Tag: Gustavo Petro

Colombia Orders Probe Into Ties Between Military and Drug Traffickers

The Colombian military said Monday it had opened an investigation into allegations that senior army and intelligence officials advised the leader of an armed drug-trafficking group about how to secretly buy weapons and evade military scrutiny.

The revelations, reported by the major Colombian media outlet, Caracol, have stoked fears that former guerrilla fighters who now smuggle cocaine have infiltrated high levels of the security forces under President Gustavo Petro, a former member of a leftist guerrilla organization. Petro has feuded with President Trump over U.S. airstrikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean and overseen fraying relations with the U.S. over soaring drug-crop cultivation and cocaine trafficking.

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Kejal Vyas

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November 24, 2025
Colombian President Petro compares Trump to Nazis, says he is ‘against mankind’

Colombian President Gustavo Petro.. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

Bogotá, Colombia

Colombian President Gustavo Petro escalated an ongoing feud with President Donald Trump at a pre-meeting of the COP30 climate summit yesterday, criticizing his counterpart for his stance on immigration, military action in Gaza and Venezuela, and the environment.

In a speech to some 30 world leaders, the South American president accused Trump of being “against mankind” by not attending the summit and later compared the White House’s immigration policy to “that of the Nazis.”

The Colombian president’s comments are the latest in a nearly year-long feud with Trump, which came to a head last month when the U.S. added Petro and members of his inner circle to a list of sanctioned individuals. The move, which barred the leader from the United States and froze his assets, followed White House allegations that Petro is “an illegal drug dealer,” a claim for which the administration has not provided evidence.

“Today, Mr. Trump is literally against mankind. By not coming here, he proves it,” said Petro, noting the president’s absence at the summit on climate change, which Trump has described as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”

While Petro was not alone in criticizing the White House’s climate skepticism – Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Chile’s Gabriel Boric did the same – he proceeded to address other pressure points between himself and Trump.

The White House “continues these anti-immigrant policies, modeled on those of the Nazis and carried out against our peoples in the United States,” the Colombian president said.

He also condemned Washington’s bombing campaign against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, which have killed nearly 70 people since September.

“The same missiles that fall on the children of Gaza are now falling on poor young people who are not drug traffickers, but employees of drug traffickers or sometimes fishermen,” Petro said.

His claim that a U.S. boat strike murdered innocent Colombian fishermen drew Trump’s ire in October and led the White House to add Petro, his wife, son, and right-hand man to the sanctions list.

Not only has the move imposed financial constraints on the Colombian leader, but his official duties abroad have been affected, with multiple airports refusing to refuel his presidential plane due to the sanctions.

“Petro clearly has a bone to pick with Trump. He feels personally offended by Trump and has been saying so,” Sergio Guzmán, director at Colombia Risk Analysis, a security think tank, told the Miami Herald.

The analyst added that, following the sanctions, Petro has little to lose by antagonizing Trump.

But Petro’s behavior may risk harming Colombia – during the spat over the boat bombings, Trump announced an end to all aid to the country, threatening security goals and counter-narcotics efforts.

While Secretary of State Marco Rubio later clarified the aid would continue, the U.S. could still punish Colombia for its president’s actions.

“Trump has made no secret of the fact that he is interested in seeing an ideological shift in Colombia back towards the right,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, deputy director for Latin America at the International Crisis Group. “I do think the U.S. has shown that they will use the media that they have available to send that message very clearly to Colombian voters.”

While Petro may have nothing to lose personally, his collision course with Trump could still complicate vital U.S. assistance to Colombia.

The spat is also affecting the country’s diplomatic relations, with several leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz, dropping out of a meeting in Colombia later this week between Latin American and European nations.

“Everybody smells the blood in the water,” Guzmán said.

Alfie Pannell

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November 7, 2025
14 Killed in U.S. Strikes on Four Alleged Drug Boats in Eastern Pacific

The U.S. carried out three new lethal strikes on four vessels allegedly operated by drug smugglers in the Eastern Pacific on Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.

In total, 14 alleged “narco-terrorists” were killed in the three strikes, which left one survivor, Hegseth wrote in a social-media post. U.S. Southern Command notified the Coast Guard to initiate search and rescue operations for the survivor, before relaying the information to a Mexican military aircraft operating in the area, according to a Pentagon official. Mexican authorities picked up the survivor, the official said.

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Lara Seligman

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October 28, 2025
U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Colombia’s President Over Drug-Trafficking Accusations

WASHINGTON—The Treasury Department has sanctioned Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his family, alleging his government has aided drug traffickers.

“President Petro has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

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Alex Leary

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October 24, 2025
U.S. widens war against suspected drug traffickers with strike off the Pacific coast of Colombia

MEXICO CITY — The United States has widened its military campaign against alleged drug traffickers in Latin America, announcing on Wednesday that its forces had struck a boat purportedly smuggling narcotics off the Pacific coast of Colombia.

It was the eighth alleged drug vessel bombed by the U.S. in recent weeks, and the first attacked in the Pacific Ocean.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the airstrike killed two people, bringing the death toll in the attacks to 34. He said the vessel was “known by our intelligence” to be carrying narcotics, but did not provide evidence of those claims.

Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.

The vessel was known by our intelligence to be… pic.twitter.com/BayDhUZ4Ac

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 22, 2025

In a short video clip posted on X by Hegseth, a small boat carrying some kind of cargo is seen speeding through waves before a massive explosion hits, leaving the vessel drifting on the water in flames.

The attack drew swift rebuke from U.S. lawmakers who have criticized the Trump administration’s campaign of secretive strikes.

“Another illegal military strike on a boat, this time in the Pacific, broadening the Administration’s deadly campaign to another ocean,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California. “Once again, there is no detail on who was killed or why.”

The latest attack comes amid escalating tensions between President Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and some observers speculated that it was designed in part to punish Petro for defying Trump.

