Colombia: coffee strike claims advances
With a strike that lasted from Feb. 24 to March 8, tens of thousands of Colombian coffee growers took to the streets across the country, ultimately claiming victory.
With a strike that lasted from Feb. 24 to March 8, tens of thousands of Colombian coffee growers took to the streets across the country, ultimately claiming victory.
FARC commander Rodrigo Granda, speaking to reporters in Havana where the peace talks are underway, denied that the guerilla army is a drug-trafficking organization.
Colombia’s largest coal miner, Cerrejon, under force majeure due to a work stoppage, was targted in a guerilla attack that left four of the company’s trucks destroyed by fire.
International human rights advocates commended Colombia on the return of usurped lands to 32 families displaced by paramilitaries in northwest Córdoba department.
After tense negotiations, the Red Cross transported to safety two Colombian National Police agents taken captive by the FARC guerillas in Cauca department last month.
Colombia’s peace advocates are calling for inclusion of the ELN guerillas in the Havana dialogue with the FARC, warning of a “marginalized” front in the civil war.
A Nasa indigenous leader was assassinated in an ambush by FARC guerillas at the village of Jámbalo, Cauca department, just as the rebels announced an end to their ceasefire.
Colombia’s FARC rebels announced the immediate end of a two-month unilateral ceasefire and renewed its call for a bilateral truce to hold peace talks with the government.
The International Criminal Court issued an interim report on the Colombian military’s “false positives” extradjudicial killings, finding official complicity up the chain of command.
An “Indigenous and Popular Peace Proposal” has been issued to bring demands for territorial autonomy to the talks between the Colombian government and FARC rebels.
With peace talks underway in Oslo, Colombian politicians warn that the FARC’s Southern Bloc is continuing to recruit with an eye towards continuing the insurgency.
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos on Día de La Raza issued an official apology to indigenous communities in the Amazon for devastation caused by the rubber boom.