Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Demands to stop the vote count. Baseless accusations of fraud. Claims that the opposition is trying to “steal” the election.

Across the world, many were scratching their heads Friday – especially in countries that have long been advised by Washington on how to run elections -- wondering if those assertions could truly be coming from the president of the United States, the nation considered one of the world’s most emblematic democracies.

MEDELLIN, Colombia (AP) — “Don’t WORRY!,” reads the cryptic note scribbled on a scrap of perforated paper smuggled out of a dank, basement cellblock. “Han Solo always wins!”

The weeks-old message is all the family of Matthew Heath has to pin its hopes on since the former U.S. Marine corporal was arrested at a roadblock in Venezuela almost two months ago and accused by President Nicolás Maduro of being a terrorist and spying for Donald Trump.

CALI (Colombia), Oct 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of indigenous people demonstrated in southwestern Columbia on Monday demanding an end to violence, on the day commemorating Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas.

Dressed in green and red and carrying traditional sticks, the demonstrators converged on the city of Cali where they hope to meet President Ivan Duque.

BOGOTA (Reuters) - A judge on Saturday lifted a house arrest order against former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who is under investigation for alleged witness tampering.

Uribe has been held under the order since August.

The decision is the latest twist in a long-running legal battle and is likely to disappoint Uribe’s detractors, who had hailed the house arrest as a triumph of judicial independence.

PAMPLONA, Colombia (AP) — Eleazar Hernández slept on a sidewalk amid a light drizzle, temperatures that dipped close to freezing and the roar of passing trucks.

The 23-year-old Venezuelan migrant was trying to make it to the Colombian city of Medellin with his wife, who is seven months pregnant.

BOGOTA, Oct 5 (NNN-TELESUR) — The Colombian Farmers’ Association (ANUC) reported a new massacre in southern Cordoba that left three people dead, including a minor.

The triple homicide occurred on the farm El Breque, municipality of San Jose de Ure, in the department of Cordoba. A group of men attacked the owner of the farm, his son, and the driver of a cattle truck.

The victims were identified as Juan Rodriguez, 30; Wilmar Lopez, 42; and Deivi Camelo, 15, who were killed with firearms, knives, and a blunt instrument.

MEDELLIN, Colombia (AP) — A key informant against one of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s closest aides has been accused of lying to his law enforcement handlers in a case involving millions of dollars transported on private jets in violation of U.S. sanctions, The Associated Press has learned.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — He’s not recognized as a head of state by the country he’d be visiting. His diplomatic immunity is granted by the United Nations, not an unfriendly American administration that could decide to pick him up on drug-trafficking charges if he sets foot in the United States. Then there’s the $15 million U.S. bounty for information leading to his arrest.

BOGOTA, Sept 21 (NNN-TELESUR) — At least seven people were killed Sunday in a massacre in the municipality of Buenos Aires, department of Cauca, Colombia, the Red por la Vida de los Derechos Humanos de Cauca (Network of Life of Human Rights of Cauca) reported.

The Network says this is the ninth massacre to occur in Cauca department since the start of the year, bringing the total number of massacre victims to 35.

So far in September, there have been 11 massacres around Colombia.

BOGOTA, Sept 20 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Colombian President, Ivan Duque, announced the reopening of international flights yesterday, after five months of closure, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first post-closure Viva Air Colombia flight to Miami departed the Rafael Nunez International Airport in Cartagena yesterday, and before the flight, Duque, along with several other officials inspected the air terminal’s biosecurity protocols.

During the last five months, the airport served to carry out more than 90 humanitarian operations, repatriating around 3,000 people.