Petro, who has criticized Trump on issues ranging from migration to the war in Gaza, has in recent days accused the U.S. of killing innocent civilians and of using the strikes as pretext to try to push out Venezuela’s leftist authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro. He has slammed Trump for not doing more to reduce demand for narcotics in the U.S., which is the world’s top consumer of drugs.

After Petro accused the U.S. of murder, saying that an earlier strike had killed a Colombian fisherman in the Caribbean, Trump retorted without evidence that Petro was a “drug dealer” and warned that the U.S. would take unilateral action to combat drug trafficking there. He also vowed to cut aid to Colombia, which has long been one of America’s closest allies in the region, and to impose punishing tariffs on Colombian imports.

Since Trump took office in January, he has gone to lengths to paint Latin American drug traffickers as a threat to national security, officially declaring several cartels as terrorist groups and then ordering the Pentagon to use military force against them. Trump, who insists the U.S. is locked in an “armed conflict” with the cartels and has the right to defend itself against them, has deployed thousands of U.S. troops and a small armada of ships and warplanes to the Caribbean.

In his social media post, Hegseth compared the alleged drug traffickers to Al Qaeda, the terror group that masterminded the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people,” Hegseth said. “There will be no refuge or forgiveness — only justice.”

U.S. lawmakers, including members of Trump’s Republican Party, have questioned the legality — as well as the effectiveness — of the strikes.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said this week that he believes the strikes are illegal because only Congress has the authority to declare war. Boats traveling some 2,000 miles south of the U.S. border don’t pose an imminent threat to Americans, he told journalist Piers Morgan.

“These are outboard boats that would have to refuel 20 times to reach Miami,” he said.

Paul questioned why U.S. officials weren’t first attempting to detain the boats and arrest the suspected smugglers before carrying out lethal strikes. “We don’t just summarily execute people,” he said. “We present evidence and convict them.”

Paul is part of a bipartisan group of senators that is planning to force a vote on legislation that would block the U.S. from engaging in hostilities within or against Venezuela without explicit approval from Congress. The measure’s passage is a long shot in the Republican-dominated Senate, but a vote would require senators to take a public stance on Trump’s escalating military campaign.

Schiff, who co-introduced the resolution, said the Senate must assert its authority and “stop the United States from being dragged — intentionally or accidentally — into full-fledged war in South America.”

Michael Shifter, past president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington research group, said the broadening of the military’s theater to the Pacific may be an effort to address criticism that only a small amount of drugs that reach the U.S. are trafficked through the Caribbean.

The Pacific is a major corridor for U.S.-bound illicit drugs, especially Colombia-produced cocaine. Chemical precursors for fentanyl and other synthetic drugs also cross the Pacific from Asia to Mexico.

“It may be aimed at trying to strengthen their case, because they’re being questioned a lot on that,” Shifter said, referring to the Trump administration. “The Pacific is where most of the drugs come from.”

He said the expanded strikes may increase fears in Mexico — the major conduit for drugs entering the United States. U.S. officials have warned that drone strikes on drug producers or traffickers in Mexico may be coming, even as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says her country would treat any unilateral military actions on her territory as “an invasion.”

“I’m sure they’re asking themselves in Mexico: ‘Are we next?’” Shifter said.

The White House has been more focused on Latin America than previous administrations, in part because its foreign policy is driven by Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of State and national security advisor. Rubio, the son of immigrants from Cuba, has a deep interest in the region and has long sought to counter leftists there, especially the authoritarian leaders of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.

Many analysts believe the strikes, the military buildup and Trump’s authorization for the CIA to conduct covert action in Venezuela are signs that the White House hopes to topple Maduro, who leads one of the world’s most oil-rich nations.

But that contrasts with Trump’s repeated vow not to interfere in the politics of other nations. “The interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand,” he told an audience in the Middle East earlier this year.

Linthicum and McDonnell reported from Mexico City and Ceballos from Washington.

Kate Linthicum, Ana Ceballos, Patrick J. McDonnell

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October 22, 2025
Airstrikes and insults: Trump’s new Latin America crisis

MEXICO CITY — For decades, Colombia and the United States have been devoted allies, sharing military intelligence, a robust trade relationship and a multibillion-dollar fight against drug trafficking.

Now that is all at risk as the U.S. ramps up deadly airstrikes off Colombia’s coast and the leaders of both nations trade scathing verbal attacks.

President Trump called Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter and Colombia’s first leftist president, an “illegal drug dealer.” Petro called Trump “rude” and accused the U.S. of murder, saying an American strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat had killed a Colombian fisherman in Colombian waters.

Petro has decried the massive buildup of U.S. troops, warships and jets in the Caribbean, which, he charges, aims to force a change of governments in neighboring Venezuela.

Relations between the nations hit their lowest point in memory Monday as the Colombian government recalled its ambassador to the United States, and Trump vowed to suspend all U.S. aid to Colombia and impose new tariffs on imports from the South American nation.

“Petro does nothing to stop” drug trafficking, Trump charged on his social media site, “despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America.”

The Colombian leader, Trump warned, “better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”

A coca leaf collector, or raspachin, works at a plantation in Catatumbo, Colombia, in 2022.

(Raul Arboleda / AFP/Getty Images)

Petro has defended his record in deterring drug trafficking despite rising production in Colombia of coca plants, the raw material in cocaine. He has said the rampant consumption of illicit drugs in the United States and Europe is behind the bloody drug war in Latin America.

Meanwhile, the U.S. said Sunday that it had blown up yet another boat, this one allegedly associated with a Colombian rebel group. Petro said the boat in fact belonged to a “humble family.”

The growing binational crisis threatened to further destabilize a region already on edge over the U.S. military strikes. Some analysts said it threatened to embolden the same drug traffickers Trump claims to be targeting.

“In a fight between the world’s largest drug producer and the world’s largest drug consumer, only organized crime wins,” former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said at a forum in Barcelona, Spain. “As long as we have two presidents who insult each other on Twitter every day, [combating crime] will be more difficult.”

