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by Rodrigo Almonacid Agence France Presse BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — Emptying the bins of Colombia’s capital, Jose Alberto Gutierrez one day found a copy of the classic novel “Anna Karenina,” and kept it. That was 20 years ago — and the garbage man continued to collect Bogota’s discarded books, amassing 25,000 in a free library, swelled by donations. “I realized that people were throwing books away in the rubbish. I started to rescue them,” Gutierrez, […]
CALI, Colombia (Reuters) — Residents of flood-ravaged areas of Colombia salvaged what belongings they could from their homes after the Magdalena River burst its banks, threatening families and cutting off communities. According to local media, the areas of Cali, Honda and Antioquia in inland Colombia were worst hit after a cold front moved itself across the region. In some areas, water levels were waist deep and some residents had to resort to travelling down streets […]
by Luis ROBAYO / with Alina DIESTE in Bogota Agence France Presse MOCOA, Colombia (AFP) — Survivors described gruesome scenes in the Colombian town of Mocoa Sunday after mudslides killed 210 people, as rescuers kept up a desperate search for victims in the muck and debris. Covered in mud, 38-year-old Marta Gomez told of going to search for her missing niece — and making a chilling find instead. “I went to look for my niece, […]
by Luis ROBAYO / with Alina DIESTE in Bogota MOCOA, Colombia (AFP) — Rescuers clawed through piles of mud and twisted debris Sunday searching for survivors after violent mudslides destroyed homes in southern Colombia, killing over 200 people and injuring hundreds more. They were the latest victims of deadly floods and mudslides that have struck the Pacific side of South America over recent months, also killing scores of people in Peru and Ecuador. In the […]
BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — Colombia’s Senate late Monday approved a constitutional reform that creates special war crimes courts, a key component of the historic peace agreement reached with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrillas ending five decades of warfare. The announcement was made via Twitter by Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo, who was in the Senate at the time of the vote. President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize in October for his efforts […]
by Lissy DE ABREU / with Florence PANOUSSIAN in San Jose de Oriente Agence France-Presse BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombia’s FARC rebels begin disarming Wednesday under a historic peace deal, beginning the delicate transition from guerrilla army to political party after more than half a century at war. After weeks of mustering its troops at designated disarmament zones, the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, was set to begin an inventory of its weapons and […]
BOGATA, Colombia (AFP) — An explosion in Bogota early Sunday injured about 30 people, most of them police guarding a bullring that had been targeted by protests when it reopened last month, officials said. Mayor Enrique Penalosa had said on Twitter that a police officer was killed in the blast, but officials later said that report was a mistake and there were no deaths. The city hall said 31 people were injured, two of them seriously. […]
GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (Reuters) — Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos met with Ecuador’s outgoing President Rafael Correa in the port city of Guayaquil on Wednesday, hailing the peace process with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels that culminated in an end to more than five decades of violence. The official meeting comes as Ecuador hosts official peace talks between Colombia’s Marxist National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and Bogota in a bid to end another […]
by Sonia Vivas, with Esteban Rojas in Caracas Agence France Presse CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Thousands of Venezuelans crossed into Colombia on Tuesday to buy food and medicine after their government partially reopened the border following a messy crackdown on what it called currency hoarders. The border with Brazil was also partially reopened, officials in Brasilia said. “Thank God the border is open again,” one 29-year-old, Christian Sanchez, told AFP. “A lot of people have […]
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (Reuters) — Bolivian authorities detained on Tuesday (December 6) the chief executive of airline LaMia, the owner of the plane that crashed last week in Colombia and killed nearly all of Brazil’s Chapecoense soccer team, prosecutors said. Gustavo Vargas, the chief executive, and two other employees of the tiny Bolivia-based charter airline were taken to a prosecutor’s office in Santa Cruz for up to eight hours of questioning before prosecutors decide if […]
by Rosa SULLEIRO CHAPECO, Brazil (AFP) — Fans of Brazil’s Chapecoense football club whose team was wiped out in a Colombian air crash crammed into the home stadium late Wednesday for tearful prayers around the empty pitch. The stadium in Chapeco, southern Brazil, was a solid wall of green as fans and mourners dressed in the team shirt stood shoulder to shoulder. They gathered at exactly the hour their team, which just a few years […]
MEDELLIN, Colombia (Reuters) — Brazil’s chancellor, Jose Serra, said authorities should withhold any premature conclusion on what caused the plane crash in Colombia which virtually wiped out a Brazilian soccer team among 71 victims on Monday night. Serra spoke alongside his Colombian counterpart, Maria Angela Holguin, on Wednesday (November 30) on arriving in the western Colombian city of Medellin near to where the crash took place. “With respect to subjective analyses of the accident, we […]
