BOGOTA: Ex-guerrilla Gustavo Petro was elected the first-ever left-wing president of Colombia on Sunday, after beating millionaire businessman Rodolfo Hernandez in a tense and unpredictable runoff election. With all votes counted, Petro the 62-year-old former mayor of Bogota won with 50.4 percent to Hernandez’s 47.3 percent. “As of today, Colombia is changing, a real change […]
Colombia
Colombian mercenaries say they were hired to capture Haiti leader
Colombian mercenaries detained for allegedly taking part in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise say they were hired to capture him and hand him over to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Colombia’s police said on Thursday. Colombian intelligence agents are cooperating with Haitian authorities in investigating the July 7 murder of Moise. Two Americans […]
Colombia army says five FARC rebels killed in operation
At least five dissident members of the former FARC guerrilla group have been killed in a military operation in southern Colombia, the army announced Monday. It said the rebels belonged to the Nueva Marquetalia group led by Ivan Marquez, a former leader of FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Marquez was the group’s […]
Venezuela arrests activists critical of border fighting
Venezuelan rights group Fundaredes said Friday authorities had arrested its director and two other activists who have lifted the lid on fighting near the border with Colombia. Director Javier Tarazona and two others were taken by Venezuelan intelligence services, the NGO said on Twitter. A fourth activist was arrested but released eight hours later, the […]
Colombian forces seize six tons of cocaine from ELN rebel jungle labs
Colombia’s military seized six tons of cocaine from a jungle laboratory run by ELN guerillas in the southwest of the country, Defense Minister Diego Molano said Tuesday. “I want to announce to the country the most important blow to the ELN drug trafficking this year, with the seizure of six tons of cocaine hydrochloride,” he […]
Biden offers Colombia ‘support’ after attack on Duque chopper
US President Joe Biden has promised his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque “support to confront… terrorist actions” after Duque’s helicopter was attacked near the Venezuelan border last week, the government in Bogota said Monday. The two leaders had their first telephone call since Biden assumed office in January, it added. Duque’s helicopter was approaching Cucuta airport […]
Colombia leader says chopper hit by gunfire near Venezuela border
Colombian President Ivan Duque said Friday the helicopter he was flying in near the border with Venezuela was hit by gunfire. It was the first attack against a Colombian president in nearly 20 years. No one was injured. Colombian authorities did not say if the shots were fired from the Colombian or Venezuelan side of […]
Military deployed to Cali as Colombia marks full month of protests
Colombian President Ivan Duque announced Friday he was deploying military troops to the city of Cali, as international alarm grows over the policing of deadly anti-government protests across the country in recent weeks. Friday marked a full month of nationwide protests, which began over a proposed tax increase but have since morphed into a broader […]
Thousands of Venezuelans cram border with Colombia
Several thousand Venezuelans, desperate for food and medicine, packed a border crossing to Colombia on Saturday, hours after President Nicolas Maduro partially reopened it. Maduro had the day prior ordered the reopening of the Venezuelan border in the western state of Tachira, near the location in Colombia where the international community had massed humanitarian aid […]
Venezuela’s neighbors accuse Maduro of protecting ‘terrorist groups’ in Colombia
The Lima Group regional bloc on Friday accused the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of protecting “terrorist groups” in Colombia, keeping up pressure days after an attempted military uprising failed to dislodge Maduro from power. The bloc, a dozen countries in the Americas that meet regularly to discuss Venezuela, did not provide details on […]