Colombia is facing its worst security crisis in a decade, with armed groups competing for control over drug trafficking, illegal gold mining and other illicit economies in the years since militants with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, gave up their arms in a peace deal with the Colombian government in 2016.

If the U.S. ends its military and other aid to Colombia, the effect could be disastrous, said Elizabeth Dickinson, a senior analyst for the Andes region at the International Crisis Group, a think tank.

The Colombian military, which has long been fortified by U.S. training, weapons and other aid, is so skilled that its members are paid by the U.S. to teach anti-narcotics operations in other parts of the world, she said. “If the United States was truly interested in combating organized crime and drug trafficking,” she said, “why would they alienate the one partner in the region who is capable and willing to help?”

“The U.S.-Colombia relationship has for many years transcended personal politics because both sides understood how important it was,” Dickinson continued. “Now the wisdom of the relationship that held it together for so long and made it so productive for both countries is being thrown out the window, and we’re losing decades of progress.”

Relations between the nations have been unraveling since January, when Trump returned to the White House for a second term.

After Petro refused to receive U.S. military flights of deported migrants, Trump threatened tariffs. Petro at first vowed retaliatory tariffs but backed down and agreed to accept the migrants to avert a trade war.

More recently, the State Department announced it was revoking Petro’s visa after an appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in New York where he decried U.S. support for Israel and called for American soldiers to disobey Trump and “obey the orders of humanity.”

The massing of U.S. forces in the Caribbean has further strained the relationship.

The Trump administration has stationed roughly 10,000 troops and a fleet of ships and aircraft in the Caribbean, the largest U.S. military buildup in the region in decades.

Although the force is ostensibly aimed at interrupting the drug trade, it is widely believed to be an effort to drive out Venezuela’s left-leaning autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, who, critics say, has plunged his nation into an economic and political crisis.

Petro warned against U.S. meddling in Venezuela in a post on X on Monday, saying Washington was after the nation’s expansive oil reserves.

“The Venezuelan people do not want invasions, blockades, or threats against them,” he wrote. “They do not like dictators, not domestic or foreign.”

Last month, the Trump administration decertified Colombia as partner in the war on drugs, a move that could cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars in annual aid, much of it for anti-drug efforts.

Petro’s spat with Trump has sparked intense controversy in Colombia, which is starkly divided ahead of next year’s presidential election. (Petro is constitutionally barred from seeking reelection.)

Petro’s supporters praised him for standing up to a global bully. But his critics said he has imperiled Colombia’s economy. The United States is Colombia’s top trading partner; it sent nearly $10 billion in exports to the U.S. in the first eight months of this year.

Petro’s provocative attitude with the Trump administration contrasts with that of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, a leftist who has sought to accommodate Trump to avoid punishing tariffs on Mexican exports to the United States. But many worry that Mexico could also be in the Trump administration’s military crosshairs, as it is the major supplier of fentanyl and other drugs to the U.S. market.

Kate Linthicum, Patrick J. McDonnell

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October 20, 2025
Trump Turns Up Heat on Latin America

President Trump’s vow to intervene against drug smugglers in Colombia widened a U.S. counternarcotics campaign in Latin America that began with military strikes on oceangoing boats but is increasingly focused on threatening governments in the region.

His broadside against Colombia came in a social-media post Sunday morning that branded its president, Gustavo Petro, an “illegal drug leader,” vowing to halt U.S. aid to Bogotá, and to take unilateral action unless Petro closed “these killing fields immediately.”

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October 19, 2025
Trump Says U.S. Is Cutting Aid to Colombia Over Drugs

President Trump said the U.S. would stop aid payments to Colombia, for decades a close U.S. ally, because of the country’s drug production.

Trump, in a social-media post Sunday, escalated tensions with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, calling him “an illegal drug leader.” He said Petro was encouraging drug production and the U.S. wouldn’t give any more payments or subsidies to the country, long the U.S.’s closest ally in the war on drugs.

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October 19, 2025
Colombia unveils new ‘Miranda’ rifle to replace Israeli Galil

The rifle is made of 85% nationally manufactured components, with the goal being to reach full domestic manufacturing capabilities over the next few years.

Colombia has unveiled its new domestically manufactured rifle, the ‘Miranda,’ this week, in its first major step in moving away from Israeli-made weapons, Agence France-Presse reported on Monday

The rifle is composed of 85% locally manufactured components, with the goal of achieving full domestic manufacturing capabilities within the next few years.

According to AFP, the Miranda is produced by state-owned weapons manufacturer Indumil, which aims to produce 400,000 rifles over a five-year period.

Indumil manager and retired Colonel Javier Carmago told AFP that they want to “gradually replace current weapons in the armed forces.”

When presenting the new rifle, the Defense Ministry explained that it featured various improvements over the Israeli Galil ACE model currently in use, including lighter weight and greater resistance to extreme conditions.

A supporter of Israel holds flags during a protest, following Hamas’ biggest attack on Israel in years, in Bogota, Colombia October 9, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/LUISA GONZALEZ)

According to Colombian Defense Minister Petro Sánchez, the Miranda rifle, named for General Francisco de Miranda, represents the country’s progress in reducing dependence on external suppliers.

The rifle’s name, chosen by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, has not been formally accepted.

“Look at the Colombian rifle, it must be called Miranda. General Miranda, who went to Europe to learn military techniques and fell in love, returned from Europe with ideas of the Republic, independence, and freedom: Miranda,” Petro wrote on X/Twitter.

Columbia broke diplomatic ties with Israel in May 2024

Petro announced in May 2024 that his country would break diplomatic relations with Israel. Both countries share a history of strong ties and significant collaboration, particularly in trade and security.

