Thirty-four Colombian tribes face extinction, says UN report
By Admin Monday, September 6, 2010
A report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has warned that more than thirty-four Colombian tribes face extinction due to continuing violence on their lands.
The report found that, ‘In spite of new efforts by the state… the risk of physical or cultural disappearance remains, and in some cases has risen.’
More...Colombian Defense Minister Rules Out Talks with FARC
By Admin Monday, September 6, 2010
BOGOTA – Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera ruled out any type of dialogue with the FARC and urged Colombians to be on alert for attacks by the guerrilla group.
“They do not believe in laying down arms ... With terrorists there is no possibility of dialogue or with people who believe they can use violence and terror to make the interlocutor understand,” Rivera said Saturday.
More...Challenges for Colombia’s president
By Admin Monday, September 6, 2010
By Shlomo Ben-Ami
MADRID—Trapped since the 1960s in a protracted armed conflict with the most unscrupulous militias imaginable, and hostage to drug lords who turned the country’s vast rural areas into fiefdoms of crime and untold atrocities, Colombia long projected to the world the image of a country addicted to violence. But no more.
Ex-Colombian spy seduced cop to implicate judges
By Admin Monday, September 6, 2010
Bogota—(IANS/EFE) A former Colombian detective, who received orders from her superiors to infiltrate the Supreme Court in 2007, had seduced a national police captain to be able to carry out her mission, media reports said.
More...Colombia nixes talks with FARC after brutal attacks
By Admin Sunday, September 5, 2010
(AFP) – BOGOTA — Colombia ruled out peace talks with leftist FARC rebels after they killed five soldiers and 14 police officers, some of them burned alive, Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera said.
“There’s no possibility of dialogue with terrorists nor with anybody who thinks they can use violence and terror to get their point across,” Rivera said in an interview with Caracol radio.
More...Santos tells Colombian military to ‘get tough’ with rebels
By Admin Saturday, September 4, 2010
(AFP) – BOGOTA — President Juan Manuel Santos Friday vowed to step up a military crackdown on leftist rebels after they killed 14 police officers and three soldiers since he took office on August 7.
“The order I’ve given military and police commanders is to get tough, get tough, get tough!” Santos said after a cabinet meeting.
More...Colombian Spy Seduced Cop to Gain Supreme Court Entry
By Admin Monday, September 6, 2010
BOGOTA – Former detective Alba Luz Florez, who received orders from her superiors to infiltrate the Supreme Court in 2007, seduced a National Police captain to be able to carry out her mission, Colombian media reported Sunday.
Florez, labeled by the press the “Colombian Mata Hari,” revealed in her confession to authorities, which was published on Saturday, that her superiors in the DAS security agency ordered her to spy on the magistrates and link them to activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrilla group.
More...Gunman Who Shot Soccer Player Is Not in Colombia
By Admin Monday, September 6, 2010
BOGOTA – The gunman who allegedly shot Paraguayan soccer player Salvador Cabañas in January is not in Colombia, Judicial Investigations Police chief Gen. Carlos Ramiro Mena said.
Jose Jorge Balderas Garza is in Mexico, the police chief said, citing information provided by recently arrested Mexican drug capo Edgar Valdez Villarreal.
More...Colombia, U.S., Honduras Begin Anti-Drug Naval Drills
By Admin Friday, September 3, 2010
BOGOTA - Colombian, U.S. and Honduran naval forces started joint anti-drug trafficking military exercises Tuesday. The three-day drills are being carried out by the Colombian National Army, the Honduran patrol ship “Tegucigalpa” and the U.S. Coast Guard vessel “Escanaba” on the Colombian island of San Andres.
More...COLOMBIA – US Military Aid Contingent on Reversal of Rights Record
By Admin Friday, September 3, 2010
WASHINGTON, (IPS) – As a new administration takes over in Bogotá, some groups are hoping for change in the human rights record of Colombia – and that the U.S. will use its clout in the country to ensure that change occurs.
At some point in September, the U.S. State Department will likely certify that Colombia is meeting the human rights conditions required for receiving some of the military aid provided by the U.S. But in the year since the last certification numerous human rights violations have occurred in the country, Colombian and U.S. NGOs said in a statement issued Monday.
