Ahead of International Women's Day tomorrow, @comfortero.crisisgroup.org shares her picks from our work at @crisisgroup.org reminding us that, even when it is less visible, women and children often bear the brunt of conflict.
www.crisisgroup.org/sco/global/c...
The US has taken control of Venezuela's oil production and now covets vast critical mineral wealth.
Today, many of these mines are in the hands of armed groups, in complicity of local security forces. @CrisisGroup.org explains the conflict risks ahead 👇
www.crisisgroup.org/qna/latin-am...
Hoy en día es imposible hablar de la naturaleza del conflicto armado en Colombia sin comprender que hay niños y niñas que se ven obligados a participar en todas sus facetas.
🧵de @dickinsonbeth.bsky.social sobre nuestro nuevo informe acerca del reclutamiento infantil.
Para reclutar niños y niñas, los grupos armados y criminales se han vuelto expertos en tejer mitos en torno a sus operaciones.
Los niños, atraídos por dinero fácil; las niñas, por la ilusión de escapar violencia doméstica.
Así se nos explicó un niño👇
www.crisisgroup.org/es/brf/latin...
The children I met during this investigation had experienced unthinkable harm.
We owe it to them to combat recruitment as bravely as Tumi did, with all the force we can muster.
Please read our full report:
www.crisisgroup.org/brf/latin-am...
Against this devastating panorama, Colombia is only beginning to take the steps needed to prevent children from falling into armed groups’ snares.
Recruitment reverberates well beyond any single household, silencing communities and reinforcing armed control.
Families of missing kids stay silent, in hopes the child will be returned and out of fear that they will pay the price for any word that runs afoul of the armed group.
Inside the ranks, children are placed into the most dangerous roles, because commanders appear to view them as dispensable.
Girls suffer unspeakable abuse, forced into relations or even sold among fighters for sex.
Recruitment is deliberate and systematic, organized through networks of recruiters who identify vulnerable minors, seduce them with promises attuned to their personal situation, and then sell them to criminal groups, as children themselves told me.
Armed and criminal groups depend so heavily on children that they have reshaped their tactics to use minors will be human shields surrounding their core fighters, frontline combatants in confrontations, and domestic & sexual servants to commanders.
elpais.com/america-colo...
Tumi was killed because children are a highly coveted commodity in the current conflict.
Our report today maps out how children are lured away and the roles they are forced to fill in armed and criminal groups.
Just after the last time I saw him, he was assassinated with 9 shots to the head for this work.
In the days prior, he had worried about rising threats and his car had been attacked.
The state knew, also, and he had protection. It was not enough.
I started working on child recruitment after meeting Edgar Tumiña, an Indigenous leader in Cauca who led missions to recover missing kids from his community.
Tumi, as we called him, dedicated his life to recovering children and preventing others from joining.
Today in Colombia, it is impossible to talk about the nature of armed conflict without understanding that there are children being forced to participate in every part of it
🧵on our new @crisisgroup.org report & how generalized child recruitment has become
www.crisisgroup.org/brf/latin-am...
"Cada niño que protegemos de ser reclutado es un paso hacia el debilitamiento de un conflicto cuyo costo lo paga la población más vulnerable."
✍️ @dickinsonbeth.bsky.social en @elpaisamerica.bsky.social
Hoy no se puede hablar de la naturaleza del conflicto armado en #Colombia sin reconocer que hay niños y niñas obligados a participar en todas sus dimensiones.
Hoy, escribo en @elpaisamerica.bsky.social sobre el reclutamiento de menores @latam.crisisgroup.org
elpais.com/america-colo...
#Colombia's Armed groups systematically recruit children, who they force to fill the most dangerous roles.
In our @crisisgroup.org report, we document how these criminal recruitment networks lure children from home and sell them to the highest armed bidders
www.crisisgroup.org/brf/latin-am...
Violence in Sinaloa hasn’t stopped. In just two weeks: mass kidnappings and overtly political attacks. The MX gov says Chapitos were behind them. On the abduction of 10 miners (at least 5 killed), Sec. Harfuch said it was a case of mistaken identity, Chapitos allegedly thought they were with Mayos.
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
This Thursday, our latest from @crisisgroup.org
I started working on child recruitment in #Colombia by accident, because everywhere I went, the conflict was being reshaped by armed groups' dependence on minors to control territory and silence the communities left behind.
We publish our @crisisgroup.org findings on 12 February
In its latest show of gunboat diplomacy, the US has deployed a guided-missile destroyer to the coast of Haiti just days before the transitional gov's mandate expires.
What is behind the new pressure? My @CrisisGroup colleague @diego_darin explains 👇
www.crisisgroup.org/anb/latin-am...
🇺🇸🇨🇴 “Petro and Trump have each found a perfect sparring partner”
On Tuesday’s #Spotlight, @dickinsonbeth.bsky.social breaks down #Petro-#Trump tensions ahead of White House visit.
#Entrevista 🎥 La investigadora @dickinsonbeth.bsky.social explica por qué reconocer este fracaso es clave para pensar alternativas desde los territorios más afectados.
👉 Mira la entrevista completa: youtu.be/pz9R0IfqTvM
#GuerraContraLasDrogas #PolíticaDeDrogas #Violencia
#Entrevista 🎥 En este diálogo, la experta @dickinsonbeth.bsky.social de @crisisgroup.org sostiene que insistir en frenar la oferta de drogas es una estrategia fallida. Frente a ello, plantea que los Estados prioricen la protección integral y políticas sociales.
Ver más 📲 f.mtr.cool/opwuazwteq
The ELN has is moving swiftly to guarantee its interest and survival in Venezuela, after US military operations in Caracas.
We write in today's LatAm Advisor, future talks may follow the same logic: a means to survive politically under new Colombian gov
tinyurl.com/2mc5mh7v
#Mexico transferred 37 prisoners to the US in a move to quell tensions, as Washington once again threatens strikes on drug trafficking groups
Yet renditions to the US have tended to escalate violence in Mexico. My colleague @dmoravera.bsky.social explains 👇
www.crisisgroup.org/alr/latin-am...
Sheinbaum just handed over 37 cartel suspects to U.S. custody. After the U.S. attack in Caracas, Mexico needs to deliver clear wins for Trump to further deter any U.S. unilateral military move. This is it. Some quick thoughts from Sinaloa, where I am doing fieldwork this week:
Antes de la captura de Maduro, el ELN estaba tomando medidas para garantizar la seguridad de sus intereses en las zonas fronterizas, independientemente de lo que ocurriera en Caracas.
Mi columna @crisisgroup.org en @nytimeses.nytimes.com
👇
www.nytimes.com/es/2026/01/1...
"The ELN stands emboldened to challenge the authority of the Colombian state—and US ambitions in Venezuela... The ELN’s ranks are filled with skilled guerrilla fighters with deep expertise in improvised explosives..." @dickinsonbeth.bsky.social on blowback to Trump's imperial adventure in Venezuela:
