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Fri 05 –OCHA concerned about indigenous groups; 1.2m hectares stolen from displaced people
· The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has expressed its concerns over the situation of indigenous people in Colombia. 12 out of the 91 indigenous groups that comprise just over 2% of the country’s population face extinction due to the armed conflict, in particular because of armed disputes over land. Jan Egeland, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humani ...
Fri 28 –Sister of Liberal Party leader killed; 1,400 people forced to flee in Nariño
· The sister of the head of the Liberal Party and former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria was killed during an apparent attempt to kidnap her in Pereira (Risaralda department). The body of Liliana Gaviria, a businesswoman in the construction industry, was found shortly after she was snatched by armed gunmen who also killed her bodyguard. President Uribe said he would do everything in ...
Fri 21 –Venezuela withdraws from the CAN; Peñate to reform the DAS
· The Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez confirmed that his country will withdraw from the Andean Community of Nations (CAN). The announcement generated concern among the Colombian business community, as, thanks to the CAN and trade relationships with Venezuela, $2,097m entered the country in 2005. The employment generated by bilateral trade is also estimated to be around 1m people on both sides of the b ...
Fri 14 – Uribe criticised for attacking the press; Spain now second largest investor in Colombia
· After President Uribe accused the magazine Semana of being dishonest and malicious for publishing accusations of paramilitary infiltration in the police intelligence service (DAS), the other presidential candidates and the media criticised Uribe’s remarks as an attack on the freedom of the press, El Colombiano reports.
· With more than 150 compani ...
Fri 07 – UNHCR concerned over Wounaan indigenous; two bombs explode on Bogota buses
· The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed its concern over the future of the Wounaan indigenous who have fled their communities in Choco and have arrived in the small town of Istmina. According to Philippe Lavanchy, director of UNHCR’s bureau for the Americas, some of the displaced have been staying in a ruined house with no running water, no electricity and no sanitati ...
Colombian President Lashes Out at Magazine
By FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press Writer
It was a most unpresidential spectacle: President Alvaro Uribe upbraiding the editor of Colombia's top news magazine on morning talk radio for rekindling a corruption scandal just weeks before he stands for re-election.
The magazine Semana had doggedly reported on allegations of fraud in Uribe's 2002 election victory, a conspiracy to assassinate leftist and union activists, an ...
Fri 31 – UNICEF and Inspector General launch report; 47 human rights defenders targeted in 2005
· A study carried out by UNICEF and the Inspector General’s office on children, water provision and sewerage systems will be presented this week in Medellin. The research shows that local authorities in Colombia are inefficient in administering sewerage and water systems and that this has a direct effect on high child mortality rates. According to the study, the provision o ...
Colombia Tops List of Land Mine Victims By TOBY MUSE, Associated Press Writer
Tue Apr 4, 5:43 AM ET
Only the person who delicately hid the land mine on a rural country lane knows how long it sat in the undergrowth awaiting Joan Giraldo.
The 21-year-old farm worker stepped on the mine on Oct. 30 in northwest Colombia, severely damaging his right leg. Doctors would later be forced to amputate.
Before being maimed, Giraldo could e ...
Fri 24 – 50 FARC members wanted in the US; Austria to finance alternative development projects
· Following the announcement by the US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that extradition will be requested for 50 members of the FARC accused of drug-trafficking, the Colombian Interior Minister Sabas Pretelt stated that the measure would not be an obstacle to peace, but on the contrary it would favour it. He said that the FARC would be more willing to negotiate with the gov ...
Fri 10 – US publishes annual human rights report; Restrepo defends FARC demobilisation
· The US Department of State published its annual human rights report, which dedicated 55 pages to Colombia. The report mentions cases of collaboration between army officials and paramilitaries in massacres, in particular the killing of 8 members of the peace community of San Jose de Apartado in February 2005. The report also acknowledges the efforts of the Colombian government in pre ...
Fri Mar 10, 11:13 PM ET
BOGOTA, Colombia - The Colombian navy has seized a 60-foot long submarine that likely was used to haul tons of cocaine out to sea for shipment to the United States, officials say.
No drugs were found when the fiberglass submarine was discovered Thursday about 30 miles from the Pacific Coast port of Buenaventura, but three people were arrested and two speedboats seized, said Adm. Guillermo Barrera, the navy's chief of operations.
Dear All,
As I will be in training all week, I won’t be able to prepare Colombia next Week for next Monday.
You will receive the next news summary on Monday 20th March 2006.
Regards,
Laura Fano Morrissey
Fri 24 – Arrest warrants suspended for ELN leaders; senatorial candidate killed in plane crash
· The governm ...
Fri 17 – Air raids on the Macarena National Park; new UN report on deforestation
· Colombia’s air force began bombing the Macarena National Park, after 6 soldiers were killed by the FARC last week. Although the Government had assured that the bombing campaign would only aim at specific targets and people would be evacuated, environmentalists said that the raids would destroy the park’s biodiversity and be as damaging as aerial fumigations, AP reports.
...
Nothing about Colombia in this article, but it provides some thoughts about other debates we had here concerning Chavez.
-------------
Strategic Forecasting, Inc
The United States and the 'Problem' of Venezuela
By George Friedman
Venezuela has become an ongoing problem for the Bush administration, but no one seems able to define quite what the issue is. President Hugo Chavez is carrying out the Bolivarian r ...
Fri 10- CODHES publishes new report on displacement; MSF aid workers released
· A new report on displacement by the Episcopal Conference of Colombia and the human rights organisation CODHES was presented at the Episcopal Assembly. The report suggests that the number of displaced people continues to increase, with 500 newly displaced every day. The report also calls for restitution of the assets abandoned by the displaced, which CODHES estimates at around 4.8m hectares bet ...
Fri 27 – Referendum on humanitarian exchange; false passport ring dismantled
· During the visit of French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, the Colombian government announced it was in favour of a popular referendum on humanitarian exchange to be held alongside congressional elections in March. The government also specified that the hostages’ relatives should lead the campaign, not the government itself. However, the hostages’ families said a referendum would ...
I am finally back online again after 3 months of hard work. I moved to Miami Beach and I am remodeling a restaurant in the Art Deco district on Ocean Drive. We will be opening the first phase very soon, a street café. I am able to offer all PBH members attractive discounts, and the hotel owner agreed to participate and offer hotel discounts as well.
Since Miami is the main hub for tourists and business people to and from Colombia this is a good place to meet with any traveling PB ...
This list email has been mentioned here before, but since I just got my weekly digest today I thought I would post it as a reminder for those interested.
Dear all,
This is the latest Colombia This Week.
Regards,
ABColombia group.
www.abcolombia.org.uk
Fri 04 – Bomb attack on Caño Limon pipeline; AUC insist disarmament rules out US extraditions.
· A rebel bomb attack has stopped oil pumping throug ...
I am looking for a simple accommodation in South Florida while I wrap up some business before moving to South America. I know many PBH members live here, and we would have fun doing personal PBH talks ... maybe teach me better Spanish too. I estimate about 3 months time needed before I go. Wilma blew away my original plans for living here.
Please PM me here, and I'll send you my msn/yahoo addresses.
Thanks,
Lionheart ...
Colombia Hijacker in Wheelchair Sentenced
A man in a wheelchair who hijacked a Colombian airliner using hand grenades was sentenced Friday to eight years of house arrest.
Porfirio Ramirez faced up to 40 years in prison for commandeering an Aires airliner with 24 passengers aboard, but Bogota Penal Court Judge Jairo Acosta said he reduced the sentence because "his action was aimed simply at pressuring (authorities) to meet his demands" and he surrendered peacefully. ...
First of apologies that I haven't been around for several months - personal messes kept me away from PBH and other interests, not knowing how things would turn out. Plus my internet radio station commanded all other attention I could afford.
I will be moving to South Florida end of this week and once I have established myself there I hope to be back in PBH on a regular basis. I will be helping a fellow DJ rebuild and we plan to extend the radio business there. I know many PBH memb ...
Mudslides in Colombia Kill at Least Six
Fri Jun 10, 7:29 PM ET
Torrential rains in northwestern Colombia unleashed mudslides Friday on an impoverished mountainside neighborhood in Colombia's coffee-growing region, killing at least six people, officials said.
Four members of the same family, including two children, were killed when a slide washed away their wooden shack-like home near Manizales, 100 miles northwest of the capital, Bogota, the Disaster Preven ...
With Plátano being the resident librarian of PBH I had an idea that others might like as well.
I have been cutting and pasting articles and posts containing basic knowledge about Colombian into a Word document, so I have a reference when I can't be online or I can print it out as my reading material when go to certain places in the morning. I have been doing the same concerning food in Colombia, which I will eventually turn into a Colombian cookbook in English and German.
...
Leftist Rebels Kill 11 in Colombia
By MARGARITA MARTINEZ, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 1 minute ago
Suspected leftist guerrillas carrying assault rifles swept into a southern Colombia town Tuesday and attacked government offices, killing six town councilors and five others, authorities said.
The guerrillas, believed to be members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, opened fire at a local council meeting in the town of Puerto Ri ...
Abducted EU Official Found OK in Venezuela
Mon May 23,10:54 AM ET
BOGOTA, Colombia - A Spanish official with the European Commission who was kidnapped more than a month ago in Colombia has been found safe in Venezuela after escaping from his captors, Colombian authorities said Monday.
Carlos Ayala, 59, was kidnapped April 15 by Colombia's main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, after he arrived in the Colombian city of Cucuta, ...
