The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) denounces the detention and deportation of COHA Board Member and CODEPINK Latin America organizer and media host Teri Mattson, who traveled to Bogota to serve as an accredited international observer for the historic May 29th election in Colombia. She had been invited by Colombia’s Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CPDH). Ms. Mattson, having arrived in Bogota on May 22, was refused entry by Colombian authorities, forced to stay in the airport overnight and deported on May 23 on the absurd grounds that she “represents a risk to the security of the State.” […]
Colombian
18 posts
Above photo: Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez. Chepa Beltran, Alamy. Staging a vice-presidential candidates debate in the runup to Colombia’s May 29 national elections was entirely appropriate. Nevertheless, the location of the event in Washington and its promotion by US-state functionaries requires some explanation. Because of its venue and sponsors, the affair had elements of an audition or a vetting process overseen by the US government. Along with the Washington consensus crowd, members of the Colombian diaspora attended the May 13 event, especially supporters of popular vice-presidential candidate Francia Márquez. Afro-descendent environmentalist Márquez is running with presidential candidate Gustavo Petro. Their frontrunning ticket could be the first administration on the […]
We are very worried for the safety and security of Centro Pazífico coordinator, Darnelly Rodriguez. On November 19 2021, she received the second of two death threats in two weeks. This threat came from the AGC paramilitary group. She was listed along with several other social movement and union leaders in a pamphlet that was left under the door of Cali’s largest labor federation. A translation of the threat is included at the end of the page. Darnelly is also the coordinator for the Francisco Isaías Cifuentes Human Rights Network (REDDHFIC)’s Valle Del Cauca chapter. Threats against Darnelly have increased over the […]
The Colombian Air Force scrambled jet fighters to intercept Ilyushin Il-96-400VPU aircraft with tail number RA-96104 assigned to Russia’s main security agency, or FSB. In a release late Monday, Colombian Air Force said that its Kfir fighter jets intercepted a Russian IL-96 plane after it deviated from its flight path over Colombian air space. According to a recent service news release, Command and Control Center scrambled Kfir fighters to meet the aircraft, which complied with the orders of the interceptor team and withdrew from the conflicting sector of the airspace. – ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW – Colombian Air Force fighters approached the intruder’s aircraft […]
Rep. Meeks’ Ties To Colombian Paramilitaries Exposed By Sarah Lazare and Maurizio Guerrero, In These Times. November 9, 2020 Rep. Meeks’ Ties To Colombian Paramilitaries Exposed2020-11-092020-11-09https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/meeks-e1604940032826.jpg200px200px Above photo: U.S. Congressman Gregory Meeks pictured in Berlin on November 25, 2013. John MacDougal/AFP via Getty Images. Ties To Right-Wing Groups in Colombia Could Haunt Democrat Vying for a Powerful Foreign Affairs Role. Rep. Gregory Meeks worked with Colombian politicians tied to right-wing paramilitaries to help push for a corporate-friendly “free trade” deal. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D‑N.Y.), the establishment favorite to replace outgoing Rep. Eliot Engel (D‑N.Y.) as chair of the powerful House Foreign […]
Hollywood star Penelope Cruz has been unwittingly dragged into an online battle over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, after social media users falsely assumed she had posted an image of the Armenian flag. The Spanish-born actress shared a photo of the poster advertising her upcoming 2021 action thriller ‘The 355’, about a formidable team of international female secret agents. It shows Cruz in character as a Colombian, posing with the yellow, blue and red flag of Colombia in the background. But many apparently confused it with the flag of Armenia, which is red, blue and orange. “Karabakh is Azerbaijan!” many Azerbaijani commenters wrote. Users […]
Contraband fuel sits on the side of a road in Puerto Santander, Colombia, on May 31, 2019. The Venezuelan government’s lack of cash to import gasoline combined with U.S. sanctions targeting the oil sector have led to chronic fuel shortages in Venezuela. That has upended a long-running, lucrative contraband gas trade. Ivan Valencia/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Ivan Valencia/Bloomberg via Getty Images Contraband fuel sits on the side of a road in Puerto Santander, Colombia, on May 31, 2019. The Venezuelan government’s lack of cash to import gasoline combined with U.S. sanctions targeting the oil sector have led […]
POPAYÁN, Colombia—The dead were found by local farmers just after dawn. Six bodies lying in a scrubby woodland beside fields sown with palm fruit and avocado. Their hands bound behind them. Showing signs of torture. Some shot, others garrotted. All had had the pads of their fingers cut away so they could not be taken for prints. That was on Friday, Aug. 21, in the Tambo municipality of the southern region called Cauca. The day before the dead were found, a group of heavily armed men had ordered local villagers to assemble and asked for those six victims by name. Then […]
A Colombian Activist Is Killed Every 20 Hours By the Alliance for Global Justice. August 29, 2020 A Colombian Activist Is Killed Every 20 Hours2020-08-292020-08-29https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/08/colombia-peace.jpg200px200px End The Slaughter! Alliance for Global Justice Statement on the Recent and Ongoing Massacres of Colombian Social Leaders and Ex-Insurgents. The Alliance for Global Justice is extremely concerned with the recent increase of violence in Colombia. In our June 16, 2020 action, we asked you to sign a letter asking Members of the USA Congress to act immediately to protect the lives of social leaders, peasants, indigenous and Afro Colombians victims of the violence generated by the illegal […]
