Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Latest News

Colombia probes aging Hercules crash as Petro calls aircraft “scrap”

By Richard Emblin -

Colombian authorities are investigating whether mechanical failure, human error or excess weight caused the crash of a military C-130 aircraft that has now left at least 69 dead, as a political dispute intensifies over the condition of the country’s aging air fleet. The aircraft, a Lockheed C-130 Hercules operated by the Colombian Aerospace Force (FAC), […]

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Colombia mourns 66 dead after military Hercules crash in Putumayo

By Richard Emblin -

At least 66 people were killed after a Colombian military transport aircraft crashed shortly after take-off in the country’s southwest on Monday, authorities said, in one of the deadliest air disasters involving the armed forces in recent years. The aircraft, a C-130 Hercules, went down at around 9:50 a.m. local time near the municipality of […]

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U.S. prosecutors probe Colombia’s Petro over alleged narco links, NYT reports

By The City Paper Staff -

U.S. federal prosecutors have opened preliminary criminal investigations into Colombian President Gustavo Petro over alleged links to drug traffickers and possible illicit financing of his 2022 campaign, according to a report by The New York Times. The previously undisclosed probes are being conducted by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Brooklyn and involve specialists in international […]

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Colombia arrests “mastermind” of Ecuador candidate Villavicencio’s murder

By The City Paper Staff -

Colombian authorities on Wednesday arrested Ángel Esteban Aguilar Morales, alias “Lobo Menor”, an alleged senior figure in the Ecuadorian criminal group Los Lobos and suspected intellectual author behind the 2023 assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The arrest took place at El Dorado International Airport, where Aguilar Morales arrived on a commercial flight from […]

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Colombia – Ecuador rift widens over cross-border bombings

By The City Paper Staff -

President Gustavo Petro accused Ecuador on Monday of carrying out bombing raids inside Colombian territory, sharply escalating a diplomatic and trade dispute that has been simmering since January. Petro said “27 charred bodies” have been found near the border and suggested the attacks could not have been carried out by illegal armed groups, though he […]

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Colombia bars 10 foreigners in single-day crackdown on suspected sex tourism

By The City Paper Staff -

Colombia’s migration authority Migración Colombia denied entry last week to 10 foreign nationals suspected of seeking sex tourism, marking the largest single-day refusal of its kind at Medellín’s main international gateway, officials said. The individuals — nine from the United States and one from Anguilla — were stopped at José María Córdova International Airport on […]

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Valencia picks Oviedo as VP to expand Colombia’s center-right base

By Richard Emblin -

Conservative presidential candidate Paloma Valencia has chosen economist and former statistics chief Juan Daniel Oviedo as her vice-presidential running mate, a move widely interpreted as an effort by the right-wing Centro Democrático to broaden its appeal beyond its traditional conservative base ahead of Colombia’s May 31 presidential election. The alliance seeks to balance Valencia’s hard-line […]

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Indigenous communities caught in armed clashes in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada

By Richard Emblin -

Colombia’s high-altitude Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta has become the latest flashpoint in the country’s worsening rural security crisis, after armed clashes between illegal groups left Indigenous communities trapped in the crossfire and triggered a humanitarian evacuation mission. Authorities confirmed that at least nine wounded civilians, including two minors, were evacuated following heavy fighting between […]

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Paloma Valencia surge reshapes Colombia race as election season begins

By Richard Emblin -

Colombia’s presidential race entered a decisive new phase this week after Sunday’s inter-party primaries propelled conservative senator Paloma Valencia into the national spotlight and triggered a scramble among political factions to forge alliances ahead of the May 31 election. Valencia’s commanding performance in the right-wing “La Gran Consulta” primary – where she secured roughly six […]

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Petro opens consultation on ‘Black Line’ after Colombia court ends protection decree

By Richard Emblin -

President Gustavo Petro has announced the start of a consultation process with ethnic communities to draft a new decree protecting the sacred “Black Line” of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta after Colombia’s highest administrative court annulled the previous legal framework governing the ancestral territory. The announcement came late on March 4 during an interethnic […]

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Ex-FARC admit to recruiting 18,677 children during Colombia conflict

By Richard Emblin -

Colombia’s transitional justice system has reached a morally charged milestone. The seven former commanders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) guerrilla have formally accepted responsibility for the recruitment of 18,677 minors during the country’s decades-long internal conflict, acknowledging not only the scale of the practice but also the sexual and reproductive abuses that […]

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Colombia set for inter-party primaries, presidential race gripped by apathy

By Richard Emblin -

Colombians head to the polls on March 8 for what is, formally, a legislative election. In practice, it is something more consequential: a stress test of the country’s political coalitions ahead of the May 31 presidential race already defined by fragmentation – and by mounting security concerns for right-wing candidates. The vote for Congress matters. […]

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Suspected drone attack disrupts high-level visit to Colombia’s Hidroituango

By The City Paper Staff -

Colombia’s security forces alerted late Sunday Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez and Antioquia Governor Andrés Julián Rendón to cancel a planned visit to the Hidroituango hydroelectric complex for Monday, March 2, after intelligence warnings of a possible drone attack and credible terrorist threat. The visit, which included a press conference expected to draw around 100 journalists, […]

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UN report warns Colombia faces worsening human rights crisis

By Richard Emblin -

Colombia is at risk of sliding back into one of the darkest chapters of its recent history, according to a stark new report by the United Nations, which warns that escalating violence, territorial control by illegal armed groups and political instability are eroding hard-won human rights gains. The annual assessment by the Office of the […]

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Global airlines return to Venezuela, Avianca restores Bogotá–Caracas flight

By Richard Emblin -

International airlines are rapidly re-establishing services to Venezuela, signalling a cautious but commercially significant reopening of the country’s aviation market. On Thursday, February 12, Colombia’s Avianca resumed a daily direct flights between Bogotá and Caracas. The move restores one of the most important air corridors in northern South America and comes amid a flurry of […]

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