Juan Pedro Lares, a 24-year old Colombian-Venezuelan young man, who was abducted by a hundred civilian-dressed members of the Venezuelan Intelligence, the National Guard, the police, and armed civilian groups from his family’s home in July of last year was finally set free . But a feeling of injustice still lingers.

El Helicoide gets its name from the geometric shape of the building that houses the prison, which resembles a spiral. The crisis in the prison and the elections this Sunday could worsen the spiral of Maduro’s regime towards arbitrariness.

Examples from initiatives across Mexico, Colombia and South Africa shed some light on policies that could help reduce the homicide rate across the Global South. Inclusive and holistic policies that include a wide range of societal actors may offer remedies to tackle this crisis.

As drug policy reform takes on new meaning and energy across the hemisphere, let us also remember the historic indigenous effort to retain sovereignty over territory and sustain communities, now challenged by both drugs and the wars against them.

Offering new needles to drug users - no matter how controversial it could be - is increasingly urgent in order to protect the health and rights of these populations.

All Colombian society, especially economic actors who had no connection to the conflict, in an effort to go beyond political differences and as a gesture of solidarity towards the victims, should commit themselves to claim and promote victims' rights without restrictions.

Bad sleep is the great blind spot of public and private health. The damage from sleeping less than seven hours a day on a regular basis is equivalent to the damage from excessive smoking or drinking.

Part of the solution lies in achieving greater effective control in the territory and economic incentives aligned with conservation. There is not a reason or actor that is single-handedly responsible for what is happening. And although neither the burning nor deforestation are totally new, today they are out of control.

Daughters from a same mother are mobilizing in Colombia, Ecuador, the United States, Philippines and Mexico to defend it.