Latin America
We work alongside local organizations and human rights defenders to defend civic space and combat violence, repression, and discrimination in the region. Through strategic litigation and legal advocacy before the Inter-American Human Rights system and the United Nations, we work toward protecting human rights, seeking truth, justice, and redress for victims of human rights violations. From combating gender-based violence in Central America, historic racism against Dominicans of Haitian Descent, and systematic repression against critics in Venezuela and Guatemala to protecting freedom of the press in Colombia and Brazil, our mission is to create a region where justice, dignity, and equality prevail for all.
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share Deaths of Migrants in ICE Custody Reach Highest Level in 20 Years Huabing Xie, an undocumented migrant from China, became the latest person to die in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in fiscal year 2025, after passing away on September 29. His death also brought the total to at least 22 between…
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share U.S. Assigned a Specialized Immigration Team to Target Campus Protesters When Rumeysa Ozturk was grabbed by masked federal agents outside her Massachusetts home in March, the video of the Turkish graduate student being handcuffed and hustled into an unmarked vehicle spread around the world. A federal trial that ended Tuesday revealed for the first time the…
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share Trump Administration Increasingly Places Immigrants in Solitary Confinement, Report Finds Use of solitary confinement in immigration detention is soaring under the Trump administration, according to a report published by Physicians for Human Rights using federal data and records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed at least 10,588 people…
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CNN en Español: Disappearances in Venezuela are not “irregularities” but a “government strategy to show power,” report says
The Trump administration’s agreement with El Salvador to detain alleged criminal gang members has been made public for the first time, as part of a lawsuit challenging the use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA).
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Electoral Repression, Enforced Disappearances and Political Control in Venezuela
Tags Share Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Foro Penal have published a new report outlining patterns of political repression in Venezuela following the July 2024 presidential elections, and the 2025 parliamentary and regional elections. The report, titled Electoral Repression, Enforced Disappearances and Political Control in Venezuela, analyzes how President Nicolas Maduro’s regime has increasingly…
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New report analyzes increasing political repression in Venezuela following 2024 presidential elections
Tags Share Washington, D.C., September 18, 2025 – Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Foro Penal today published a new report outlining patterns of political repression in Venezuela following the July 2024 presidential elections, and the 2025 parliamentary and regional elections. The report, titled Electoral Repression, Enforced Disappearances and Political Control in Venezuela, analyzes how…
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Defending Human Rights Amid Repression: The Escalating Risks for Activists in Venezuela
Tags Share Since the disputed presidential elections on July 28, 2024, Venezuela has experienced a chilling escalation of repression, with human rights defenders (HRDs) at the center of targeted attacks by state actors. What began as a crackdown on protesters evolved into a sustained campaign to silence civil society. The post-election climate has left independent…
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Brazil’s Marco Temporal: Indigenous Land Rights at a Crossroads
Tags Share Brazil is in the midst of a high-stakes battle over Indigenous land rights, centered on the controversial concept of the Marco Temporal, or “time frame” thesis. This legal theory would limit Indigenous territorial claims to lands physically occupied – or under legal dispute – on October 5, 1988, the date Brazil’s current Constitution…
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share These Civil Rights Advocates Toured Louisiana ICE Detention Centers. Here’s What They Saw. In late July, officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement provided access to three detention centers they operate in Louisiana to a group of about 20 civil rights advocates. Their tour included the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, located on…
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100 años de Guillermo Cano Isaza: honrar la memoria, exigir justicia
Tags Share Hoy, 12 de agosto, se cumplen 100 años del natalicio de Guillermo Cano Isaza, periodista y director de El Espectador, durante más de tres décadas, hasta su asesinato el 17 de diciembre de 1986, en Bogotá. Su coraje, su ética y rigor periodístico lo hicieron un referente y ejemplo para generaciones de periodistas.…
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100 years of Guillermo Cano Isaza: honoring his memory, demanding justice
Tags Share Today, August 12, marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Guillermo Cano Isaza, journalist and editor of El Espectador for more than three decades until his assassination on December 17, 1986, in Bogotá. His courage, ethics, and journalistic rigor made him a role model and example for generations of journalists. Today, we…
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share ‘Horrific’: Report Reveals Abuse of Pregnant Women and Children at US ICE Facilities A new report has found hundreds of reported cases of human rights abuses in US immigration detention centers. The alleged abuses uncovered include deaths in custody, physical and sexual abuse of detainees, mistreatment of pregnant women and children, inadequate medical care, overcrowding and…
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