Given the reports of serious abuses that we have received over the past two days, we are concerned there is a real risk that the suspension of these rights could be used to perpetrate further human rights violations.

The government has failed to adequately implement basic security measures it agreed with the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, the Guerrero-based NGO that took these cases to the Inter-American system. These include providing cellular and satellite phones to some beneficiaries, and police protection through twice-daily visits to the homes of the widows of Mr. Ponce Rosas and Mr. Lucas Lucía and police escorts upon request.

The Organization of American States (OAS) must act quickly to push for the reestablishment of democracy in Honduras after a military coup.

By ending the double standard on human rights and democracy that marked US policy toward Colombia under President Bush, Obama could go a long way toward restoring US credibility in Latin America.

Colombia has for decades been embroiled in a brutal internal armed conflict involving left-wing guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN), paramilitary death squads (previously known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC), and the Colombian armed forces. Thousands have been killed, forcibly "disappeared," kidnapped, raped, and tortured.

President Barack Obama should raise human rights concerns on June 29, 2009, during his first official meeting with President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia.

The Peruvian government’s decision this month to revoke the broadcast license of a local radio station could have a chilling effect on community broadcasting in Peru. The timing and circumstances of the revocation suggest that it may have been an act of censorship, or punishment, in response to coverage of anti-government protests on June 5, 2009.

When President Lula da Silva of Brazil addresses the UN Human Rights Council on June 15, 2009, he should explain why Brazil is using its vote in the council to protect countries with appalling human rights records.