“Here in front of you, the government of change, of the president of the republic announces that tomorrow we will break diplomatic relations with the State of Israel … for having a government, for having a president who is genocidal,” Petro said at a Workers’ Day rally.

The Media Line contributed to this report.

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October 1, 2025
Colombia’s Constitutional Court upholds bullfighting ban and adds cockfighting prohibition

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s Constitutional Court on Thursday upheld a 2024 law banning bullfights in the South American country, and it went further in protecting animal rights by adding a national prohibition of cockfighting.

The bullfighting ban was approved by Colombia’s Congress in May 2024, after months of heated debates, and when President Gustavo Petro signed the bill into law he said he couldn’t “tell the world that killing living and sentient beings for entertainment is culture.”

The Constitutional Court released a statement Thursday saying that it had rejected an appeal from bullfighting aficionados who argued the law violated their rights to artistic expression. The court didn’t explained the reasoning behind its decision and added that it was extending the ban to cockfighting.

The ban will be fully applied to bullfighting in 2027, as it was established in the law, to allow a transition period for its implementation.

The court also gave three years to completely ban cockfighting, meaning it will be imposed by 2028.

Supporters can still request that the Constitutional Court review its ruling, but it’s not clear if they will.

The Colombian cockfighting federation has said that around 290,000 families live from the activity and it estimates there are a million of aficionados. It had asked Congress not to ban it because it considered it an important tradition.

Bullfights have been held in Colombia since Spanish colonial times. But the popularity of the sport has declined in recent years as views on animal rights have changed.

Only seven countries now allow bullfights: Spain, France, Portugal, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru. However, some municipal and regional governments within those countries have imposed local bans.

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September 4, 2025
Car bomb and helicopter attack in Colombia kill at least 13 people, including police officers

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A car bomb and a separate attack on a police helicopter in Colombia killed at least 13 people on Thursday, according to authorities. President Gustavo Petro attributed both incidents to dissidents of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, commonly known as FARC.

Petro said on X that eight police officers died in the helicopter attack and noted that the aircraft was transporting personnel to an area in Antioquia, in northern Colombia, to eradicate coca leaf crops, the raw material for cocaine.

Antioquia Gov. Andrés Julián said on the same social media platform that a drone attacked the helicopter as it flew over coca leaf crops. Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said that preliminary information indicates the attack caused a fire in the aircraft.

Authorities did not immediately provide details of the conditions of the eight people who were injured in the helicopter attack.

Meanwhile, authorities in the southwest city of Cali reported that a vehicle loaded with explosives detonated near a military aviation school, killing 5 people and injuring more than 30. The Colombian Aerospace Force did not immediately provide additional details of the explosion.

Petro initially blamed the Gulf Clan, the country’s largest active drug cartel, for the helicopter attack. He asserted that the aircraft was targeted in retaliation for a cocaine seizure that allegedly belonged to the group.

FARC dissidents, who rejected a peace agreement with the government in 2016, and members of the Gulf Clan operate in Antioquia.

Coca leaf cultivation is on the rise in Colombia. The area under cultivation reached a record 253,000 hectares in 2023, according to the latest report available from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

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August 21, 2025
Colombian electoral authorities open investigation against President Petro’s 2022 campaign

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Electoral authorities in Colombia on Tuesday ruled in favor of investigating financial misconduct allegations against the 2022 campaign that got President Gustavo Petro elected.

The investigation to be carried out by the National Electoral Council will focus on whether the campaign exceeded financing limits and whether it accepted funds from prohibited sources. The electoral body previously delayed deciding on the inquiry, which some, including Petro, see as politically motivated and illegal.

The outcome of the investigation could result in fines against some campaign staffers, including its auditors, treasurer and manager. It can’t lead to an immediate impeachment of the president.

The council’s decision came after two of its 10 magistrates presented a report alleging that Petro’s presidential campaign exceeded financial limits by about $1.2 million. Petro has denied the accusations, which he has said are an initial effort by his adversaries to remove him from office.

Petro responded to the council’s decision with a brief message on X: “The coup d’état has begun,” he wrote. He had previously characterized the investigation as a “Colombian-style coup d’état” intended to be the first step to remove him from office.

The council’s 10 magistrates are elected by Congress and represent various political parties. At least two of them belong to Petro’s party.

A statement from the council announcing its decision Tuesday listed 12 financial transactions that authorities allege the campaign did not report. The statement also alleged that Petro’s campaign received funds from “prohibited sources of financing,” including labor organizations.

The possibility of an investigation against the president generated a political and legal debate about the council’s powers and presidential immunity.

In Colombia, only a commission of the House of Representatives can investigate the president. But the country’s Council of State last month ruled that the president’s immunity doesn’t prevent him from being investigated by another government body such as the National Electoral Council, which can only impose financial penalties. The Council of State maintained that only Congress can impeach the president.

No president in Colombia has been removed from office in a political trial in Congress in the last 30 years.

Petro’s attorney, Hector Carvajal, last month told a radio station that he had already filed an appeal with the Council of State to reconsider its decision and clarify that the president’s immunity is comprehensive, so he couldn’t be investigated by electoral authorities. Carvajal warned that should electoral authorities open the investigation, he would file an appeal with Colombia’s Constitutional Court and would also resort to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

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October 8, 2024
'Palestinian genocide' compared to climate change at COP28

The president of Colombia has compared the “genocide of the Palestinian people” to climate change.

Speaking at COP28 on Friday, Gustavo Petro linked the Israel-Gaza conflict to the climate emergency.

He claimed “barbaric acts unleashed against the Palestinian people is what awaits those who are fleeing the south because of the climate crisis”, adding the conflict is a “rehearsal for the future”.

Weeks of Israeli bombardment and a ground campaign have left more than three-quarters of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million uprooted, leading to a humanitarian crisis.

More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed – roughly two-thirds of them women and children – according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Hamas is a UK-proscribed terrorist organisation.

Israel has previously said allegations of genocide were “deplorable” and that its actions target Hamas militants, not civilians.

