Until 1984, the prison on the island of Gorgona off Colombia’s Pacific coast was a place where political prisoners and dangerous criminals served their sentences. Now it is a national natural park of coral reefs, dense jungle and exuberant fauna
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Continue reading...‘A police massacre’: Colombian officers killed 11 during protests against police violence, report finds
Protesters against police brutality were met with more police brutality
Colombian police were responsible for the deaths of 11 protesters during anti-police protests that swept the capital in September 2020, according to a report published on Monday after an independent investigation backed by the mayor of Bogotá’s office and the United Nations.
“It was a police massacre,” wrote Carlos Negret, a former ombudsman of the South American country who led the investigation, in the scathing and lengthy report published on Monday. “A decisive political and operational leadership, based on rights, was needed at national and local levels to avoid this happening.”
Continue reading...How Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ became a biodiversity nightmare
Animals brought illegally to Colombia by the drug kingpin have been allowed to roam free and are now disrupting the fragile ecosystem
Myths and legends continue to surround Colombia’s most notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar 26 years after his death. But his legacy has had an unexpectedly disastrous impact on some of the country’s fragile ecosystems. A herd of more than 80 hippos roam free, the descendants of animals smuggled to Colombia from Africa in the 1980s and now flourishing in the wild.
Reporter Joe Parkin Daniels tells Michael Safi that when Escobar was shot dead by police on a rooftop in his hometown of Medellín, the authorities seized his estate and the animals on it. While most were shipped to zoos, the logistics of moving his four hippos proved insurmountable and they were left to wander the Andes.
Continue reading...Colombian family win award for world’s best cookbook
Mother-and-daughter team scoop gong at Gourmand awards in Paris for volume of traditional leaf-wrapped recipes
A Colombian mother and daughter’s celebration of their country’s traditional leaf-wrapped dishes has been named best cookbook in the world at the Gourmand awards in Paris.
Colombia’s envueltos are part of a culinary heritage that stretches across much of Latin America, from the tamales of Mexico and Guatemala to the humitas of Chile.
Continue reading...‘They can’t silence us’: the female lawyers defending Colombia’s environment
Legal team faces daily threats as it works to protect displaced families from landowners, ecosystems from mining and indigenous groups from oil companies
Julia Figueroa never leaves her house without security. She travels with two bodyguards and an armoured vehicle. Her home and office are watched around the clock. She carefully monitors any devices that might contain compromising information about her clients.
As the director of the Luis Carlos Pérez Lawyers Collective Corporation (CCALCP), threats to her life are a daily occurrence. The all-female group of lawyers provides legal representation to small-scale farmers and indigenous communities affected by the armed conflict in Colombia. Their work includes defending displaced peoples and victims of state crime, but also defending environmental rights, including fighting mining companies that seek to extract resources, often at the expense of the local water supply and the surrounding environment.
Continue reading...US expected to remove Farc from international terrorist list
The announcement comes five years after the demobilised rebel group signed a peace deal with the Colombian government
The US is expected to remove the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) from its international terrorist list, five years after the demobilised rebel group signed a peace deal with the Colombian government and formed a political party.
The announcement is expected to bolster the struggling peace process, which has been implemented haltingly as violence from dissident rebel groups and drug traffickers continues to trouble the South American nation.
Continue reading...Colombian president condemns police academy’s Nazi costume event
Iván Duque says ‘any apology for Nazism is unacceptable’ after photos of cultural exchange ceremony posted on Twitter
Colombia’s president, Iván Duque, has issued a rebuke after cadets at a police academy caused outrage by dressing up as Nazis for a cultural exchange event in honour of Germany.
Photos of the ceremony were shared on an official police Twitter account on Thursday.
Continue reading...Latin American countries join reserves to create vast marine protected area
‘Mega-MPA’ in Pacific will link waters of Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica to protect migratory turtles, whales and sharks from fishing fleets
Four Pacific-facing Latin American nations have committed to joining their marine reserves to form one interconnected area, creating one of the world’s richest pockets of ocean biodiversity.
Panama, Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica announced on Tuesday the creation of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR) initiative, which would both join and increase the size of their protected territorial waters to create a fishing-free corridor covering more than 500,000 sq km (200,000 sq miles) in one of the world’s most important migratory routes for sea turtles, whales, sharks and rays.
Continue reading...‘Nothing will change’: void left by Colombia cartel boss will quickly be filled, say experts
The capture of Ontoniel has been called a landmark victory against the drug trade. But he is ‘just one node of a network’
Colombia’s most wanted drug lord is behind bars awaiting extradition to the US, after what the country’s president hailed as the biggest blow against the drug trade in 20 years.
Until his capture at the weekend, Dairo Antonio Úsuga – better known as Otoniel – headed Colombia’s feared Clan del Golfo cartel, a criminal empire that oversees the production and smuggling of unknown tons of cocaine, as well as extortion rackets, illegal mining operations and arms smuggling.
