Justice and Peace Commission documents police harassment of defenders in the Portal Americas humanitarian space

PBI-Colombia accompanies Justice and Peace at Portal Americas, May 20.

On May 23, the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace tweeted: “#Bogotá #PortalResistencia ‘they are seeking to be killed’, the threat in the second police harassment of defenders from @FlazosDignidad, @DefenderLiberta, @Justiciaypazcol a few hours ago in the rounds it was verified.”

#PortalResistencia refers to the Portal of Resistance, the name given to the Portal de las Americas, a key site of resistance in Bogota.

The Justice and Peace tweet follows this video of a person with “derechos humanos” on their jacket with the text: “The ESMAD [riot police] in #PortalResistencia Americas portal, attacks human rights defenders from the humanitarian space. There are no guarantees.”

On May 18, Justice and Peace also documented the events of that day:

“At 09:00 am, during the humanitarian support work, two defenders of our Justice and Peace Commission, Verónica Moreno and Jonathan Melo, were harassed by members of ESMAD, who recorded and wrote down their names and identifications without following the legal protocols designed for said procedure.”

That post concluded:

“The intervention tonight by the public forces has been one of the most violent that has occurred since the beginning of the National Strike, the indiscriminate use of conventional and unconventional weapons, has been a constant pattern in the actions of the Police.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied Justice and Peace on May 6, 11, 12, 13, 20 at the Portal Americas in the context of the national strike.

PBI-Colombia has also noted: “On November 21 [2020], the day of the nationwide National Strike, [the Justice and Peace Commission] denounced that during morning hours a drone of the National Police harassed the headquarters of the Commission in Bogotá, despite the fact that the government did not authorize the use of drones in the sector.”

To hear Danilo Rueda from Justice and Peace talk about the ongoing day national strike, register for the webinar below by clicking here.