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 GUARDIAN: Ecuador has confirmed that oil drilling has begun under the country’s Yasuní national park, one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. But the government claims that there has been only minimal disturbance to the Unesco biosphere reserve in the Amazon rainforest since extraction of 23,000 barrels of oil a day began last month. Ecologists, environmentalists and political groups in Ecuador… Read more »
BLOOMBERG: Federal prosecutors are preparing to charge several individuals and confiscate their property over the alleged looting of Venezuela’s state oil company in what may amount to one of the biggest asset seizures in U.S. history. Three people familiar with the case say the government has been investigating at least a dozen Venezuelans and is expected to file charges in Houston… Read more »
REUTERS: Venezuela’s increasingly militant opposition stepped up its push to oust leftist leader Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday with protests that drew hundreds of thousands but also saw unrest leading to dozens of injuries and arrests. In an incident sure to inflame the already polarized situation, a policeman died after being shot on Wednesday night in central Miranda state. The government blamed… Read more »
REUTERS: In a curious convergence of events on the same day last week, four Venezuelan provincial courts issued identical rulings, state governors quickly hit Twitter to celebrate, then the election board emailed a short but bombshell statement. Opposition hopes for a referendum to recall President Nicolas Maduro were dashed, on grounds of fraud in an initial signature drive. The vote… Read more »
Al Jazeera: Puerto Santander, Colombia, on the Venezuelan border – Dicson has 1.4 million Venezuelan bolivars ($140,700) stuffed under the backseat of his car. Stacks upon stacks of cash are neatly sorted and tucked away, earned from the sales at his shop in Puerto Santander, a Colombian town on the Venezuelan border. The 47-year-old smiles as he covers up the… Read more »
Al Jazeera: Major factions of Venezuela’s opposition coalition have denied joining government-proposed talks, just hours after the group’s head agreed to hold dialogue with President Nicolas Maduro following intervention by the Vatican. In a surprise move, Jesus Torrealba, the leader of the opposition Democratic Unity coalition (MUD), had agreed to join the dialogue proposed by the socialist Maduro following his meeting with… Read more »
Al Jazeera: Electoral officials in Venezuela have suspended a recall referendum campaign against President Nicolas Maduro, a move that further challenges opposition efforts to oust the socialist leader in the wake of a deepening economic crisis. Thursday’s decision by the electoral council came after several regional courts voided the results of an earlier signature drive against Maduro due to fraud… Read more »
REUTEURS: The president of Brazil’s Senate urged the Supreme Court on Wednesday to halt an investigation into the use of Senate police to protect senators from a corruption probe, stoking tensions between the judiciary and the legislative branch.
BBC: The US has for the first time abstained from voting against an annual UN resolution calling for an end to its economic embargo against Cuba.