Some 1,200 Israelis have been killed, mostly during Hamas’s deadly 7 October attack that triggered the war.

Petro, the left-wing president who was sworn in last year and is a former member of Colombia’s M-19 guerrilla group, said at the second day of COP28: “I invite you, ladies and gentlemen, to think about a fusion, a combination of events: the climate crisis and the genocide of the Palestinian people.

Israel restarted combat operations in Gaza on Friday. (AFP via Getty Images) (SAID KHATIB via Getty Images)

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“Are these events disconnected, is my question, or are we seeing here a mirror of what is going to happen in the future? The genocides and the barbaric acts unleashed against the Palestinian people is what awaits those who are fleeing the south because of the climate crisis.”

He went on: “Most victims of climate change, which will be counted in their billions, will be in those countries that do not emit CO2 or emit very little. Without the transfer of wealth from the north to the south, the climate victims will increasingly have less drinking water in their homes and they will have to migrate north, where the melting glaciers will make it possible for people to have drinking water. The exodus will be of billions.

Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro said the Israel-Gaza conflict is a ‘rehearsal for the future’. (Reuters) (Amr Alfiky / reuters)

“There will be pushback against the exodus, with violence, with barbaric acts committed. This is what is happening in Gaza. This is a rehearsal for the future. Why have the major carbon-consuming nations made it possible for the systematic killing of thousands of children in Gaza, is my question?

“Because if they do not kill them, they will invade their country to prevent them from consuming their carbon. We can therefore see what the future will look like. There will be a shrinking of democracy and unleashed barbaric acts against our peoples. Those of us who do not emit CO2. Those of us who are poor.”

Israel restarts operations

Israel restarted combat operations in the Gaza Strip minutes after a temporary truce expired on Friday, blaming Hamas for breaking the ceasefire.

Within hours of the truce ending, Hamas-run Gaza reported 109 people had been killed and dozens wounded in air strikes.

In light of this, Petro was not the only world leader at COP28, which is being held in the UAE, to speak out about the conflict.

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “While discussing the climate crisis, we cannot ignore the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Palestinian territories right beside us. The Israeli attacks that have claimed the lives of over 16,000 innocent Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom are children and women, can in no way be justified.”

Jordan’s King Abdullah also said: “Nor can we stand by as the massive destruction of a relentless war in Gaza threatens more people and holds back progress towards a better global future.”

It comes as UK prime minister Rishi Sunak said the UK is exploring alternative routes to provide aid to Gaza following the breakdown of the truce.

Sunak also renewed calls for “sustained humanitarian pauses” as he met regional leaders on the sidelines of the COP28 summit.

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December 1, 2023
Colombia’s marijuana farmers want out of the shadows. Will the government ever legalize their harvest? | News – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

Cajibio (CNN) — On a recent Friday morning, about 200 coca and marijuana farmers gathered in the small town of Cajibio, southwestern Colombia, to hear the government out.

Colombian’s government was still licking its wounds after an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana had sunk in Congress less than 10 days before.

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July 24, 2023
Missing children found after 40 days in Amazon survived like ‘children of the jungle,’ Colombian president says | CNN

CNN
—

Four young children have been found alive after more than a month wandering the Amazon where they survived like “children of the jungle,” according to Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro.

“Their learning from indigenous families and their learning of living in the jungle has saved them,” Petro told reporters on Friday, after announcing on Twitter that they had been found 40 days after they went missing following a plane crash that killed their mother.

Petro said the children were all together when they were found, adding they had demonstrated an example of “total survival that will be remembered in history.”

“They are children of the jungle and now they are children of Colombia,” he added.

Revealing their discovery earlier in the day, the Colombian president had tweeted an image that seems to show search crews treating the children in a forest clearing, along with the words: “A joy for the whole country!”

Their grandmother, María Fátima Valencia, said she was “going to hug all of them” and “thank everyone” as soon as they were reunited in their home city of Villavicencio, where they live.

“I’m going to encourage them, I’m going to push them forward, I need them here,” she said.

The children, who appear gaunt in the photos, are being evaluated by doctors and will be taken to the town of San Jose del Guaviare. They are expected to receive further treatment in Bogota, the capital, according to Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez.

“We hope that tomorrow they will be treated at the military hospital,” he said, while praising the Colombian military and indigenous communities for helping find them.

Petro said the children were weak, needed food and would have their mental status assessed. “Let the doctors make their assessment and we will know,” he added.

Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, age 13, Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4, and infant Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy were stranded in the jungle on May 1, the only survivors of a deadly plane crash.

Their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, was killed in the crash along with two other adult passengers: pilot Hernando Murcia Morales and Yarupari indigenous leader Herman Mendoza Hernández.

The children’s subsequent disappearance into the deep forest galvanized a massive military-led search operation involving over a hundred Colombian special forces troops and over 70 indigenous scouts combing the area.

For weeks, the search turned up only tantalizing clues, including footprints, a dirty diaper and a bottle. Family members said the oldest child had some experience in the forest, but hopes waned as the weeks went on.

At some point during their ordeal, they’d had to defend themselves from a dog, Petro said.

He called the children’s survival a “gift to life” and an indication that they were “cared for by the jungle.”

The Colombian president said he had spoken with the grandfather of the children who said that their survival was in the hands of the jungle which ultimately chose to return them.

The grandfather, Fidencio Valencia, said he and his wife had endured many sleepless nights worrying about the children.

“For us this situation was like being in the dark, we walked for the sake of walking. Living for the sake of living because the hope of finding them kept us alive. When we found the children we felt joy, we don’t know what to do, but we are grateful to God,” he said.

The children’s other grandfather, Narcizo Mucutuy, said he wants his grandchildren to be brought back home soon.

“I beg the president of Colombia to bring our grandchildren to Villavicencio, here where the grandparents are, where their uncles and aunts are, and then take them to Bogota,” he said.

