On March 30, local campesino leader Gerardo Antonio Crio was assassinated near his home in the community of Vereda El Jordán, Cocorna municipality, in easter Antioquia department. The killers apparently used a gun with a silencer, as nobody in the… Read moreColombia: campesino leader assassinated in Antioquia
The Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) said the medical mission sponsored by the French government is inappropriate and will not be granted access to ailing hostage Ingrid Betancourt, in a communiqué issued by the guerilla General Staff April 9. The… Read moreFARC denies medical mission access to Ingrid Betancourt
President Bush announced April 7 that he is sending the Colombia free trade agreement to Congress, and called for its speedy ratification, saying, “The need for this agreement is too urgent.” Legislators will have 90 business days to approve or… Read moreBush introduces Colombia FTA amid political hoo-hah
A state of emergency has been declared in Barrancabermeja, the oil hub on Colombia's Río Magdalena, following a rupture on a pipeline delivering crude to the city's refinery. The spill at the Lizama 158 well, run by parastatal Ecopetrol, contaminated local waterways that flow into the Magdalena, and which local campesino communities depend on. The affected area includes habitat for jaguars and manatees. The Fracking-Free Colombia Alliance called it a "catastrophe of unequaled magnitude" in a long history of oil spills in the area, and said the impacts could last 30 years. Colombia's attorney general has opened an investigation to determine if there is criminal liability in the spill. (Photo: Contagio Radio)
Colombia's two guerilla groups that remain in arms pledged to open a dialogue with each other to bring their internecine conflict to an end. Fighting broke out weeks ago between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and its smaller rival, the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPL). William Villamizar, governor of Norte de Santander department, has declared a state of emergency over the violence, which he said has displaced some 1,000 families. The fighting is said to have begun as the two groups vied to take control of coca-growing lands vacated by the demobilized FARC guerillas. (Photo: Colombia Reports)
More than three years after a brutal massacre of two families in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, Colombian prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 15 Army soldiers for participating in the killing and for terrorism. (Fiscalía press release,… Read moreColombia: soldiers arrested in Peace Community massacre
Seven Peruvians—Arminda Valladares Saba, Melissa Rocío Patiño Hinostroza, Guadalupe Alejandrina Hilario Rivas, Maria Gabriel Segura, Carmen Mercedes Asparrent Riveros, Roque Gonzáles La Rosa and Damaris Velasco Huiza—remain in detention following their arrest late last month on the border with Ecuador… Read morePeruvians detained under terror law for attending Bolivarian meeting
Even we are frankly astonished by the depth of cynicism to which the Wall Street Journal has sunk this time. A March 25 editorial, entitled “A FARC Fan’s Notes,” touts (dubious) claims that the computer recovered from Colombia’s (illegal) March… Read moreWSJ terror-baits free trade opponent
At least two people were killed and 12 wounded on March 22 in Peru’s northeastern Loreto department in clashes between police and mostly Achuar indigenous workers who had been occupying installations on the Pluspetrol Norte oil company’s lot 1AB since… Read morePeru: indigenous seize oil field
Colombia has asked Mexico to investigate ties between Mexican citizens and the FARC guerrillas after four Mexicans were found among the dead in Colombia’s March 1 strike on a rebel camp in Ecuador. In disclosing the request, Mexico’s Exterior Secretariat… Read moreMexico to probe FARC link
Following litigation against Chiquita Brands International for its payments to Colombia’s right-wing paramilitaries, the families of five missionaries and lay workers with the Florida-based New Tribes Mission killed by the FARC guerillas in 1994-5 have filed suit against the company… Read moreChiquita sued over FARC payments
More than two weeks after Colombia's military incursion into Ecuadoran territory to take out Raul Reyes, a top-ranking leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), voices are being raised about possible US complicity or direction in the hit…. Read moreColombia: US hand in Raul Reyes hit?
