President Ivan Duque‘s could pay a heavy price for his refusal to resume consular ties with Venezuela as a fugitive coalition politician held in Caracas would know about a plot to rig the 2018 election. Duque’s Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro offered to reestablish diplomatic ties last week, but not without warning that fugitive Senator-elect Aida […]
Colombia’s ELN rebels have grown stronger under President Ivan Duque, a think tank confirmed, while urging drastic policy changes to prevent a degeneration of violence. According to the Fundacion Ideas Para La Paz (FIP), a military defeat of the ELN is “improbable” In fact, all previous attempts to achieve this failed and at this point […]
An executive of Colombia’s largest airliner Avianca sought at least $ 4 million in bribes to secure the purchase of 100 aircraft from Airbus, according to French authorities. The European aircraft manufacturer agreed to pay the a $ 3.9 billion fine to with French, British and American authorities after admitting to bribery practices throughout the […]
The recruitment of minors continues to be a “widespread and systematic” practice of Colombia’s illegal armed groups, non-governmental organizations said Thursday. International NGO Oxfam and Colombian partners said so during the presentation in Bogota of a report on the practice. The NGO’s studied the phenomenon in five provinces where the FARC, the former rebel group […]
Some 100 demobilized rebels and their families abandoned a FARC reintegration site in northern Colombia on Thursday, claiming they fear for their lives. The former guerrillas and their families left the site in Ituango, Antioquia, claiming there would an “extermination plan” in action. Less than 50 stayed behind, according to Caracol Radio. The FARC members […]
A mysterious illness is ravaging indigenous communities in western Colombia where 10 children have died so far this year, local media reported Wednesday. Regional authorities sent physicians and bacteriologists to the Baudo river in the Choco province to confirm suspicions that contaminated water is killing the children. At least 180 other minors have fallen ill […]
The investigation into the alleged assassination plot against FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño, a.k.a. “Timochenko,” has been transferred to a special investigation unit amid suspicions authorities made it up. The doubts arose after evidence contradicted claims made by Interior Minister Nancy Patricia Gutierrez and National Police director Oscar Atehortua who announced the alleged assassination plot on […]
Colombia’s senate president will ratify a senate vote granting 16 seats in Congress to victims of the armed conflict against President Ivan Duque‘s will, local media reported Monday. The extra congressional seats for representatives from war-torn areas was promised to victims as part of a peace deal with demobilized FARC guerrillas in 2016. Playing with […]
“The war has returned!” a journalist from southern Colombia decried after the 13th assassination this year in Puerto Guzman, a locality with less than 5,000 inhabitants. This war over Putumayo in southern Colombia was foretold and has intensified, particularly in Puerto Guzman where assassins are terrorizing the population. The security forces appear to have gone […]
Ahead of last week’s anti-government protests, Colombia’s police arrested six social leaders on terrorism support charges. Among the detainees is David Ravelo, the son of a human rights defender who spent seven years in prison after releasing evidence that former President Alvaro Uribe met with paramilitaries ahead of the 2002 elections. The arrest of Ravelo […]