Former Rebel Towns in Colombia Receive Aid
By ANDREW SELSKY, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 36 minutes ago
In the square where leftist rebels once forced residents to attend weekly lectures, the U.S. ambassador and Colombian officials gathered this weekend to celebrate the opening of a school and library in hopes of showing the town what it was missing under guerrilla control.
In San Vicente del Caguan and other towns in southern Colombia such as Ca ...
*** not directly Colombia, but I know it is at least similar there, anybody have the numbers?
Indigenous People Say Global Model Has Got It Wrong
Niko Kyriakou, Inter Press Service (IPS)
31 minutes ago
UNITED NATIONS, May 20 (IPS) - Indigenous people at global talks here through the end of next week are urging international development and financial institutions to redirect funding to poverty reduction strategies that protect their r ...
Colombia Rebels Kill at Least 13 Officers
By CESAR GARCIA, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 50 minutes ago
Colombian rebels ambushed a police convoy and fought government forces along the border with Ecuador in separate attacks Thursday, killing at least 13 police, authorities said.
The latest violence came as the air force announced Thursday that its warplanes had bombed a column of leftist guerrillas trudging through southern jungles over the weeken ...
Colombian Rebels Expand Their Activities
By JUAN PABLO TORO, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 58 minutes ago
Speedboats laden with tons of rebel-produced cocaine slip through Caribbean waters to the palm-fringed coasts of Central America, and return to Colombia stuffed with weapons for the guerrillas. Police investigate high-profile kidnappings in Venezuela and Paraguay, and find the fingerprints of Colombian rebels all over them.
From the jungles of ...
Suspected Colombia Rebel Extradited
By KIM HOUSEGO, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 55 minutes ago
A Colombian leftist rebel suspected of helping kidnap the mother of a Detroit Tigers baseball player was extradited by Venezuela on Monday to face trial in his homeland, officials said.
Juan Jose Martinez, a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, was handed over to Colombian agents in the Venezuelan city of San Antonio and ...
Colombian Forces Seize Tons of Cocaine
More than 13.5 tons of cocaine stored in underground chambers was seized near Colombia's southwest coast, authorities said Friday.
The cocaine was discovered Thursday in the jungle in Narino state, which lies along the Pacific coast and the Ecuador border. Five people were arrested.
"We believe this is the biggest storage area of cocaine in the world," navy Capt. Jairo Pena said Friday.
The seizur ...
What is a "pillo"? I can't find it in any of the 100 online dictionaries I have.
Colombian President Launches New Party
By DAN MOLINSKI, Associated Press Writer
Thu May 12, 1:54 AM ET
President Alvaro Uribe is creating a political party to formally unite his followers, who until now have been known simply as "Uribistas," but the plan is being resisted by the opposition and even some of his supporters, who worry about a political party based on one man's hardline ideals.
The party could immediately become the most potent f ...
Lately I have been noticing more and more outages of different kinds while trying to communicate with people in Colombia, especially in Cali. I would like to know if others are having the same issues and if it is just a problem with Cali.
For several weeks I am noticing either power outages or telephone outages or both at the same time, these are happening in a strata 5 district. This is also about the time when the fighting in Cauca with the guerrilleros started, but this could b ...
Police in, population out after Colombian massacre
By Hugh Bronstein
Reuters, Tue May 10,11:06 AM ET
Except for the stubborn few who refuse to leave and the police recently assigned to protect them, this town is abandoned.
The 100 families of the "peace community" of San Jose de Apartado, which eight years ago declared itself neutral in Colombia's guerrilla war, are down to about five.
The rest are nailing together new homes at a spot ...
The Technology Secrets of Cocaine Inc.
By: Paul Kaihla
On a rainy night eight years ago in the Colombian city of Cali, crack counter-narcotics troops swarmed over the first floor of a low-rise condominium complex in an upscale neighborhood. They found no drugs or guns. But what they did find sent shudders through law enforcement and intelligence circles around the world.
The building was owned by a front man for Cali cocaine cartel leader José Santacruz Lond ...
Intimidation and Killing of Journalists on the Rise Worldwide, Say Groups
Abid Aslam, OneWorld US
Tue May 3, 1:05 PM ET
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 3 (OneWorld) - Journalism is an increasingly dangerous profession and last year claimed the highest number of news gatherers' lives in a decade, according to media watchdogs.
Even where journalists enjoy relative safety--as in the United States--their freedom to report is under government attack, they f ...
Caught in Colombian Crossfire, Nasa Indians Take Shelter in Health Post Constanza Vieira, Inter Press Service (IPS)
Fri Apr 29,10:45 AM ET
NATALA, Colombia, Apr 28 (IPS) - Hundreds of Nasa Indians in this rural area of southwestern Colombia have taken shelter in their local health post, perched on a hilltop with a breathtaking view of the Andes mountains, as the gunfire between leftist guerrillas and the army rages below.
