09-3792 Martinez-Buendia v. Holder

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Immigration
Asylum; Columbia; FARC

It was error for the BIA to find that a political opponent of FARC in Columbia was not persecuted for her political beliefs.

"This case is much more similar to Espinosa-Cortez than any case relied on by the Board. In Espinosa-Cortez, the Third Circuit found that the Espinosa-Cortez family did have a reasonable fear of persecution on account of a political opinion that the FARC imputed to the family members. 607 F.3d 101. The court relied on three key factors that distinguish Espinosa-Cortez from Elias- Zacarias and compelled the conclusion that the situation warranted asylum for the family: (1) Espinosa-Cortez had a direct affiliation with the Colombian government and military, (2) Espinosa-Cortez engaged in protracted resistance to the FARC's recruitment efforts, and (3) Espinosa-Cortez made his anti-FARC stance known to the FARC. Id. at 109-14. Martinez-Buendia's situation is similar in all three aspects. First, it is clear that the FARC considered Martinez-Buendia to be connected to the government. Although Martinez-Buendia's political affiliations were not as direct as those of Espinosa-Cortez, who was openly active in the Liberal Party, the message the FARC spray-painted on Martinez-Buendia's car at the time they kidnaped her sister shows that they attributed pro-government political views to Martinez- Buendia. This fits with the other evidence in the record that the FARC views humanitarian workers, including those involved in Health Brigades, as political opponents. Second, similar to Espinosa-Cortez, Martinez-Buendia resisted numerous recruitment attempts and threats. 607 F.3d at 111-13. Even more compelling than what occurred to the Espinosa-Cortez family, where the FARC recruitment efforts never escalated past threats, Martinez-Buendia faced intense violence and still refused to cooperate. Lastly, while there is no evidence that Martinez-Buendia directly communicated her anti- FARC political opinion to a FARC member as clearly as Espinosa-Cortez did, the only logical conclusion that the FARC could have drawn from her non-responsiveness in the face of their extreme violence is that she was politically opposed to their cause. Martinez- Buendia's act of hanging up the phone when FARC members called threatening to kill her sister if she did not comply is a clear non-verbal statement that she opposed the FARC."

Petition Granted.

09-3792 Martinez-Buendia v. Holder

Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals, Flaum, J.

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