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News > Latin America

Why Won't the US Give a High-Profile Colombian Leftist a Visa?

  • Piedad Cordoba is the host of teleSUR's program

    Piedad Cordoba is the host of teleSUR's program "Just Cause." | Photo: EFE

Published 13 April 2016
Opinion

The former Colombian senator, human rights activist, and teleSUR journalist survived an assassination attempt.

The U.S. government will not allow one of Colombia’s most renowned human rights advocates enter the country to attend Inter-American Commission on Human Rights meetings in Washington D.C.

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Piedad Cordoba: 'Paramilitarism Became a Regional Strategy'

Former Senator Piedad Cordoba, a major supporter of the Colombian peace process between the government and FARC, approached the U.S. Embassy in Bogota two weeks ago to renew her visa, she told Caracol Radio. Cordoba wanted to meet with the IACHR to talk about her unjust removal from public office based on unfounded accusations that she has ties to the FARC.

In 2010, Colombian Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez banned her from public office for 18 years based on these accusations that were never proven in court.

However, the U.S. Embassy told her she needed a formal invitation in order to renew her visa.

"I can not wait for an invitation because I am the one beginning the process," Cordoba said.

Cordoba, also a spokesperson for Marcha Patriotica, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt April 1 suspected to be organized by paramilitaries.

The Marcha Patriotica, officially founded in 2012, brings together a number of social organizations, including those representing the rural poor, Indigenous, women and ethnic communities and leftist political groups and parties.

In another controversial decision, the United States in 2010 denied a visa to Hollman Morris, an independent Colombian journalist who specializes in conflict and human rights reporting. Morris had won a fellowship at Harvard University to study conflict negotiation strategies, international criminal court procedures, and the Rome Statute.

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