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BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — Two pink river dolphins, a mother and her calf, were rescued from a Colombian river where the endangered mammals were trapped in shallow water, the navy said. A navy video released on Monday shows several officers carrying the dolphins in a makeshift hammock, others checking the mammals’ condition and spraying them with water. Timing was critical. Experts moved the dolphins out of the river, quickly checked their condition on the riverbank, […]
by David SALAZAR Agence France-Presse TRIÁNGULO DE TELEMBÍ, Colombia (AFP) — From the army helicopter circling overhead, Colombian security forces are able to spot several illegal gold mines in the jungle below. The armed forces land suddenly to be confronted by angry workers, but they brush them off and destroy the machinery used to extract gold. The operation is both a blow to illegal mining and a strike at armed groups that profit from illicit […]
UREÑA, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela and Colombia reopened the last stretch of their shared border Sunday that had remained closed for years in a diplomatic dispute now settled under new leadership. Cars honked and passengers waved flags as vehicles with license plates from both countries traversed the area’s Atanasio Girardot bridge, which had been blocked by containers amid high tensions. The bridge, which is also known as Tienditas, was the last to remain inaccessible since […]
BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AFP) — Heavy rains in northwest Colombia sent a wall of earth crashing onto a winding road, swallowing up a bus and other vehicles and killing 34 people, emergency services said Monday. The landslide Sunday evening prompted a large rescue effort, with dozens of people in hard hats using backhoes and excavators to dig through the earth looking for victims. The National Unit for Disaster Risk Management said the fatalities included eight minors […]
BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AFP) — Colombia is to deploy 400 soldiers to fight drug traffickers operating across its rural southern borders, after a recent spike in killings and internal displacement, the South American country’s government said Monday. There will be six sectors along Colombia’s borders with Ecuador, Peru and Brazil, “with 400 soldiers and officers who will be on the front line of operations… to block the drug trafficking corridors,” Interior Minister Alfonso Prada told reporters […]
BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) – A small plane carrying eight people crashed into a residential area of Colombia’s second-largest city Medellin on Monday, killing all on board, airport authorities said. The aircraft took off from the Olaya Herrera airport in the morning and reported an engine failure before crashing into a house, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air. The airport’s Twitter account reported that the eight people in the plane — six passengers and […]
Barcelona, Spain (AFP) by Mathieu Gorse and Daniel Silva A Spanish court has ordered Colombian music superstar Shakira to stand trial on charges of fraudulently failing to pay 14 million euros in tax, filings showed Tuesday. Prosecutors in Barcelona said in July they would seek a prison sentence of more than eight years against the singer and a fine of nearly 24 million euros ($24 million), after she rejected a plea deal over accusations of […]
BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — At least 17 people were killed over the last three days in Colombia in a spate of violent incidents, authorities said, highlighting the huge task facing President Gustavo Petro. In the northern city of Barranquilla, six people were shot dead by gunmen on Monday morning while drinking in a bar. Police said the powerful Gulf Clan drug trafficking gang carried out the attack on members of the rival Los Costenos group. […]
by Juan RESTREPO Agence France-Presse BUENAVENTURA, Colombia (AFP) — Colombia’s army put on a show of force at the weekend in a town whose population is at the mercy of two warring gangs. The “Shottas” and “Spartanos” gangs have been fighting for months over control of Buenaventura’s drug trafficking trade, and other illegal activities such as micro-trafficking, extortion and kidnappings. But the army has tried to assert some state control by coming out in force […]
by Hector Velasco Agence France Presse BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — Gustavo Petro on Sunday took the oath of office as Colombia’s first-ever leftist president, before a crowd of hundreds of thousands at his inauguration in Bogota. The 62-year-old former guerrilla and onetime mayor takes over from the deeply unpopular Ivan Duque, with plans for profound reforms in a country beset by economic inequality and drug violence. Petro’s hard-fought victory in June elections brought Colombia, long […]
BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — At least 52 inmates were killed and 26 more injured early Tuesday after a fire broke out during a prison riot in southwestern Colombia, the national prisons agency said. The tragedy occurred when rioting inmates set a fire at around 2:00 am, attempting to prevent police from entering their enclosure at the prison in the city of Tulua, said Tito Castellanos, director of the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC). […]
BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — At least four people were killed and more than 300 injured on Sunday when the grandstand at a bullring in Colombia collapsed during a popular event at which members of the public face off with small bulls, officials said. “There are four people dead at the moment — two women, a man and a child,” the governor of Tolima department, Jose Ricardo Orozco, told local radio after the incident in the […]