Indigenous leader Lucho Acosta, the coordinator of indigenous scouts, credited the “extra effort” of search and rescue teams and local authorities to find the children in a statement on Friday.

“They all added a little effort so that this Operation Hope could be successful, and we can hope the kids will emerge alive and stronger than before. We have been hoping together with the strength of our ancestors, and our strength prevailed,” he said.

“We never stopped looking for them until the miracle came,” the Colombian Defense Ministry tweeted.

During a press conference Friday evening, Petro said he hoped to speak with the children on Saturday.

“The most important thing now is what the doctors say, they have been lost for 40 days, their health condition must have been stressed. We need to check their mental state too,” he said.

Petro, who was previously forced to backtrack after mistakenly tweeting that they had been found last month, described the children’s 40-day saga as “a remarkable testament of survival.”

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June 9, 2023
4 Children Lost In The Jungle For 40 Days After A Plane Crash Are Found Alive In Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Friday that authorities found alive four children who survived a small plane crash 40 days ago and had been the subject of an intense search in the Amazon jungle that held Colombians on edge.

The children were alone when searchers found them and are now receiving medical attention, Petro told reporters upon his return to Bogota from Cuba, where he signed a cease-fire agreement with representatives of the National Liberation Army rebel group.

The president said the youngsters are an “example of survival” and predicted their saga “will remain in history.”

The crash happened in the early hours of May 1, when the Cessna single-engine propeller plane with six passengers and a pilot declared an emergency due to an engine failure.

The small aircraft fell off radar a short time later and a frantic search for survivors began. The three adults were killed, and their bodies were found in the area.

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June 9, 2023
Why Colombia was forced to backtrack on a promising ceasefire announcement | CNN

CNNE
—

What began as a hopeful announcement of a six-month ceasefire with the National Liberation Army (ELN) and other armed groups in Colombia, has ended in a political entanglement that casts doubts on the armed groups’ desire for peace – and raises questions about Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s future announcements regarding the ongoing peace process.

The Colombian government’s own chief negotiator, Otty Patiño, has since acknowledged that the agreement was not reached bilaterally. On Wednesday, the Colombian government spokesman announced that the executive order for the ceasefire had been suspended.

Analysts agree that it was a mistake to make the announcement without reaching a bilateral agreement, and believe that Petro’s government now faces a long way to go to right the wrong.

Here is a summary of what happened in recent days regarding the agreement of a bilateral ceasefire – that never happened – and what may happen in the future.

President Petro announced the ceasefire on December 31, giving hope to many sectors, especially communities plagued by violence.

He said that for six months, starting January 1, there would be a ceasefire with the ELN and four other armed groups: la Segunda Marquetalia (the Second Marquetalia), el Estado Mayor Central (High Command of the FARC), Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) and the Autodefensas de la Sierra Nevada (Self-Defence Forces of the Sierra Nevada).

“The main objective of the ceasefire will be to stop the humanitarian impact… to halt offensive actions and to avoid armed incidents between law enforcement and unlawful organizations,” the statement said.

The announcement was applauded by many, including United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who in a statement indicated that he “welcomes” the announcement of the bilateral ceasefire since it “brings renewed hope for comprehensive peace to the Colombian people as the New Year dawns.”

According to Petro, the Organization of American States (OAS), as well as the Catholic Church and the Ombudsman’s Office, would oversee the bilateral ceasefire.

But the bilateral agreement did not happen.

Three days later, the ELN said in a statement that there was no bilateral ceasefire agreement with the Colombian government as Petro had announced on December 31.

“The ELN Dialogue Delegation has not discussed with the administration of Gustavo Petro any proposal for a bilateral ceasefire, therefore there is still no agreement on that matter,” says the January 1 statement.

The guerrillas said that “the ELN only complies with what is discussed and agreed upon at the Dialogue Table where we participate,” adding that the announcement is understood to be “a proposal to be reviewed in the next cycle” that will be carried out in Mexico.

Reuters reported that the announcement completely shocked the public, and after the announcement, Petro convened a meeting with the ministers of defense, interior and the high commissioner for peace to analyze the position of the rebel group, made up of some 2,400 fighters.

Colombian Interior Minister and government spokesman Alfonso Prada Gil on Wednesday announced at a press conference that the executive order establishing a ceasefire with the ELN had been suspended.

A new meeting between the parties is expected at negotiations between the ELN and the government of Colombia that will resume in Mexico

“We became aware of the statement of the ELN, and last night we made the decision to suspend the legal effects of that executive order until the negotiation table is reactivated in the coming days, and at that table we are going to bring that request of the protocols on behalf of the government, and we hope that the ELN will bring theirs, so that we can reactivate the dialogue,” he said.

Prada Gil invited the ELN to agree to a temporary ceasefire, while the next round of negotiations begin in Mexico.

After the uproar caused by the announcement, the head of the government’s delegation for the negotiation, Otty Patiño, did not clarify that Petro made a unilateral announcement without consulting the guerrillas, but instead “celebrated” the ELN’s decision to “examine the terms” that could make the ceasefire possible.

He also ventured to “interpret” Petro’s failed announcement as a “first step towards a new understanding and a new future.”

Analysts have agreed that Petro’s announcement of a bilateral ceasefire was a mistake, but some posit that it was the president’s way of pressuring the guerillas and, trying to advance the peace process with the ELN.

“It is evident that it is a mistake to proclaim a ceasefire with several organizations without having agreed to do so with all of them and without having the protocols for the oversight either. It is a mistake to commit the international community to something that is not yet agreed by the parties, but we are already in it,” political analyst Leon Valencia said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, retired Army Colonel Luis Alberto Villamarín said, Petro’s bilateral announcement was a move that backfired.

“He considered that by making a move like this he was going to subdue the ELN. Because the only means the ELN has to put pressure on the negotiating table is precisely their terrorist actions. And if the ELN commits to a bilateral ceasefire, that will prevent them from being strong on the negotiating table,” Villamarín said in an interview on CNNE’s Conclusiones.

