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Despite government promises, ‘Total Peace’ remains elusive in Colombia today

Posted on 11/11/202512/11/2025 by cswpress in Colombia, Latin America

On 4 April Maribel Silva, Isaíd Gómez and Isaíd’s uncle, Carlos Valero obeyed the summonses of an illegal armed group operating in the Calamar Municipality of Colombia’s Guaviare Department. The next day, James Caicedo, Jesús Valero, Maryuri Hernández, Nixon Peñalosa and Oscar García did the same.

After the individuals failed to return home to their families in the hamlet of Agua Bonita in Pueblo Seco their family members reached out to representatives of the illegal armed group who had issued the summonses, but the group denied that any summonses had been issued. Later, the family members were indirectly warned that they should stop looking for their loved ones and ‘consider the case to be closed.’ 

So their families were left waiting, in the horrific uncertainty of what might have happened to them, wondering whether to sit tight, holding onto hope that their family members still might return home, or to flee the region out of fear of reprisals and for the safety and protection of the lives of the children and parents of the disappeared individuals. All eight individuals had already relocated and settled in Guaviare after being displaced from Arauca Department due to violence and severe violations of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), including the closure of churches and the targeting of Protestant pastors by illegal armed and criminal groups over the past decade. 

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A pesar de las promesas del Gobierno, la «Paz Total» sigue siendo una utopía en Colombia

Posted on 11/11/2025 by cswpress in Colombia ES, español, Latin America ES

El 4 de abril, Maribel Silva, Isaíd Gómez y el tío de este, Carlos Valero, se dirigieron a acudir a una reunioón solicitada por un grupo armado ilegal que opera en el Municipio de Calamar, Departamento de Guaviare, Colombia. Al día siguiente, James Caicedo, Jesús Valero, Maryuri Hernández, Nixon Peñalosa y Óscar García hicieron lo mismo.

Tras no regresar a sus hogares en el paraje de Agua Bonita, en Pueblo Seco, sus familiares contactaron a representantes del grupo armado ilegal que había emitido las citaciones, pero ellos negaron haberlas emitido. Posteriormente, se advirtió indirectamente a los familiares que debían dejar de buscar a sus seres queridos y «considerar el caso cerrado».

Así, sus familias quedaron en el limbo, sumidas en la terrible incertidumbre de lo que les habría ocurrido, preguntándose si debían permanecer allí, aferrándose a la esperanza de que sus familiares regresaran a casa, o huir de la región por temor a represalias y por la seguridad y protección de la vida de los hijos y padres de las personas desaparecidas. Esas mismas ocho personas y sus familias se habían reubicado y establecido en Guaviare tras ser desplazadas del Departamento de Arauca debido a la violencia y las graves violaciones a la libertad de religión o de creencias, incluyendo el cierre de iglesias y los ataques contra pastores protestantes, por parte de grupos armados y criminales ilegales durante la última década.

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Vietnam’s government restructuring: Streamlining or strongarming?

Posted on 27/10/202527/10/2025 by cswpress in Asia, Vietnam

In April this year the Vietnamese government formally introduced sweeping reforms during the 11th Plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee. The meeting laid the groundwork for the restructuring plan, which was later affirmed at the first Congress of the Government Party Organisation for the 2025–2030 tenure held on 13 October.

At the April plenum, Party General Secretary Tô Lâm described the reforms as part of a long-term vision for national development, stating: ‘The restructure is a strategic decision without precedent, aimed at ensuring fast, stable, and sustainable national development, and at better serving the lives of the people.’

The reforms have been hailed by officials as a bold step toward modernisation and efficiency, but behind the rhetoric of ‘streamlining’, human rights advocates warn that these changes may deepen state control, restrict freedoms further, and marginalise vulnerable communities—most of whom are ethnic and religious minorities.

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Attacks on places of worship in Manchester and Peacehaven did not arise in a vacuum. Political leadership is urgently needed.

Posted on 13/10/202513/10/2025 by cswpress in International Arenas, UK Government

A man drives a car into a crowd of people outside an Orthodox synagogue on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. He proceeds to attack those gathered outside, fatally stabbing one before being shot dead by police, who also tragically killed another whilst attempting to neutralise the attacker.

Two days later, two individuals in balaclavas set fire to the entrance of a mosque and a car parked outside it in what police are treating as a hate crime. Mercifully no-one was killed, with the two people who were inside the mosque able to escape.

At CSW, our work often involves reporting on attacks like these on places of worship in a number of countries – and often particularly in situations of conflict – around the world.

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For authorities in Cuba’s prisons, the right to freedom of religion or belief is a tool to manipulate

Posted on 08/10/2025 by cswpress in Cuba, Latin America

It has been understood for decades that conditions in Cuba’s maximum-security prisons are terrible. They have only grown worse over the past few years as the entire country has experienced an economic and infrastructure crisis, with critical shortages of food and medicine across the country alongside the repeat failure of the island’s entire electrical grid, sometimes for days at a time.

Since 1989, the Cuban government has refused access to the International Committee of the Red Cross to monitor or assess prison conditions. Prisoners are held in unhygienic, sometimes overcrowded conditions, in cells infested with mosquitoes and bedbugs. The food served to prisoners is unpalatable, riddled with insects and worms, and low in nutrition. Despite rampant disease, including tuberculosis, dengue, and dysentery outbreaks, throughout the prison facilities, medical attention is inadequate, if provided at all.

During the hot and humid summer months, temperatures inside the cells can rise to dangerous levels. Multiple former political prisoners have told CSW that the only water they had extremely limited access to, both for drinking and personal hygiene, was cloudy or dirty.

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