Bogota, Colombia | AFP | A leader of Colombia’s ELN guerrillas was arrested Thursday in Bogota on suspicion of planning two attacks on police that killed seven and left dozens wounded, prosecutors said. Rafael Antonio Botero Restrepo, known by the nickname “Tista,” was arrested in a joint operation carried out …
Read More »Valentine’s Day a rosy opportunity for jobless Colombians
Tabio, COLOMBIA | AFP | Valentine’s Day is a crazy rush for Colombia, one of the biggest flower exporters in the world, resulting in huge demand for labor in greenhouses near Bogota. That’s how Rubiela Mendez and William Perez found themselves shivering in a cold they’d never known, preparing roses …
Read More »Colombia freezes peace talks with rebels after attacks
Bogota, Colombia | AFP | Colombia’s president on Monday froze peace negotiations with the ELN rebel group after weekend bomb attacks blamed on the guerrillas killed seven police officers. The developments threw into peril efforts to definitively end Colombia’s half century of conflict that recently had looked close to resolution. …
Read More »Bomb attacks target police in northern Colombia
Bogota, Colombia | AFP | A rash of bombings hit police stations in northern Colombia over the weekend, killing seven police and injuring dozens more in what authorities said appeared to be the work of drug gangs. The attacks began early Saturday in the city of Barranquilla, where five police officers …
Read More »Five killed in bomb attack at Colombia police station
Bogota, Colombia | AFP | At least five police officers were killed and 41 others wounded Saturday when alleged drug traffickers detonated a bomb at a station in the northern city of Barranquilla, hours after a car explosion ripped through a security post near the border in neighboring Ecuador. There …
Read More »Landslide kills 13 in Colombia
Bogota, Colombia | AFP | A landslide in southwestern Colombia has killed 13 people on a small public bus in a rain-soaked mountainous area, authorities said Sunday. The landslide struck an area not far from the town of Tuquerres in Narino on Saturday. Rescuers have so far found the bodies …
Read More »Colombia’s Santos names ex-VP as chief negotiator with rebels
Bogota, Colombia | AFP | Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday named a former vice president as chief negotiator in peace talks with rebels from the National Liberation Army (ELN). In a meeting with journalists, Santos said Gustavo Bell would replace Juan Camilo Restrepo after the latter announced that …
Read More »Japan coach eyes Colombia ‘revenge’ after World Cup draw
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Japan coach Vahid Halilhodzic promised to avenge his side’s humiliating 4-1 thrashing by Colombia at the 2014 World Cup following Friday’s draw for next summer’s finals in Russia. The firebrand Franco-Bosnian admitted “it could have been worse” after the Blue Samurai were drawn alongside the …
Read More »Thirty women rescued from sex trafficking in Mexico
Mexico City, Mexico | AFP | Thirty women trafficked for sex — most from Colombia and Venezuela — were rescued in two raids in Mexico, police said Saturday. The biggest operation took place in Toluca, capital of Mexico state, the most populous and one of the most dangerous states in …
Read More »Colombian military seizes more than two tonnes of cocaine
Bogota, Colombia | AFP | Colombian authorities have seized more than two tonnes of cocaine belonging to a splinter group from the now-disarmed FARC guerrilla organization, the military said Saturday. A coordinated operation of air and ground troops destroyed a coca laboratory in the restive border municipality of Tumaco, the …
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