Ms Catherine Heaney:

We reached out to former Deputy Eamon Gilmore, who had been appointed special ambassador to Colombia regarding the referendum it had last year. Through this, we became aware that Bolivia had been campaigning heavily to get onto the UN Security Council and used the Colombian peace process as one of the things it could bring to the table. We tried to exploit this contact. Unfortunately, the referendum was lost and the connection fell apart. We are happy and willing to consider other infrastructure.

Ms Dwyer made the point about the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the court. It faces the problems of defunding and a low level of commitment and compliance in South America. Often there are cases in which the court proposes fines and countries never pay them. It happens a lot in the human rights context. There is also a major fear with the change of administration in the US, which is the biggest funder of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, that it could be further eroded. It is the strongest instrument across the Americas. This is why we have invested so much.

We sought advice and examined every infrastructure option. Many of them are weak. There is a dual context. It is very important that the truth be found, for the sake of human rights. One cannot just kill somebody for nothing. The other purpose is to clear Mr. Dwyer's name. Once somebody's name is damaged, it is very difficult to rebuild it. It takes years, whereas the damage can happen in just a day.