Eyewitness - The Americas

Find out more about our work in the Americas.

Jamaica: fighting HIV stigma in church

Reverend Stephen Henry stands in his church

Homophobia and ignorance about HIV mean that stigma and discrimination continue to hinder prevention and treatment.

March across Bolivia: putting land rights to the test

Thousands of indigenous people are marching 526km across Bolivia to protest plans to build a road cutting through indigenous land.

The 123 families in Las Pavas Colombia, who were forced off their land at gunpoint two years ago, have won the legal right to return to the land.

Update

Colombian farmers return home

123 Colombian farmers forced off their ancestral land by riot police two years ago have returned home en masse, having lost patience with the legal process.

Market traders cross the river for a bi-national market on the Haiti/Dominican border.

Dominican Republic and Haiti are both situated on the island of Hispaniola. However, as neighbours their shared history over recent decades has been one of bloodshed and mistrust.

Dominican education campaigners stand with yellow umbrellas

A campaign supported by Christian Aid partner the Centro Montalvo calling for increased spending on education was very hard to miss in the Dominican Republic.

Yellow Monday

House washed away in climate floods

Seven-year-old Juan David climbed up a tree and watched as his house collapse into a river – a river that hadn’t been there just a week before.

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Colombian human rights defender arrested

Updated October 2010 - Defending human rights in Colombia is a high risk undertaking. A Christian Aid partner was arrested in September 2010 and is being held alongside prisoners whose crimes he has denounced.

David Ravelo's arrest

Colombia: Fighting for their right to the land

Jozefa, legal representative for the communities in Chocó, Colombia

September 2010 - Afro-descendant communities in Chocó, Colombia, have been fighting to obtain collective titles for their ancestral lands for 11 years.

Fighting for their land

Christian Aid partner's life at risk in Colombia

July 2010 - Colombian human rights defender Ms Judith Maldonado Mojica has been threatened and assaulted during a violent attack by two armed men.

August 2010 - The Embera indigenous people have been caught in the cross fire of Colombia's 40 year armed conflict. They endure regular battles with the army, paramilitary and guerrillas.

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Everyone has a right to clean water

Cecilia reaching for drinking water at her school in Bolivia

August 2010 - In July 2010, the UN declared clean drinking water as a fundamental human right. Thousands of Bolivians were involved in grassroot campaigns to bring about this global change.

Judith Turbyne, Christian Aid's Head of Caribbean region, gives an eyewitness account of the unrest in Jamaica's capital city.

Christian Aid's partner in Colombia, Peace and Justice, are fighting for the human rights of their communities.

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Peru floods

Read how our local partner, IMAGEN, is supporting communities recover from devastation.

How Rui finally got land of his own, after camping out on the roadside for eight years.

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Brazil: Million dollar students

How teenagers from the slums successfully took Brasilia city council to task about the capital’s rundown schools.

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Brazil: Faith leaders and HIV

How religious leaders are fighting stigma and discrimination in Brazil.

Silvia Castro Mendoza used to live right beside a drainage ditch and her home flooded every single year. But then Christian Aid partner MCM supplied her with building materials to relocate.