Opinion ID: 152634
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: As an initial matter, we note that the facts of this case are undisputed. Martinez-Buendia was the only witness to testify at the hearing and the IJ found her completely credible. Martinez-Buendia is a Colombian citizen from Bogota who has dedicated her life to helping others. She is a optometrist and holds a master's degree in health administration. Martinez-Buendia attended university in the mid-1980s, where she became involved in a clinical practicum providing free health services to impoverished communities in Colombia. Her practicum experience set her down a career path of providing health services to communities in need. In 2000, Martinez-Buendia began organizing Health Brigades, groups of volunteer health care providers and other individuals who travel to remote areas of Colombia to provide health services. The Health Brigades organized by Martinez-Buendia generally operated in areas around Barranquilla, where Martinez-Buendia lived and worked, and Bogota, where Martinez-Buendia's family lived. In addition to her work organizing Health Brigades, Martinez-Buendia also taught courses at the Metropolitan University in Barranquilla and worked as an optometrist. Martinez-Buendia is unmarried. Her mother and five siblings all still live in Bogota. Beginning in 2004, members of the FARC began contacting Martinez-Buendia by telephone and leaving notes at her office, on her car, and at her home demanding that she start publicly attributing her Health Brigade work to FARC. The FARC members threatened to harm Martinez-Buendia if she did not comply. At first Martinez-Buendia ignored the threats because she thought they were pranks by her students. However, in November 2004 it became clear that these threats were not a prank. That month, Martinez-Buendia organized a Health Brigade trip to the municipality of Icononzo. Martinez-Buendia's sister and brother-in-law were participating in this trip. While traveling to Icononzo, a group of FARC members intercepted the Health Brigade. The FARC members read the names of the Health Brigade members from a list to the group, and physically attacked several members of the Health Brigade, including Martinez-Buendia. During the commotion, a government helicopter flew by and began shooting at the FARC members. Once the shooting began, the FARC members quickly grabbed several members of the Health Brigade, including Martinez-Buendia's sister, Mercedes. Martinez-Buendia heard one of the FARC members say, I have Doris already, which she believes meant that the FARC intended to capture her instead of her sister. The FARC also spray-painted the Health Brigade cars with statements such as S.O.B. dogs from the government. Martinez-Buendia and her brother-in-law managed to get to the next town and get a new vehicle to get to Bogota. Once they returned home they called the police. The Department of Security Administration installed a recording device on Mercedes's phone to intercept any calls from the FARC. Over the next few months Martinez-Buendia received several phone calls from the FARC on her home phone and on Mercedes's phone. During one of those phone calls, the FARC member told Martinez-Buendia that they had her sister and that they would kill her unless Martinez-Buendia agreed to work for the FARC cause. Martinez-Buendia testified that she always hung up and never spoke to the person on the phone. When the IJ questioned Martinez-Buendia about why she did not go along with the FARC to save her sister, Martinez-Buendia said that she was unable to work for the FARC because it is a rebel group to the democracy of Colombia, because they have harmed a lot of Colombia and my beginnings would not let me or allow me to do this. In February 2005, Martinez-Buendia was in Bogota visiting her mother. While at her mother's house, Mercedes showed up in the middle of the night visibly beaten, wearing men's clothing, and very thin from having been infected with a parasite. Martinez-Buendia testified that Mercedes told the family that she escaped in the night. Martinez-Buendia also testified, and provided documentation, that Mercedes suffered, and continues to suffer, severe psychological damage from her experience in captivity. In March 2005, Mercedes's husband was captured by the FARC and died in their custody because he did not have access to proper medicine. Because of Mercedes's kidnaping, Martinez-Buendia did not organize any Health Brigades during 2005. However, at some point in 2005, Martinez-Buendia did go to a community meeting in Puerto Colombia. After dropping off school supplies at a school in Puerto Colombia, Martinez-Buendia got into a taxi. An armed member of the FARC followed her into the taxi, pointed a gun at her, and threatened to kill her unless she began doing work for the FARC. The individual gave Martinez-Buendia thirty days to appear before the FARC. After this incident, Martinez-Buendia fled to the United States and applied for asylum.
Martinez-Buendia filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture on October 28, 2005. The Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings against her on December 8, 2005. After a series of continuances, Martinez-Buendia had a hearing before an IJ on March 26, 2008. She had an attorney present. The IJ found Martinez-Buendia's testimony consistent and credible. The IJ also found that Martinez-Buendia had suffered harm that rose to the level of past persecution. However, the IJ denied relief because he found that Martinez-Buendia did not suffer past persecution on account of her political opinion or her membership in a particular social group. Martinez-Buendia appealed the IJ's decision to the Board. The Board held that the FARC's actions were motivated by the FARC's own political agenda and not by a desire to punish Martinez-Buendia for her political opinion. The Board also held that Martinez-Buendia had not established that she belonged to a cognizable social group because the Health Brigades did not have a common quality binding its members that is either unchangeable or fundamental to their identities. In the alternative, the Board held that Martinez-Buendia failed to show that the FARC persecuted her to punish or overcome her membership in the Health Brigades. Because Martinez-Buendia did not demonstrate that her past persecution was on account of her political opinion or social group membership, she could not establish a well-founded fear of persecution on account of those factors.