The Amazon
Colombia: campesinos block oil operation
Colombia's feared anti-riot force, the ESMAD, used tear-gas against campesinos occupying lands in the Amazonian department of Caquetá to block oil exploration efforts.
Tag: Colombia
The Andes
Colombia: court protects more lands from mining
Colombia’s constitutional court overturned a 2012 government decree that allowed mining in nine areas of the country, together making up 20% of the national territory.
The Andes
Colombia: deal with FARC for bilateral ceasefire
The Colombian government announced that it has agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with the FARC guerillas—hailed as an historic step toward a deal to end the long civil war.
The Andes
Peasant strike rocks Colombia
Campesinos launched a strike across Colombia, with some 100,000 blocking highways and effectively shutting down at least half of the country's 32 departments.
The Andes
Peru’s most-wanted nabbed in Colombia
Gerson Adair Gálvez Calle AKA "Caracol" (The Snail), Peru's most wanted fugitive drug lord, was arrested by Colombian National Police at a shopping center in Medellín.
The Andes
Colombia: Uribe calls for ‘civil resistance’
Colombia's former president and now hardline right-wing opposition leader Álvaro Uribe called for "civil resistance" against the peace dialogue with the FARC guerillas.
The Andes
Afro-Colombian anti-mining protests repressed
Afro-Colombian protesters blocking the Pan-American Highway in southern Cauca region to protest illegal mining on their lands were violently dispersed by the riot police.
The Andes
Colombia to resume glyphosate spraying
Colombia's Defense Ministry announced that it will resume use of glyphosate to eradicate coca crops—less than a year after suspending the program on cancer concerns.
The Andes
Colombia: thousands displaced in new fighting
More than 3,000 members of indigenous and Afro-descendant communities have been displaced as Colombia's Chocó department is convulsed by conflict with the ELN guerillas.
The Andes
Anti-fracking protests in Colombia
Residents of the town of San Martín in Colombia's northern Cesar department held protests over government moves to open the area to fracking by ConocoPhillips.
The Andes
Paramilitary threat holds up Colombia peace talks
Havana peace talks between Colombia's government and the FARC are stalled as the government refuses to acknowledge the existence of far-right paramilitaries.
Central America
Clinton calls for Central American ‘Plan Colombia’
Hillary Clinton is assailed for saying the 2009 Honduran coup “actually followed the law.” Overlooked in the same interview is her call for a Central American “Plan Colombia.”