The Andes
Colombia: will paras fill post-FARC power vacuum?
Rights groups see an urgent threat that criminal gangs and paramilitary groups will fill the power vacuum in remote areas of Colombia as the FARC is demobilized.
Tag: narco wars
Southern Cone
Protests rock Brazil as Lula takes cabinet post
Brazil has seen its biggest protests since the end of the dictatorship as ex-president "Lula" da Silva is appointed to a cabinet post that gives him immunity in a corruption scandal.
Southeast Asia
Anti-drug vigilantes heat up Burma’s opium zone
With poppy harvest season approaching, tensions are high in Burma's Kachin state following clashes between opium-growing peasants and a citizen anti-drug movement.
The Andes
Colombia: scion snared for paramilitarism
Colombian police agents arrested Santiago Uribe, brother of ex-president Álvaro Uribe, for alleged involvement in the bloody "12 Apostles" paramilitary group.
Mexico
Pressure on Mexico to free ‘community police’ leader
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a ruling that Mexico's imprisonment of Guerrero "community police" leader Nestora Salgado is illegal.
The Andes
Plan Colombia to become ‘Peace Colombia’?
At their White House meeting, Obama and Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos proposed a "Marshall Plan" for the post-conflict era, to be dubbed "Peace Colombia."
Mexico
Mexico: body of abducted Veracruz journalist found
The body of Anabel Flores Salazar, a crime reporter abducted from her home in Mexico's Veracruz state, was found the following day in the neighboring state of Puebla.
The Andes
Colombia: renewed war with ELN guerillas
ELN rebels attacked an army barracks in Arauca and President Manuel Santos pledged to strike back hard—dashing hopes for a peace dialogue with Colombia's second guerilla group.
The Andes
DEA sees Hezbollah link to Colombian cartel
The DEA claims that Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah is laundering money for the "Oficina de Envigado," successor organization to Colombia's legendary Medellín Cartel.
The Andes
Colombia: peace talks with ELN guerillas?
Colombia's government says it hopes to extend the peace process to the ELN guerillas—and claims to have identified the remains of their revered founder, Camilo Torres.
The Andes
New post-conflict ‘Plan Colombia’ foreseen
President Juan Manuel Santos meets at the White House with Barack Obama to mark 15 years since the initiation of the Plan Colombia—and discuss a "post-conflict" aid package.
Iran
AI releases report on death row juveniles in Iran
Amnesty International released a report finding 160 juvenile offenders are currently on death row in Iran, with 73 executions of juvenile offenders carried out over the past decade.