More...Obama downshifts American imperialism in Colombia
By Admin Friday, September 3, 2010
An argument can be made that the U.S. owes a national “morality debt” of diplomatic reparations for centuries of state-sponsored terrorism and deplorable interventionism in and around the Republic of Colombia. Numerous “banana republics” joined Colombia, resulting from 500 years of “gun-point capitalism” fueled by the U.S. State department at the behest of multi-national corporate interests. Since the arrival of Christopher Columbus, after whom Colombia takes its name, an utter disregard for the democratic interests of Latin American citizens has been the only constant down through history.
More...Police search for Cabanas shooter in Colombia
By Admin Friday, September 3, 2010
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian police are searching for a Mexican fugitive wanted for the shooting in January of Paraguay soccer player Salvador Cabanas, a senior officer said on Thursday.
Finding Jose Jorge “JJ” Balderas, whom a drugs lord captured in Mexico this week identified as the shooter, was a priority, Judicial Police chief Carlos Mena said.
More...Bogota Colombia Business
Colombia to take advantage of its wind power potential
Monday, September 6, 2010
6 September 2010 - A recent report by the World Bank, to which Business News Americas had exclusive access, reveals that the Colombian region of La Guajira has the potential to generate approximately 18 GW of electricity from wind.
Colombia, Portugal Sign DTAMonday, September 6, 2010
A double taxation agreement signed between Colombia and Portugal adds to those already concluded by Colombia with Spain, Switzerland, Chile, Canada, Mexico and South Korea.
Colombia and Portugal signed the agreement in Bogota to avoid double taxation and prevent income tax evasion.
Colombia’s ETB Shares Fall 27% As Sale Process FlopsFriday, September 3, 2010
By Inti Landauro
(Adds comments from an analyst and the mayor of Bogata and that the company president did not return phone calls for comment in the last three paragraphs.)
BOGOTA -(Dow Jones)- Shares of Colombian state-controlled telephone company Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota SA (ETB.BO), or ETB, lost 27% Thursday after the company halted the process to sell a controlling stake as no bidders showed up.
American News
Teenage girl among 3 people shot in NE
Monday, September 6, 2010
Three people, including a teenage girl, were shot Sunday evening in Northeast Washington, authorities said.
The incident appeared to be the most violent in the metropolitan area in the first two days of the long Labor Day weekend. None of the victims’ wounds was believed to be life-threatening, police said, but rescue workers said the girl’s wounds appeared to be serious.
U.S. private sector starts hiringFriday, September 3, 2010
A decline in government employment offset an increase in private-sector hiring and caused the U.S. economy to shed 54,000 jobs in August. Underlying the overall drop was the encouraging sign that the private sector actually added 67,000 jobs during the month, the Labour Department said Friday.
That just wasn’t enough to offset the 114,000 government jobs lost as Washington laid off temporary workers hired to conduct the census. “Private sector job growth is still modest, no question there. But the picture is looking a little less bleak,” BMO economist Jennifer Lee noted.
World News
Suicide car bomb hits Pakistan police station, kills 17 - 2nd Update
Monday, September 6, 2010
Islamabad - A suicide bomber on Monday rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a police station in Pakistan’s north-western province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, killing 17 people and injuring dozens more, police said.
The bombing, in Lucky Marwat district close to the country’s militancy-plagued tribal region, demolished parts of the police station building and damaged a nearby school van.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Seoul - North Korea said Monday that it would release seven crew members and their South Korean fishing boat, a month after they were taken into custody after Pyongyang said they had violated its maritime border.
State media called the violation “an intolerable infringement upon the sovereignty” of North Korea but the government decided to release the four South Koreans and three Chinese after they had confessed to sailing into North Korea’s exclusive economic zone off its east coast.
Brazil
Brazil’s Petrobras unveils $64 bln share offer
Friday, September 3, 2010
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) – Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras on Friday unveiled a huge share offering which could raise 64 billion dollars to help finance new exploration projects in the country.
Some 2.1 million common shares and 1.5 million preferred shares would be issued to help finance deepwater exploration, the company said in a statement.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s government will charge state oil company Petrobras $8.51 per barrel for crude reserves to be used in a $43 billion oil-for-shares swap, the government and the firm said on Wednesday, a price seen as high that could hit interest in a related share offering.
The government will trade 5 billion barrels of oil for company shares, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said. The transaction will go alongside a stock issue for private shareholders that could raise as much as $25 billion more in cash.
Honduras
Honduran Coffee Production on the Rise
Friday, September 3, 2010
Honduras will produce 6.4 percent more coffee in the upcoming 2010/11 season as farmers, spurred on by high prices, buy more fertilizers and expand their coffee growing land, the head of the national coffee association said.