Colombian President Duque Authorizes The Return Of US Troops August 29, 2020 Colombian President Duque Authorizes The Return Of US Troops2020-08-292020-08-29https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/08/colombias-duque-with-troops.jpg200px200px Above photo: Colombia’s President Ivan Duque speaks next to commanders of military forces in Popayan, Sept. 12, 2019. The U.S. Security Force Assistance Brigade was created to advise and support military operations in allied nations. Colombia’s Defense Ministry Thursday informed that President Ivan Duque allowed the resumption of the U.S. Army’s cooperation work in the country after it was suspended by a court order. In July, Cundinamarca’s Administrative Court ordered to suspend the U.S. Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) activities after […]
On Thursday, Colombian President Ivan Duque accused Caracas of planning to buy Iranian-made missile systems, citing information “from international intelligence agencies.” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza blasted Duque’s claims as “fiction” to distract public opinion from Colombia’s internal problems. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced that it would be “good idea” to consider buying Iranian missile systems. “It had not occurred to me, it had not occurred to us,” Maduro said, during a cabinet meeting broadcast on television, before asking Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino to look into the idea. “Padrino, what a good idea, to speak with Iran to see what […]
Tensions between Venezuela and Colombia have persisted for years as Caracas blames Bogota for supporting political forces seeking to topple President Nicolas Maduro’s government. Colombian President Ivan Duque has claimed that the Venezuelan government is considering purchasing missiles from Iran. “There is information from international intelligence agencies which work with us showing that there is an interest from the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro to acquire some medium- and long-range missiles through Iran”, Duque argued on Thursday. He asserted that the missiles “have not yet arrived” in Venezuela but that “there has been contact especially under instructions from [Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir] […]
Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Under House Arrest August 8, 2020 Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Under House Arrest2020-08-082020-08-08https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/08/uribe-e1596893365314.jpg200px200px Above photo: Alvaro Uribe ordered to be held under house arrest. EFE. The Colombian Supreme Court of Justice has ordered the preventive home detention of Senator and former President Alvaro Uribe for the crimes of procedural fraud and bribery. The Latin American right-wing leader became the first former president to receive this type of arrest order, suspected of trying to manipulate the statement of a defendant who linked him to the creation of paramilitary groups. “The deprivation of my freedom causes me deep […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo-itemprop.png Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/latam/202007261079984494-colombian-police-arrest-former-farc-member-who-resumed-criminal-activity-president-says/ BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) – The Colombian police have caught a former member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, said to have continued engaging in criminal activities even after the group’s disarmament, President Ivan Duque said. “Very good news: [the Colombian police] reports a serious blow to criminal structures in Maicao, [the department of] La Guajira, with the capture of Francisco Durango Usuga also known as ‘Ariel’ or ‘Frita’ … who have sowed terror with his actions for 30 years, he is attributed, among other crimes, a conspiracy to commit aggravating crimes, manufacturing, trafficking […]
The rapes of two young, Indigenous girls by soldiers in rural Colombia have shed light on the role that the US plays in expanding and training the Colombian military, two activists told Sputnik. Nathalie Hrizi, an educator, a political activist and the editor of Breaking the Chains, told Radio Sputnik’s Loud & Clear on Tuesday that the sexual assaults of the two minors highlight a continued pattern of abuse at the hands of Colombian service members. “Essentially, these two rapes have raised attention to what is a pattern in Colombia and a pattern associated with the human rights abuses and violations […]
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is working with the Colombian government to see if blockchain-based transparency can help prevent a hotspot for corruption, which happens in the process of bidding for high-value contracts to provide public goods and services. WEF partnered with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Office of the Inspector General of Colombia to develop a proof-of-concept (PoC) using the Ethereum public blockchain. The aim of the project was to apply a high level of transparency to the procurement corruption use case in the context of the country’s system of government contracting. The PoC will be piloted in […]
The US Treasury slapped the businessman with sanctions last July, accusing him of involvement in a corruption scheme involving a Venezuelan program to produce and distribute food to impoverished communities. The program was started in 2016, partly as a result of food shortages stemming from US pressure on the Latin American nation. Authorities in Cape Verde have arrested Venezuela-affiliated Colombian businessman Alex Saab, the US Justice Department announced Saturday. Saab, formally charged with spearheading a money laundering and bribery scheme in Venezuela by the US last July, was said to have been arrested on the basis of an Interpol red notice […]
A Colombian Huitoto man sails on a raft along the Takana river in Leticia, Amazonas department, Colombia, on May 20, during the coronavirus pandemic. Tatiana de Nevó/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Tatiana de Nevó/AFP via Getty Images A Colombian Huitoto man sails on a raft along the Takana river in Leticia, Amazonas department, Colombia, on May 20, during the coronavirus pandemic. Tatiana de Nevó/AFP via Getty Images With nearly 40,000 deaths, Brazil has registered the world’s third-highest COVID-19 death toll and the second-highest confirmed caseload. Its neighbors fear the disease is spilling across Brazil’s borders. Indeed, one Colombian […]