“The only argument the ELN has is terrorism and Mr. Petro thought that he could take that away from them, tying their hands,” said the retired Army Colonel. “It was calculated but the ELN responded in kind,” he added.

Petro’s goal is to achieve what he calls “total peace,” which is also a political goal of his government.

He wants to disarm armed groups and organized crime and put an end a decades-long armed conflict that has left at least 450,000 dead and millions displaced.

And with that in mind, Petro’s administration has a two-prong approach: a peace negotiation with ELN guerrillas that have a political agenda, and legal processes with criminal organizations, which have no political agenda, said political analyst Ariel Avila, who is also a senator for the Green Party.

“This ceasefire includes the five organizations, the largest armed groups, and therefore safety could improve in about 180 municipalities… in the country,” Avila said in an interview with CNNE’s Conclusiones. “There will be areas where relief will be very low, as there are others where these groups (sic) have total relief where relief will be much greater.”

Despite Petro’s mistake of making that announcement without a bilateral agreement in place, he should still try and reach to reach a similar agreement, say experts, since the proposal was made public and it has been welcomed by the international community.

“Gustavo Petro made the bold move to propose a bilateral ceasefire without discussing it with the armed forces and with the ELN. Now it is known and widely accepted and supported by the international community. What is appropriate now is to agree on it urgently,” said León Valencia.

And if this agreement is reached, it would be twice as good, according to Avila, it will entail signing an agreement with the ELN, and implementing a law abiding process with the criminal organizations.

“The criminal delivers truth and delivers goods and in return the state offers a reduction of the sentence,” he pointed out.

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January 5, 2023
Colombia, Venezuela open key binational bridge as ties warm

BUCARAMANGA, Colombia — Colombia and Venezuela on Sunday opened a key bridge linking the countries that had been closed for almost seven years amid political tensions, launching an era of improved relations under Colombia’s new leftist president.

Delegations led by Colombian trade minister Germán Umaña and the governor of Venezuela’s Tachira state, Freddy Bernal, met in the middle of the “Tienditas” bridge linking Tachira and Colombia’s Norte de Santander state for the opening ceremony.

“From today, all the border crossings are open for transport,” said Bernal, adding that the political will existed to continue improving relations between the neighbors.

Construction of the bridge ended in 2016, but it was never inaugurated because of the political crisis between the South American countries. The bridge, which cost more than $32 million to build, was designed to ease congestion on the two other binational bridges in the area and facilitate trade.

In 2019, Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolás Maduro ordered more than a dozen cargo containers placed on the bridge to symbolically block it to protest attempts by the opposition to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela from Colombia.

Diplomatic and commercial relations between Colombia and Venezuela were reestablished in September following the inauguration of Gustavo Petro – a former guerrilla – as Colombia’s president.

Petro’s predecessor, Iván Duque (2018-2022), had called Maduro a “dictator” and made Colombia one of 50 countries that recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president, charging that Maduro’s re-election had been fraudulent.

”Tienditas” was the last remaining crossing linking the countries to be reopened along their 2,200-kilometer (1,367-mile) border following the restoration of relations.

“In political terms, ‘Tienditas’ is the symbol of the recovery of dialogue between the two countries,” said Ronal Rodríguez, a researcher at the Venezuela Observatory in Colombia’s Universidad del Rosario.

Pedro Benítez, a political analyst and professor at the Central University of Venezuela, told The Associated Press the key symbol of the restoration of relations was the first face-to-face meeting between Petro and Maduro in November.

Benitez said the reestablishment of trade relations between the neighbors so far has been “very bumpy” because incoming Colombian products have been very expensive due to “non-institutional obstacles attributed to Venezuelan officials.”

The resumption of commercial ties began with the enabling of traffic across the Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Paula Santander bridges in September. From then until November, 385 trucks passed over the bridges, most from Colombia into Venezuela carrying products such as medical supplies, fiber optics, textiles, toilet paper and cardboard. Coiled steel, motors and pipes were transported from Venezuela into Colombia.

Between January and October 2022, total trade between the two countries reached $512 million, an increase from $394 million in all of 2021, but still a long ways from the $7 billion in bilateral trade seen in 2008.

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January 1, 2023
Tropical Storm Julia strengthens as it heads for Nicaragua

MEXICO CITY — Tropical Storm Julia gained more strength moving westward in the southern Caribbean on Saturday as authorities prepared for a possible hurricane on Colombian islands and in Nicaragua.

Julia’s maximum sustained winds had increased to 70 mph (110 kph) Saturday afternoon, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was centered about 55 miles (90 kilometers) east of Providencia Island and moving west at 17 mph (28 kph).

Julia was forecast to pass near or over Colombia’s San Andres and Providencia islands Saturday night on its way to landfall in Nicaragua on Sunday morning.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro declared a “maximum alert” on the islands and asked hotels to prepare space to shelter the vulnerable population. Officials on San Andres imposed a curfew for residents at 6 a.m. Saturday to limit people in the streets. Air operations to the islands were suspended.

Similar precautions were underway in the central area of Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, where authorities issued an alert for all types of vessels to seek safe harbor.

Nicaraguan soldiers began preparing the evacuation of inhabitants of islands and cays around the town of Sandy Bay Sirpi. The army said it delivered humanitarian supplies to the municipalities of Bluefields and Laguna de Perlas for distribution to 118 temporary shelters.

Forecasters said a greater threat than Julia’s winds were rains of 5 to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters) — up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) in isolated areas — that the storm was expected to dump across Central America.

“This rainfall may cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides through this weekend,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The storm’s remnants were forecast to sweep across Nicaragua and then skirt by the Pacific coasts of El Salvador and Guatemala, a region already saturated by weeks of heavy rains.