According to Marcial Flores, Honduras sees production for the 2010/11 season at 3.83 million 60-bags of coffee compared with the 3.6 million bags produced in the 2009/10 season.
Honduras Infastructure Badly DamagedThursday, September 2, 2010
The already deteriorated road network in Honduras has been further affected after the constant rains that hit the country. There are many areas that have been cut off by landslides and floods, due to the accumulation of water in the soil.
Miguel Pastor, head of the Department of Public Works, Transportation and Housing (Soptravi) said this morning that at least 80% of the road network in Honduras is damaged; and a heavy investment will be required for its rehabilitation.
Venezuela
Jailed Chavez opponent charged, calls case a farce
Friday, September 3, 2010
CARACAS, Venezuela —The leader of a conservative group opposed to President Hugo Chavez has been charged with hiding explosives in his home - allegations he called a farce in comments sent from his jail cell.
Prosecutors announced conspiracy and arms trafficking charges against Alejandro Pena Esclusa on Friday, more than six weeks after he was arrested on July 12.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
•Washington should take advantage of the temporary détente between Colombia and Venezuela and relate to Caracas constructively.
•Would-be U.S. Ambassador designate Palmer fails at behaving diplomatically.
•You do not insult your perspective host and then expect to be warmly greeted in the house.
•While Chavez sometimes acts boorishly, he has the right to challenge U.S. charges against him when they are often
driven by propaganda rather than by hard facts.
Canada in the News
Memorial School Honours Canadian Killed in Haiti Quake
By Admin Monday, September 6, 2010
The day after RCMP Sgt. Mark Gallagher returned to Haiti from New Brunswick in January, he was planning to deliver a quantity of shoes to an orphanage at the request of a family in Woodstock, N.B., where he was based.
The family was in the process of adopting two children from Haiti, and Gallagher, who was on a nine-month stint in Haiti as part of a UN peacekeeping mission, was happy to be able to help.
Features
Colombian is world’s shortest man at 27 inches
Monday, September 6, 2010
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Edward Nino Hernandez is in many ways a typical 24-year-old Colombian male. He loves to dance reggaeton, dreams of owning a car - preferably a Mercedes- and wants to see the world.
Top on his list of people he would like to meet are Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone and former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
Travel tourism
Vacationing on the Colombian Island of San Andres
Thursday, September 2, 2010
While living here in Medellin I had decided that I would try to see as much of Colombia as possible, and so earlier this month, I set out to visit the small and relatively unknown island of San Andres, Colombia (located off of Nicaragua’s coast, just about 2.5 hours from Medellin by air). The island was an absolute paradise, and pretty inexpensive (if thinking in US $) which made the vacation one of the best I’ve ever taken.
Restaurant reviews
Colombian Spices
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Colombian food is constituted by the fusion of European tastes with African cuisine. Spices are prominent in the cuisine, and almost every dish is characterized by mild heat. However, the majority of spices used in contemporary spices were introduced by European colonists. Only allspice and chilies are native to the continent, but even those had to be brought to Colombia from other South American countries.
Sports
Heartbreak, triumph at Montreal Marathon
Monday, September 6, 2010
MONTREAL - It was, to most observers at Olympic Stadium on Sunday, a tragic sight. Colombian William Naranjo was labouring toward the finish line of the 20th anniversary edition of the Montreal Marathon, ahead of a pack of four Kenyan runners making up ground with every step.
If that winner’s tape was five metres closer, if the course were 42.19 km instead of 42.195, Naranjo would have won what was clearly a gruelling race. Instead, with the finish line within spitting distance, Naranjo could do little but turn his head in time to see Choge Julius Kirwa pass him and break the tape a gut-wrenching three-tenths of a second before him.
Colombian club’s players end strike over unpaid salariesFriday, September 3, 2010
BOGOTA, (Reuters) - Players of Colombia’s Once Caldas ended a strike and returned to training on Wednesday after reaching agreement with the club over stalled salary payments.
Club vice-president Jose Manuel Lopez and team captain Alexis Henriquez issued a joint statement announcing the agreement ending two days of strike action by the players.
...No one seems to know how many there are. Passersby are too busy going to and fro their business to contemplate the growth of their ranks. They are the “canchosos” (street dogs) who roam freely...
Step aside, Julio Iglesias and all you other romantic Latino singers, Paco the Parrot is here.
While soap opera fans the world over are watching the never-ending misadventures of “Bety la fea” (Ugly Betty), there is another every day soap opera going on in a certain Anapoima mandarino tree.