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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Columbia is the WORST country in the Western Hemisphere in terms of democracy and human rights violations in a close tie with Honduras, which has disproportionately targeted ; Union activists, independent journalists, and community organizers. Yet according to the U.S. State Department Columbia is a “ beacon of democracy “ and is the THIRD largest recipient of U.S. Military / economic aid in the world next to Egypt ( 2<sup>nd</sup> place ) and ISRAEL in 1<sup>st</sup> place.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> Armed Conflict in Colombia Has Affected 6.8 MILLION People <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><img width=600 height=340 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D0238C.F8D2E9F0" alt="Description: Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) negotiator Pablo Catatumbo speaks to the media while flanked by fellow FARC members in Havana on November 18, 2014."></span><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) negotiator Pablo Catatumbo speaks to the media while flanked by fellow FARC members in Havana on November 18, 2014. | Photo: Reuters<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Published 28 December 2014 (19 hours 51 minutes ago) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>0<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><img width=27 height=23 id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.png@01D0238C.F8D2E9F0" alt="Description: Coments"></span><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Armed-Conflict-in-Colombia-Has-Affected-6.8-Mn-People--20141228-0031.html#comsup" title=Coments><span style='color:blue'>+</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Colombia is the first country to have a formal record of victims of its five decade long conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Colombia's Unit for Attention and Reparation for Victims announced on Sunday that at least 6.8 million people have been victims of the armed conflict over the past 30 years- when the first figures of victims began to be registered- most of them as internally displaced people, or IDPs, the agency said. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The head of the agency, Paula Gaviria, has led the challenge to make Colombia the first country to have a formal record of the victims of its conflict. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>According to the agency’s document, 86 percent of victims suffered forced displacement and the remaining 14 percent faced threats, killings, forced disappearances, kidnapping, sexual violence, torture, forced recruitment, among other acts of violence.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The Colombian state has been at war with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for more than 50 years. The FARC, along with other guerrilla groups, came about as a response to violent government repression of popular progressive movements in the 1950s and 60s. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The FARC declared early this month an indefinite cease-fire, saying that the unilateral move should turn into an armistice for the 50 year conflict. The cessation of hostilities came into effect on Dec. 20. The Colombian government and the FARC began peace talks in Cuba in 2012, hoping to bring an end to a half-century of conflict – the longest running conflict in the hemisphere. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>To learn more <b><a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/bloggers/Victims-of-Colombias-Civil-Conflict-Exceeds-7-Million-Media-Yawns-20141126-0002.html"><span style='color:blue'>Click Here</span></a></b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>