In Guatemala, officials said Julia could drench 10 departments in the east, center and west of the country — an area that has been most affected by this rainy season and where the poorest people are concentrated.

From May to September, storms have caused 49 confirmed deaths and six people are missing. Roads and hundreds of homes have been damaged, Guatemalan officials say.

In El Salvador, where 19 people have died this rainy season, the worst rainfall is expected Monday and Tuesday, said Fernando López, the minister of environmenta and natural resources. Officials said they had opened 61 shelters with the capacity to house more than 3,000 people.

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October 8, 2022
Bolsonaro, Lula appear headed for runoff in Brazil race

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s top two presidential candidates were neck-and-neck late Sunday in a highly polarized election that could determine if the country returns a leftist to the helm of the world’s fourth-largest democracy or keeps the far-right incumbent in office for another four years.

The race pits incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro against his political nemesis, leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. There are nine other candidates, but their support pales to that for Bolsonaro and da Silva.

With 91.6% of votes counted, da Silva had 47.3%, ahead of Bolsonaro with 44.2%, according to the electoral authority.

It appears increasingly likely neither of the top two candidates will receive more than 50% of the valid votes, which exclude spoiled and blank ballots, which would mean a second round vote will be scheduled for Oct. 30.

“We will most likely have a second round,” said Nara Pavão, who teaches political science at the Federal University of Pernambuco. “The probability of ending the election now (in the first round) is too small.”

Recent opinion polls had given da Silva a commanding lead — the last Datafolha survey published Saturday found a 50% to 36% advantage for da Silva among those who intended to vote. It interviewed 12,800 people, with a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

The election wound up being far tighter than anticipated, both in the presidential contest and those for governorships and congressional seats.

“The far-right has shown great resilience in the presidential and in the state races,” said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo.

“It is too soon to go too deep, but this election shows Bolsonaro’s victory in 2018 was not a hiccup,” he added.

Bolsonaro outperformed in Brazil’s southeast region, which includes populous Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais states, according to Rafael Cortez, who oversees political risk at consultancy Tendencias Consultoria.

“The polls didn’t capture that growth,” Cortez said.

Bolsonaro’s administration has been marked by incendiary speech, his testing of democratic institutions, his widely criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in 15 years.

But he has built a devoted base by defending conservative values, rebuffing political correctness and presenting himself as protecting the nation from leftist policies that he says infringe on personal liberties and produce economic turmoil.

While voting earlier Sunday, Marley Melo, a 53-year-old trader in capital Brasilia, sported the yellow of the Brazilian flag, which Bolsonaro and his supporters have coopted for demonstrations. Melo said he is once again voting for Bolsonaro, who met his expectations, and he doesn’t believe the surveys that show him trailing.

“Polls can be manipulated. They all belong to companies with interests,” he said.

A slow economic recovery has yet to reach the poor, with 33 million Brazilians going hungry despite higher welfare payments. Like several of its Latin American neighbors coping with high inflation and a vast number of people excluded from formal employment, Brazil is considering a shift to the political left.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly questioned the reliability not just of opinion polls, but also of Brazil’s electronic voting machines. Analysts fear he has laid the groundwork to reject results.

At one point, Bolsonaro claimed to possess evidence of fraud, but never presented any, even after the electoral authority set a deadline to do so. He said as recently as Sept. 18 that if he doesn’t win in the first round, something must be “abnormal.”

Da Silva, 76, was once a metalworker who rose from poverty to the presidency and is credited with building an extensive social welfare program during his 2003-2010 tenure that helped lift tens of millions into the middle class.

But he is also remembered for his administration’s involvement in vast corruption scandals that entangled politicians and business executives.

Da Silva’s own convictions for corruption and money laundering led to 19 months imprisonment, sidelining him from the 2018 presidential race that polls indicated he had been leading against Bolsonaro. The Supreme Court later annulled da Silva’s convictions on grounds that the judge was biased and colluded with prosecutors.

Social worker Nadja Oliveira, 59, said she voted for da Silva and even attended his rallies, but since 2018 votes for Bolsonaro.

“Unfortunately the Workers’ Party disappointed us. It promised to be different,” she said in Brasilia.

Others, like Marialva Pereira, are more forgiving. She said she would vote for the former president for the first time since 2002.

“I didn’t like the scandals in his first administration, never voted for the Workers’ Party again. Now I will, because I think he was unjustly jailed and because Bolsonaro is such a bad president that it makes everyone else look better,” said Pereira, 47.

Speaking after casting his ballot in Sao Bernardo do Campo, the manufacturing hub in Sao Paulo state where he was a union leader, da Silva recalled that four years ago he was imprisoned and unable to vote.

Bolsonaro grew up in a lower-middle-class family before joining the army. He turned to politics after being forced out of the military for openly pushing to raise servicemen’s pay. During his seven terms as a fringe lawmaker in Congress’ lower house, he regularly expressed nostalgia for the country’s two-decade military dictatorship.

His overtures to the armed forces have raised concern that his possible rejection of election results could be backed by top brass.

On Saturday, Bolsonaro shared social media posts by right-leaning foreign politicians, including former U.S. President Donald Trump, who called on Brazilians to vote for him. Israel’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed gratitude for stronger bilateral relations and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also praised him.

After voting Sunday morning, Bolsonaro told journalists that “clean elections must be respected” and that the first round would be decisive. Asked if he would respect results, he gave a thumbs up and walked away.

Leda Wasem, 68, had no doubt Bolsonaro will not just be reelected. Wearing a jersey of the national soccer squad at a polling place in downtown Curitiba, the real estate agent said an eventual da Silva victory could have only one explanation: fraud.

“I wouldn’t believe it. Where I work, where I go every day, I don’t see a single person who supports Lula,” she said.

———

Savarese reported from Sao Bernardo do Campo. AP writers Daniel Politi and Carla Bridi reported from Curitiba and Brasilia.

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October 2, 2022