Colombia Reports

The polling firms hired by Colombia’s corporate media ahead of the elections are struggling to comply with stricter polling regulations that took force last year. A commission of experts that monitors compliance with the law, reportedly recommended the National Electoral Council (CNE) to suspend the license of the AtlasIntel, which has been conducting polls for weekly Semana, and newspapers El Colombiano and El Pais. According to Caracol Radio, the Brazilian pollster violates the quality c

German Vargas, one of Colombia’s most powerful and controversial politicians of the 21st century, has died at 64 after a long battle against cancer. Vargas was born in 1962 into the Lleras dynasty as the grandson of former President Carlos Lleras, who ruled Colombia between 1966 and 1970. The dynasty politician began his political career in 1981 when he was elected member of the municipal council of Bojaca, a tiny village locate 20 kilometers west of the capital Bogota. Under the wing of l

Colombia’s peace commissioner asked the prosecution to suspend the arrest warrants of the commander and 28 members of paramilitary organization EGC to facilitate the demobilization and disarmament of the group. The lifting of the arrest warrants would allow EGC commander Jobanis Avila, a.k.a. “Chiquito Malo,” and his subordinates to travel to two demobilization sites in northwestern Colombia on June 25. In a joint press statement, EGC and government negotiators said that 400 of

To view this content, you must be a member of Colombia's Patreon at $1 or more - Click "Read more" to unlock this content at the sourceThe post Is Ecuador meddling in Colombia’s elections? appeared first on Colombia News.

Colombia’s oldest guerrilla organization, the ELN, said Tuesday that it had sentenced two captured prosecution investigators to “revolutionary prison” sentences of up to six years. In a video, a spokesperson of the ELN’s Eastern War Front said that Jesus Antonio Pacheco and Rodrigo Antonio Lopez were spared capital punishment after being found guilty of spying and fabricating evidence against civilians. The two officials of the prosecution’s Technical Investigations

The government of Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa said that it would lower tariffs on imports from Colombia from 100% to 75% after a phone conversation with far-right presidential candidate Paloma Valencia. In a brief statement, Noboa’s press office said that Quito will lower the “security fee” on June 1. The decision “reaffirms the national government’s commitment to moving toward bilateral security cooperation mechanisms, promoting greater coordination between th

Colombia’s National Electoral Council (CNE) opened an investigation into Senator Ivan Cepeda, the leftist frontrunner in Colombia’s presidential election race, according to local media. The CNE reportedly agreed to investigate allegations that Cepeda violated regulations regarding campaign contributions ahead of the primary of his political party, Historic Pact, in October last year. The allegations were made by Senator Jote Pe Hernandez of the Green Alliance party and Juan Martin Br

To view this content, you must be a member of Colombia's Patreon at $2 or more - Click "Read more" to unlock this content at the sourceThe post Abelardo de la Espriella, prophets and gangsters appeared first on Colombia News.

FARC dissident organization EMC said that a guerrilla attack that killed 20 civilians in southwest Colombia on Saturday was a “tactical error that lacks any justification.” In a statement, the guerrilla organization led by “Ivan Mordisco” said that the “regrettable incident” was the result of “errors in military maneuvering during combat,” and stressed that the civilian deaths “were not premeditated.” The explosives attack on a road in the Cauca province was p

At least 20 people were killed and another 45 were injured in a series of guerrilla attacks in southwest Colombia over the weekend. The offensive began on Friday and targeted military and civil infrastructure targets in the Cauca and Valle del Cauca provinces. The worst of the 31 attacks took place on Saturday in the municipality Cajibio where armed men blocked traffic and detonated IED’s. The blast killed 20 passengers of a bus, injured another 30 and left 15 vehicles incinerated. Accordi

Senator Ivan Cepeda, the frontrunner in Colombia’s presidential race, expanded his lead over the far-right runner-up, lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, according to pollster Invamer. Cepeda received the support of 44.3% of the polled voters, a significant improvement compared to February, when 37.1% of the voters said they would support the leftist senator and long-time ally of President Gustavo Petro. Support for De la Espriella went from 18.9% in February to 21.5% earlier this month. The

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro and his Venezuelan counterpart Delcy Rodriguez said Friday that their security forces will “consolidate” a joint strategy to combat organized crime on the border between the two countries. Petro and Rodriguez made this announcement after a three-hour meeting at the presidential palace in the Venezuelan capital Caracas. The high-level meeting was the first since the United States military kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The Colom

To view this content, you must be a member of Colombia's Patreon at $1 or more - Click "Read more" to unlock this content at the sourceThe post The deep history of Paloma Valencia appeared first on Colombia News.

Political news website La Silla Vacia has been linked to a far-right propaganda campaign that has been paid for by some of Colombia’s most reactionary corporations. The campaign, “Project Jupiter,” has been organizing “democracy workshops” for tens of thousands of workers and has been publishing content online to generate “fear / indignation / uncertainty” among voters ahead of the presidential vote. Among Project Jupiter’s “digital agencies&

Authorities allegedly discovered a plot to assassinate the frontrunner in Colombia’s presidential election race, the leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda. The alleged plot was revealed by President Gustavo Petro and confirmed by Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez nine months after the assassination of Senator Miguel Uribe, who sought to become Cepeda’s opponent on the far-right. In a post on social media platform X, Petro said that US intelligence agency CIA “has real and concrete informati

Authorities in central Colombia agreed to renew the water license of Coca Cola’s bottler in the Cundinamarca province, but drastically reduced the amount of water the soda manufacturer is allowed to use. Cundinamarca’s environmental authority (CAR) reduced the water sources available to Indega, which produced Coca Cola bottles in central Colombia, from seven to four after finding that the company left locals without potable water. The previous license allowed Indega to consume 3.23 l

To view this content, you must be a member of Colombia's Patreon at $1 or more - Click "Read more" to unlock this content at the sourceThe post Ivan Cepeda and the communists appeared first on Colombia News.

Colombia’s multidimensional poverty rate dropped 1.6 point to 9.9% last year, according to statistics agency DANE. Last year’s decline in poverty continued a seven-year downward trend that was briefly interrupted in 2020 as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The multidimensional poverty rate, which also measures access to education and available infrastructure, had been reduced by more than two thirds since 2010 when the rate stood at 29.7%. Multidimensional poverty rate The Bo

Guatemala’s Supreme Court revoked international arrest warrants for Colombia’s chief prosecutor and the country’s former defense minister. In a ruling, the top court said that the Guatemalan Prosecutor General’s Office abused its powers when it issued the international warrant for the arrest of Colombian Prosecutor General Luz Adriana Camargo and former Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez. The warrants were issued by Guatemala’s top anti-corruption prosecutor Rafael Cur

Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office said that at least 14 people, including two minors, were killed in two incidents that involved illegal armed groups in the north of the country. The Ombudsman’s Office said in a press statement that nine alleged members of the ACSN paramilitary group were killed in clashes with the security forces in Uribia, a municipality in the northern La Guajira province. The ACSN confirmed the dead and added that other members were killed in clashes outside of