Continue reading...Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ are people too, US court rules
Recognition as ‘interested persons’ is a legal first in the US, allowing animals to have their interests heard in court
The offspring of hippos once owned by Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar can be recognized as people or “interested persons” with legal rights in the US following a federal court order.
The case involves a lawsuit against the Colombian government over whether to kill or sterilize the hippos, whose numbers are growing at a fast pace and pose a threat to biodiversity.
Continue reading...Colombia’s president hails capture of cartel boss Dairo Antonio Úsuga
Úsuga, one of South America’s most wanted men, arrested at rainforest hideout after massive manhunt
Colombia’s president, Iván Duque, has celebrated the downfall of “the most feared drug trafficker on Earth” after one of South America’s most wanted men was captured at his rainforest hideout following a massive manhunt involving hundreds of troops as well as US and British intelligence agencies.
Dairo Antonio Úsuga, the 50-year-old head of the Clan del Golfo drug cartel, was arrested on Saturday afternoon after heavily armed operatives laid siege to the criminal’s jungle stomping ground in north-west Colombia.
Continue reading...Columbia’s most-wanted drug lord, Otoniel, captured by armed forces
The leader of the powerful Clan del Golfo, who had a $5m bounty on his head, was seized in a raid by military and police
Dairo Antonio Úsuga, known as Otoniel, Colombia’s most sought after drug trafficker and leader of the Clan del Golfo, has been captured at his jungle hideout by the country’s armed forces.
Colombia had offered a reward of up to 3bn pesos (about $800,000) for information concerning Otoniel’s whereabouts, while the United States government had put up a reward of $5m for help locating him.
Continue reading...Navalny honoured, Regeni trial begins: human rights this fortnight – in pictures
A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Russia to Yemen
‘I was terrified’: the vet sterilizing Pablo Escobar’s cocaine hippos
The progeny of animals brought illegally to Colombia and kept in the drug lord’s private zoo must now be put on birth control
When Gina Paola Serna studied to become a biologist and veterinarian in Colombia, she never expected to one day be tasked with neutering an invasive herd of hippos that once belonged to Pablo Escobar.
When they were smuggled into the drug lord’s private zoo in the 1980s, there were just four hippos. But in the 26 years since Escobar’s death, their numbers have steadily grown : the herd now includes about 80 animals – threatening to disrupt ecosystems in Colombia. So now, Serna spends her days tracking and sterilizing the hulking riverine mammals.
Continue reading...Colombia found responsible for 2000 kidnap and torture of journalist
Inter-American court of human rights rules Colombia was ‘internationally responsible’ for violation of Jineth Bedoya’s rights
The Colombian state has been found responsible for the kidnap, torture and rape of a prominent journalist who was abducted while reporting on her country’s civil war, in a landmark ruling from the inter-American court of human rights.
Jineth Bedoya, who has been pursuing justice for over 21 years and now campaigns against sexual violence, was recognised by the court on Monday as having suffered “grave verbal, physical and sexual aggressions” for which the state was responsible. Before now, only three of her attackers had faced justice, receiving sentences in Colombian courts in 2019.
Continue reading...A herd of ‘cocaine hippos’ from Pablo Escobar’s private zoo are being sterilized
The 80-strong bloat, originally part of the Colombian drug lord’s estate, present an environmental concern as an invasive species
A group of rampant hippopotamuses, introduced by the late Colombia drug lord Pablo Escobar to his private zoo, are being sterilized by the country’s wildlife services, after mounting concern that the 80-strong herd presented a potential environmental disaster as an invasive species.
The so-called “cocaine hippos”, whose number has more than doubled since 2012, were sterilized after worries have mounted over their environmental impact, including a threat to human safety.
Continue reading...Killing of two boys for alleged shoplifting shocks Colombia
Pair were taken away by armed men on motorbikes and later found shot dead on edge of town
The murder of two boys for allegedly shoplifting in Colombia has evoked memories of some of the country’s darkest days of armed conflict.
The pair, who were 12 and 18, were allegedly trying to rob a clothing store in Tibú, a small town near the Venezuelan border, last Friday when they were apprehended by bystanders who taped their hands together, according to witnesses quoted by local media.
Continue reading...Colombian nun kidnapped by jihadists in Mali in 2017 is freed
Mali president’s office pays tribute to the courage of Gloria Cecilia Narváez as it confirms her release
A Franciscan nun from Colombia kidnapped by jihadists in Mali in 2017 has been freed, Mali’s presidential office said.
The statement on the presidential Twitter account paid tribute to the courage of Gloria Cecilia Narváez, who was held for four years and eight months.
Continue reading...The disappeared in Mexico, Afghan female footballers and a giant puppet: human rights this fortnight in pictures
A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms from Thailand to Texas
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