CARTAGENA, Colombia (AP) — Pope Francis wrapped up his Colombia trip with a deeply personal final day Sunday honoring St. Peter Claver, a fellow Jesuit who ministered to hundreds of thousands of African slaves who arrived in the port of Cartagena to be sold during Spanish colonial times. Francis’ visit to Cartagena got off to … Continue reading
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Pope Francis headed to Colombia on Wednesday to try to help heal the wounds of Latin America’s longest-running armed conflict, bolstered by a new cease-fire with a holdout rebel group but fully aware of the fragility of the country’s peace process. During a deeply symbolic five-day visit starting Wednesday, Francis is … Continue reading
TABIO, Colombia (AP) — While the real Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is locked up in a cold, tiny cell in New York, his career as a drug lord apparently over, his fictional counterpart is free and in top form in Colombia, where the Univision network and Netflix are filming a television series about his life. … Continue reading
PUERTO BELLO, Colombia (AP) — Coca production in Colombia has surged to levels unseen in two decades of U.S. eradication efforts, according to a White House report released Tuesday, March 14. Cultivation of the plant used to make cocaine rose 18 percent last year from 2015, with coca crops planted on an estimated 188,000 hectares … Continue reading
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The revolution will now be televised. The life of Hugo Chavez, who mesmerized Venezuela’s impoverished masses before dying of cancer in 2013, is being dramatized in a Spanish-language TV series that is generating a backlash even before it airs. Produced by Sony Pictures Television, “El Comandante” premieres this week throughout Latin … Continue reading
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s second-largest rebel group has agreed to free a prominent politician held captive for almost a year, clearing the way for repeatedly postponed peace talks to begin next month. The agreement worked out during months of backchannel talks with the National Liberation Army was announced at a news conference Wednesday, January … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Colombia tried a second time to achieve peace, with its government and largest rebel group signing a revised deal to end its brutal conflict following the surprise rejection of an earlier peace accord by voters in a referendum. Government negotiator Humberto de la Calle and rebel negotiator Ivan Marquez announced the new, … Continue reading
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — One of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in recent history weakened a little on Saturday as it drenched coastal Colombia and roared across the Caribbean on a course that still puts Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba in the path of potentially devastating winds and rain. Matthew briefly reached the top hurricane classification, … Continue reading
STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Guessing the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is notoriously hard because the secretive Norwegian Nobel Committee isn’t dropping any hints, except that 376 people and groups have been nominated for the award, which will be announced on Oct. 7. That doesn’t stop Nobel watchers from speculating, sometimes based on their … Continue reading
YARI PLAINS, Colombia (AP) — The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia kicked off its last conference as a rebel army Saturday as it looks to transition into a political movement following the signing of a peace accord to end more than a half-century of hostilities. The FARC’s top leader, Rodrigo Londono, addressed about 500 mostly … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — The Colombian government and leftist FARC rebels announced on Wednesday that they have reached a deal on a bilateral cease-fire that would be the last major step toward ending one of the world’s longest wars. Colombia’s conflict has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions since 1964. But a 15-year, U.S.-backed … Continue reading
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Leftist rebels have freed a Spanish correspondent and two other journalists who went missing in a lawless region of Colombia, ending a weeklong saga that recalled some of the darkest days of a long-running conflict the South American nation is trying to move beyond. “Thank you to everyone who prayed for … Continue reading
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia and the country’s second-largest rebel group announced Wednesday that they will hold peace talks, heightening expectations for a definitive end to a half-century of political violence in the Andean nation. The government has been in exploratory talks in Ecuador with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, for more than a … Continue reading
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A stunning diplomatic breakthrough leaves a minefield of problems standing between Colombia and the tantalizing prospect of peace after generations of armed conflict. President Juan Manuel Santos and leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are celebrating Wednesday’s announcement that they had crossed what many see as the point of … Continue reading
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Actor Tom Cruise flew in a helicopter across the Colombian Andes just 10 minutes before a small plane on the same dangerous flight path crashed into a jungled mountain, killing two crew members from his upcoming movie, civil aviation authorities said. An official with the aviation agency, who spoke on condition … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 