The campaign of Colombia’s establishment candidate Federico Gutierrez confirmed that it received a death threat signed by far-right group “Aguilas Negras.” According to Gutierrez’s campaign chief, Luis Felipe Henao, a pamphlet that threatened to kill Gutierrez was sent to their campaign headquarters in Bogota. Today these threats are reaching us in the urban sector, and […]
A campaign chief of former President Alvaro Uribe and presidential candidate Federico Gutierrez has reportedly been doing business with narcos for years. The ties between Gutierrez’s campaign and organized crime were revealed by newspaper El Espectador and the frontrunner in the elections. opposition Senator Gustavo Petro. El Espectador revealed on Sunday that businessman Cesar Giraldo, […]
Guerrilla group ELN declared a unilateral ceasefire in the days before and after the first round of Colombia’s presidential election on May 29. In a statement, the decades-old group said that its command declared a unilateral ceasefire between May 25 and June 3 “so that those who want to vote can do so peacefully.” The […]
President Ivan Duque’s drug policy of the past four years has been a failure that frustrated Colombia’s peace process, according to a study. Think tank Elementa DDHH came to these damning conclusions after monitoring drug policy initiatives since 2018 when Duque took office. The government’s so-called “Ruta Futuro” policy sought to combat the consumption and […]
Colombia’s second largest city Medellin has become all but ungovernable after President Ivan Duque appointed an ally as interim mayor. In a letter, Medellin’s progressive secretaries rejected interim Mayor Juan Camilo Restrepo and accused Duque and his political patron, former President Alvaro Uribe, of trying to “destabilize the institutionality in our city.” The increasingly authoritarian […]
Colombia’s constitutional court legalized physician-assisted suicide (PAS) on Wednesday. The historic ruling decriminalized PAS for people who suffer from severe health conditions that patients consider a threat to their dignity. The ruling made Colombia the second country in the Americas to decriminalize PAS nationally after Canada. The practice is also allowed in some parts of […]
Election observers said that Colombia’s congressional elections in March were more than twice as violent as those in 2018 and the most violent since 2010. In a report, the independent Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) said Tuesday that it has registered 581 acts of electoral violence in the year before March 13 when a new congress […]
Colombia’s inspector general said she provisionally suspended the mayors of Medellin and Ibague for their alleged meddling in elections. Inspector General Margarita Cabello announced the suspensions on Twitter, but didn’t immediately publish formal disciplinary charges. The decision is controversial as it could be in violation of international law, which bars the inspector general from removing […]
Colombia’s constitutional court ordered the government to recover more than $ 1.2 billion (COP5 trillion) that was granted to municipalities and private contractors ahead of the elections. The court order is a major blow for Duque whose congressional coalition in November illegally suspended legislation that is meant to prevent election fraud. The government coalition suspended […]
Paramilitary organization AGC assassinated 26 people in northern Colombia during a four-day terror campaign that ended Sunday. Among the fatalities were two members of the security forces, the prosecution of war crimes tribunal JEP said Sunday. The paramilitaries allegedly carried out another 15 assassination attempts as they enforced a lockdown in regions under their control. […]