This paper focuses on the role of the human rights in the European Parliament decision process. It was created as reaction to blame the European Parliament for not considering the human rights when voting for Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Colombia and Peru. The purpose of this paper is to find out whether the European parliament is the protector of human rights in the world or not. An in- depth examination of the Trade Agreement itself, level of democracy in both countries, actions taken by European Parliament and an extensive discourse analysis proves that the European parliament is the protector of human rights. Part of the paper is also devoted to the question of readiness of the Parliament to get involved and to intervene in case that the democratic situation in Colombia or Peru gets worse. Key words: European Union, Colombia, Peru, European Trade policy, Free Trade Agreement, European Parliament, Human Rights

This dissertation focuses on a critical approach to Latin-American children's literature, its evolution and its particular issues. It is based on the analysis of Colombian realistic fiction for children and young adults. The aim of this work is to show how Colombian children's literature has established some particular features that make it distinguished in Latin-American children's literature. The methodology is based on literary studies along with specifications of children's literature theory in perspective with the Colombian political and social situation during the twentieth century. The dissertation adresses elements from literary analysis: The narratology (V. Propp, and G. Gennette) the literary criticism (M. Bakhtin, and the concept of ideology) plus cultural studies in Latin America (Á. Rama). The research takes theoretical concepts from children's literature, related to pedagogy (T. Colomer), aesthetics (M. Nikolajeva), ideology (P. Hollindale) and historiography of children's literature in Latin America: A. Rodriguez, 1993, 2010; M. Muñoz, 2009; B. Robledo 1997, 2012 & L. Borrero, 2001. The first part of this dissertation is an analytical approach to the concepts and characteristics of Latin-American children's literature, it focuses also on Colombian children's literature evolution...

Over the last four decades organized crime groups, particularly, drug trafficking organizations or drug cartels, have managed to be under the spotlight of the security agendas of American countries such as Colombia and the United States. During the last two decades, however, the global securitization of the drug trafficking issue, has led them to become a major security threat not only for the Americas, but also for Europe and more recently for West African countries. These organizations pose a threat not only to the security of the state, but to the very essence of it, by corrupting and damaging everything they come in contact with at the political, social, economical and even cultural level. This graduate thesis presents an analysis on Latin American drug trafficking organizations or drugs cartels, as they are commonly known, focusing on the cases of Colombian and Mexican drug cartels. By comparing these two case studies, I suggest that today's Mexican drug trafficking organizations have gained their momentum and incommensurable strength by following the footsteps of the big three Colombian drug cartels that existed between the 1980s and 1990s. The first chapter will expose the definitions and concepts surrounding the research of organized crime. In the second and third chapters, both the...