VOICE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

2011 has been an incredible year. From the Arab Spring and Wallstreet protests to the Eurpean debt crisis and the death of Osama Bin Laden, 2011 has definitely been a year to remember. As we look back on the year and reflect, let us look back on the photos that captured those life changing moments […]

PERU.— Peru’s chief prosecutor has relaunched a criminal investigation into the forced sterilizations of thousands of women during the 1990-2000 government of Alberto Fujimori. The women were predominantly from rural areas, were poor, illiterate and Quechua-speaking. A practice that was once official state policy now constitutes a crime against humanity. Initially, the program was well […]

BRAZIL.— Brazilian Judge Patricia Acioli, mother of three, known for her hard-line stance against Rio de Janeiro’s criminal gangs and brutal militias,was murdered on 11 August just outside her house in Niteroi, across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. Judge Acioli was shot by four hooded gunmen when she pulled up to her home early […]

COLOMBIA.– On 7 June,  Julio Cesar Rosero, a lawyer representing Jenny Torres (a member of the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes [MOVICE]), received an email containing a death threat. The message read, “this message is for the lawyer Julio Cesar Rosero, for Martha Giraldo and all her organization of bandits, for Jenny Torres … […]

DRAFTED BY: Ashly Bloxon BRAZIL.— Anti- logging activism is becoming increasingly more dangerous in areas of Brazil. Amazon environmental activist Adelino Ramos’ murder comes just days after the death of Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva. In 2005, Dorothy Stang, an American born Roman Catholic sister was brutally shot and killed in a rural area of […]

SAN DIEGO.– UCSD’s Political science department  host speaker José Luis Méndez Martínez to discuss Presidential leadership and democracy in Mexico and Brazil. José Luis Méndez Martínez holds  a B.A. in International Relations from El Colegio de México as well as a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a Fulbright Scholar in […]