Colombia’s prosecution misinformed the court in an apparent attempt to counter claims that former President Alvaro Uribe founded a paramilitary group in the 1990’s. In a report on the “Bloque Metro,” the prosecution’s Strategic Center for the Validation of Evidence claimed that the paramilitary group “made its first appearance in July 1998, handing out flyers.” […]
Former Medellin Mayor Sergio Fajardo asked Colombia’s Prosecutor General to revise a controversial decision to investigate the candidate in next year’s presidential election. The prosecution has been accused of political persecution after announcing it would investigate Fajardo for seeking a $ 77 million loan when he was governor of the Antioquia province in 2013. The […]
Some of Colombia’s largest cities have been forced to reinstate lockdowns as a new surge in COVID-19 infections is knocking down hospitals and slowing down vaccination efforts. Health Minister Fernando Ruiz and Bogota Mayor Claudia Lopez declared an orange alert in the capital on Thursday, restricting its 7 million inhabitants’ access to shopping centers, banks […]
The government of Colombia’s far-right President Ivan Duque asked the Constitutional Court to revoke a Supreme Court order that restricted the use of police violence against protests. The National Agency for the Defense of the State asked the court to revoke the Supreme Court’s order to reform the police citing “the constant disrespect for guarantees […]
While the governments of Colombia and Venezuela blame each other for a recent outburst of violence in the border region, ELN guerrillas who effectively control the region are calling for a ceasefire. The guerrillas apparently refuse to get involved in violence between alleged FARC dissidents and the Venezuelan military that has killed at least eight […]
A massacre of four people in southwest Colombia on Wednesday painfully highlighted the ongoing increase of violence in the country. According to Senator Valencia Feliciano, an native Colombian leader from Cauca, reported the murder of four people in Santander de Quilichao, a municipality in the north of the province. The massacre is the 26th so […]
The coronavirus pandemic made Colombia’s poverty rate one of the highest in South America, according to the United Nations. The UN’s Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) estimated that by the end of last year 37.5% of Colombia’s population lived below the poverty line, making it the country with the highest poverty […]
Despite the rejection of most criminal policy experts, Colombia’s Congress approved life imprisonment for child rapists. Society was willing to forgive the most terrible massacres of demobilized guerrilla group FARC, but never the rape of minors. Beyond punitive populism, there is something in the collective consciousness that rejects this conduct, recidivism. According to the US […]
Colombia’s prosecution said Wednesday that it would open a criminal investigation against a leading opposition candidate in next year’s presidential election. Former Medellin Mayor Sergio Fajardo and other leading opposition politicians dismissed the corruption allegations of the Prosecutor General’s Office, which is led by one of President Ivan Duque‘s best friends. In a press release, […]
Authorities imposed strict mobility restrictions on Colombia’s second largest capital Medellin where a surge in COVID-19 infections all but collapsed hospitals. Acting Governor Luis Fernando Suarez ordered a curfew between 5PM and 5AM in the Antioquia province that surrounds the capital Medellin. The governor said previously announced mobility restrictions that allow people to go shopping […]