The building, where more than 500 i ...
Colombia Forces Tighten Grip on Rebel Town
By KIM HOUSEGO, Associated Press Writer
BOGOTA, Colombia - Government troops consolidated their grip Friday on a mountain town retaken from leftist rebels and the town's Indian residents slowly began to return despite fears of more violence.
Helmeted troops warily patrolled the streets of Tacueyo, 190 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota, two days after a military convoy of armored vehicles drove into th ...
Rice: Coca Eradication Program Is Effective By GEORGE GEDDA, Associated Press Writer
6 minutes ago
BOGOTA, Colombia - Although results from a massive coca eradication program have been disappointing, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday night the overall U.S. assistance policy is working and should not be abandoned.
"You don't stop in midstream on something that has been very effective," Rice told a news conference. "It took a long time to ge ...
Children Affected by Fighting in Colombia
Mon Apr 25, 2:32 AM ET World - AP Latin America
By DAN MOLINSKI, Associated Press Writer
TORIBIO, Colombia - Thousands of children in southwest Colombia began a third week without school Monday amid the most intense fighting between government forces and leftist insurgents in years, including an attack that killed one student.
With classes suspended, hundreds of fearful civilians have sou ...
The guerrilla enter pto tejada, Cauca last night ... which is closer to Cali ... anybody have more details?
Does anybody have news on the assassination attempt on President Uribe in Neive today?
I just heard about it in a msn messenger from Cali.
Few Civilians Remain in Colombian Village
Tue Apr 19, 8:15 PM ET World - AP Latin America
By DAN MOLINSKI, Associated Press Writer
TORIBIO, Colombia - Explosions from the nearby mountains boomed out evidence Tuesday of continuing clashes between rebels and army troops as police in this mountain town patrolled the nearly deserted streets lined with bomb-shattered buildings. No more than 100 of 3,000 permanent residents were still in the village. ...
Report: Colombia Coca Cultivation Remains
Fri Apr 1, 8:18 PM ET World - AP Latin America
*** a little late to post ... but I had no time earlier ***
By ANDREW SELSKY, Associated Press Writer
BOGOTA, Colombia - President Alvaro Uribe vowed on Friday to press ahead with U.S.-financed fumigation of cocaine-producing crops, even as a White House report found an aerial spraying offensive in Colombia last year failed to cut the acreage ...
19 Mar - STEEL WHITE Y LEÑA VERDE en VIVO!!! (Medellín - Colombia)
19 Mar - Concierto rock y metal (CHIA)
19 Mar - CHAOTIC Y NOVILUNION EN SOACHA (SOACHA, CUND.)
19 Mar - AKASH EN CONCIERTO (Pereira)
19 Mar - Toque de thrash metal (Soacha)
19 Mar - DARKNESS Y TERMINAL WAR EN SOACHA (SOACHA)
19 Mar - GRAN ESPECIAL DE GLAM EN RETRO ROCK! (Medellín)
19 Mar - Bajo la lengua y Psicosonic en concierto (Rionegro)
19 Mar - GRAN ESPECIAL DE THRAS ...
U.N. Predicts Rise in Cocaine Prices
World - AP Latin America
By JUAN PABLO TORO, Associated Press Writer
BOGOTA, Colombia - A top United Nations (news - web sites) anti-drug official predicted cocaine prices in the United States and Europe will rise next year, reflecting the fruits of a six-year, U.S.-funded effort to eradicate drug production in Colombia.
Last year was a record-breaking year in the fight against drugs in Colombia ...
Colombia Massacre Raises Rights Issues
Fri Mar 4, 6:40 PM ET World - AP Latin America
By ANDREW SELSKY, Associated Press Writer
BOGOTA, Colombia - A Colombian army unit blamed for a massacre denied killing the eight civilians, even as the United States called for a swift investigation Friday. The slayings raise doubts about the military's commitment to human rights and jeopardize part of Washington's huge military aid package to this embattled n ...
Colombia Soldiers Kill Eight Rebels
World - AP Latin America
BOGOTA, Colombia - Government soldiers killed eight rebels and discovered a large cache of weapons in dense jungles of southern Colombia, a top military official said Tuesday.
Gen. Carlos Alberto Ospina, the chief of the Colombian Armed Forces, called the rebel weapons seizure — which included machine guns and grenade launchers — one of the biggest since a military offensive began in ...
Urbina Mom Was Held in Venezuela Jungle
World - AP Latin America
By ALICE M. CHACON, Associated Press Writer
CARACAS, Venezuela - Kidnappers holding the mother of Detroit Tigers pitcher Ugueth Urbina kept her in a dense jungle and surrounded the area with explosives to keep her from fleeing, police said Saturday.
Maura Villarreal was rescued Friday in a police raid that lasted eight hours and ended with one of her abductors dead, tw ...
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