Por Redaccion 
The Councilor for Cooperation will be part of the XXI Asturian Delegation for Human Rights and Peace in Colombia 2025.
The Delegation will visit regions in the center and northeast, including the troubled region of Catatumbo, and will meet with organizations, victims, and authorities regarding the public order and human rights situation.
The Councilor for Cooperation of the Avilés City Council, Agustín Medina, will be part of the XXI Asturian Delegation for Human Rights and Peace in Colombia 2025, which will visit the country between March 9 and 22.
The trip was announced this morning by the councilor himself, accompanied by Juan Ponte, Director General of the 2030 Agenda of the Government of the Principality of Asturias, as well as Javier Arjona, representative of the NGO Soldepaz Pachakuti, and other participants in the delegation: Carlos Meana Suárez (Soldepaz Pachakuti), Juan José Fernández Fernández (Coordinator of IU of Avilés), Celia Lejarza Portilla (Youth Assembly of Asturias AMA), and Faustino Loy Madera (Filopueblos Association).
This marks the twenty-first occasion of this trip, responding to an invitation from Colombian territorial organizations and in direct relation to the Asturian Human Rights Program, a temporary protection initiative pioneered by Asturias that is now 25 years old.
In connection with this program, meetings are planned with organizations of the Case Selection Committee, the Embassy of Spain, the UN Office of Human Rights in Colombia, individuals who have been hosted in previous versions of the program, Colombian institutions, and local authorities in the regions to be visited.
Therefore, the members of this XXI Delegation will learn firsthand about the reality of the armed conflict and the human rights situation in the country. All of this is aimed at the following specific objectives:
1. Continue direct observation in Colombia of the state of Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, the peace agreement with the FARC, the armed conflict with the ELN, the FARC Dissidences, and paramilitary groups.
2. Contrast with the Colombian government, the Spanish embassy, and the UN Human Rights system, the findings of fieldwork on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, compliance with the recommendations of the International Human Rights System, and commitments to social organizations and victims of the armed conflict.
3. Interview individuals who have been hosted by the Asturian Human Rights Program.
4. Disseminate in Europe the findings of the Asturian Delegation and add voices for peace, human rights, and social justice.
The total peace purpose of the current Colombian government is in crisis. The internal armed conflict is escalating in intensity, and the numbers of human rights violations indicate that the country has entered a new cycle of violence in which persecutions against individuals defending human rights and the environment are repeated and exacerbated. All this is of concern in Avilés due to the knowledge and direct relationship with groups of temporarily threatened social leadership refugees.
The visit will cover regions in the center and northeast, including the turbulent region of Catatumbo, and will meet with organizations, victims, and authorities regarding the local situation of public order and human rights.
As in previous occasions, the Delegation will subsequently prepare a report to be presented to the Asturian, Spanish, and European parliaments.
Members of the XXI Delegation:
1. Juan Antonio González Ponte. Director General of the 2030 Agenda of the Government of the Principality of Asturias.
2. Delia Campomanes Isidoro. Deputy in the General Assembly of the Principality of Asturias.
3. Carlos Meana Suárez. Labor lawyer. Soldepaz Pachakuti.
4. Eva Pérez Fernández. Izquierda Unida Avilés.
5. Agustín Medina Martínez. Councilor for Social Welfare and Cooperation of the Avilés City Council.
6. Claudia Lera García. President of the Youth Council of Asturias. CMPA.
7. María Isabel González Castillo. Vice President of the Youth Council of Asturias, CMPA.
8. Juan José Fernández Fernández. Coordinator of Izquierda Unida of Avilés.
9. Francisco Antonio Ramos Muñiz. Ecologists in Action of Asturias. Ecoloxistes n’Aición of Asturies.
10. Cayetana Leonor Junquera Martínez. Youth Assembly of Asturias, AMA.
11. Celia Lejarza Portilla. Youth Assembly of Asturias, AMA.
12. Valentín Brugos Salas. Intersindical Confederation.
13. María del Pilar Miguel González. Suatea-Intersindical.
14. Veronica Álvarez Cachafeiro. General Directorate of the 2030 Agenda of the Government of the Principality of Asturias.
15. Faustino Loy Madera. FiloPueblos Association.
16. Pedro Manuel Menéndez González. Journalist at the Radio del Principado de Asturias, RPA.
17. María Cruz Cuevas Canal. Asturian Coordinator of NGOs.
18. María Ángeles Fernández Martín. Reception Network of Leganés.
19. Ignacio Loy Madera. CCOO Asturias.
20. Javier Alfonso Orozco Peñaranda. Coordinator of the Asturian Human Rights Program.
21. Francisco Javier Arjona Muñoz. Soldepaz Pachakuti.
FUENTE