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by Hervé BAR Agence France-Presse SARAVENA, Colombia (AFP) – Fear reigns in northeastern Colombia on the border with Venezuela where the local population has been caught in the crossfire of rival warring groups of left-wing guerrillas. Since the start of the year, the National Liberation Army (EL), Colombia’s last recognized guerrilla group, and dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels that laid down arms and signed a 2016 peace deal with the […]
by Hervé BAR Agence France-Presse PLANADAS, Colombia (AFP) – As a bird perches on a telegraph pole, two young girls are deep in consultation — is it “Tiranus melancholicus,” or perhaps “Pyrocephalus rubinus?” The answer is “rubinus,” a sparrow with a bright red breast. In the center of Colombia, among the leafy mountains of Planadas, this ornithological debate by indigenous children might seem surprising. With their eyes scanning the mountain, around 30 people, adults and […]
BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos declared the country’s 50-year conflict with the FARC guerrilla group “truly over” Tuesday, with the disarming of the rebel group complete. The United Nations-supervised process concluded with the delivery of the last truckloads of weapons from areas where the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) began demobilizing at the start of the year. “With the laying down of arms … the conflict is truly over and a new […]
by Alina DIESTE BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — A historic midnight ceasefire on Sunday is set to end a 52-year-old war between the Colombian state and FARC rebels. Hundreds of thousands of Colombians have died since 1964 as rebel armies and gangs battled in the jungles in what is considered Latin America’s last major civil armed conflict. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on Sunday issued the order for its fighters to observe the cease […]
MAGDALENA MEDIO VALLEY, Colombia (AFP) — They have seen bloodshed and death in Colombia’s jungles but for some women rebel fighters, the greatest pain was being forced to abandon their children. Wearing green combat fatigues, Rosmira, 29, sits with a group of her sisters-in-arms at a secret mountain camp, where AFP was exceptionally granted access by commanders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In a half-century-long conflict that has left countless orphans and widows, […]
U.S. President Barack Obama met with Colombia’s President Juan Manual Santos on Thursday (February 04) and said he will ask the U.S. Congress for more than $450 million in aid to help Colombia implement a peace accord aimed at ending Latin America’s longest war. Obama met with Santos at the White House where the two leaders held a joint press conference. “We all know that it’s easier to start wars than end them. But after […]
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Tuesday (January 19) that his country was closer to peace after the government and leftist FARC rebels agreed earlier in the day to ask the United Nations Security Council to help monitor and verify a rebel disarmament should the two sides reach a final peace deal. “Today we’ve taken one more step, a definitive step towards the termination of conflict and for peace. In Havana we have formally […]
