibility of an attack," retorted the Colombian Ombudsman's Office.
Mexico
Yesterday, the so-called Generation Z caused quite a few headaches for Claudia Sheinbaum, when a march of 17,000 people against corruption and the impunity associated with organized crime and violence led to heavy clashes with security forces. The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation condemned "the expressions of isolated violence," which included "aggressions against security elements, damage to facilities, and attempts at violent and unauthorized entry" to the Executive branch's headquarters. The Gen-Z phenomenon, which started in Nepal, has shaken several regions of the world, including this one, but Sheinbaum denounces that in the Mexican case it is being instrumentalized by old right-wing actors. Twenty civilians resulted injured and about twenty more detained, against 100 injured on the police side.
"In the violent acts, homemade explosive devices, rockets, tools, and other objects were used against the security forces and against people passing through [the Constitutional Square]," denounced the Mexican Secretariat of the Interior, for its part.
These days, the problem of (political) violence in particular has been highlighted again by scandalous events such as the murder of a mayor from the state of Michoacán, where extortion and hired killings reign, in the middle of a public square. This case is revealing, because two of those involved in the murder were 16 and 17 years old. The latter was the one who directly killed the mayor, and was shot dead after already having been subdued immediately after his lethal action—something which is under investigation—, and the former was found dead along with another accomplice, abandoned on a stretch of highway at the level of the municipality of Capácuaro. In Sinaloa, another state in permanent tension due to violence, murders and clashes again reflect a worrying increase.
This is all for today’s report.
