Though in recent months the Colombian insurgent group FARC, which recently had a peace deal promising an end to a fifty year conflict with the Colombian government shot down, has been the center of attention, the Colombians also face the threat of the group ELN, the National Liberation Army. This group, inspired by Cuba’s 1959 revolution, is relatively large in… Read more »
BBC: Scientists are planning to release an army of millions of modified mosquitoes in areas of Brazil and Colombia. They say the unusual approach is an attempt to provide “revolutionary protection” against mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika and chikungunya. The mosquitoes are infected with a bug called Wolbachia which reduces their ability to spread viruses to people. The $18m dollar… Read more »
BBC: “If we caught ‘El Chapo’, we can catch Duarte,” said Mexican Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong this week of the latest high-profile Mexican to go on the run. Javier Duarte de Ochoa was, until 12 October, the governor of the Mexican oil-rich state of Veracruz. He stood down to face corruption charges but a week later he had… Read more »
Reuters: Brazil’s federal police on Monday sought corruption charges against former finance minister and presidential chief of staff Antonio Palocci and accuse him of running a bribery scheme that funneled money to the former-ruling Workers Party’s (PT). Police said in their investigation sent to federal prosecutors that Palocci conspired with construction firm Odebrecht SA [ODBES.UL] to pay 128 million reais… Read more »
Reuters: Colombia is delaying peace talks with Marxist ELN rebels until they free a politician held captive for six months, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Thursday, as he struggles to salvage a peace deal with FARC guerrillas that was rejected in a plebiscite. The National Liberation Army (ELN), the nation’s second-biggest insurgent group, must release Odin Sanchez to the… Read more »
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as FARC, have been a major player in the instability found in Colombia since their founding in 1964. They were founded on Marxist principles and have promoted anti- imperialism. They have used aggression tactics against the Colombian government including terrorism. A 52 year long civil war in Colombia, between FARC and the… Read more »
BBC: In his latest efforts to salvage a peace deal with Farc rebels, Colombian leader Juan Manuel Santos is due to meet ex-President Alvaro Uribe. The peace agreement, aimed at ending 52 years of armed conflict, was narrowly rejected by Colombians in a popular vote on Sunday. Mr Uribe led the campaign against the peace deal. He says it was… Read more »
Reuters: Clashes broke out in Honduras on Monday as police fired tear gas on demonstrators blocking highway toll stations in protest against efforts by the ruling party to enable presidential re-election and keep the incumbent Juan Hernandez in power. The protesters were also demonstrating against increases in highway toll rates and the cost of electricity. Urged on by the opposition… Read more »
Reuters: Ecuador’s ruling party tapped a former vice president and ally of leftist President Rafael Correa as its candidate for president on Saturday in an election to be held in February. Lenin Moreno, 63, was Correa’s vice president from 2007 to 2013 and is currently a United Nations special envoy on disability and accessibility. Moreno will campaign with current Vice… Read more »
Reuters: A month-long strike by Brazilian bank workers has become the longest in 12 years, underscoring the impasse between employers and staff amid the nation’s harshest recession in eight decades. In a Tuesday statement, leaders from the Sindicato dos Bancários de São Paulo, Osasco e Região, the nation’s biggest banking industry union, said almost 10 rounds of negotiations have yielded… Read more »