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☆ Honduran official: US 'respects' decision on China relations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TEGUCIGALPA, March 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. government said it "respects" Honduras' decision to move towards establishing formal diplomatic ties with China, the Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina said on Monday after a meeting with U.S. officials. Reina said Honduras' President Xiomara Castro made "general comments" on the decision during the meeting attended by different officials such as U.S. Special Presidential Adviser for the Americas Chris Dodd. Castro announced last week the country would seek diplomatic ties with Beijing, a move that risks further reducing Taiwan's pool of allies as China does not allow countries with which it has diplomatic relations to maintain official ties with Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as its own territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a position Taiwan strongly disputes. Since 2016, when Tsai Ing-wen was elected Taiwan's president, Panama, El Salvador and most recently, Nicaragua, have opted to establish relations with China.

☆ Colombian president suspends ceasefire with criminal group
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BOGOTA, March 19 (Reuters) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Sunday said he had suspended a ceasefire with the Clan del Golfo, the country's largest criminal organization, because it had attacked police. "I have ordered the armed forces to reactivate all military operations against the Clan del Golfo," Petro said in a tweet. Minutes later, Petro tweeted: "The rifle attack on the police force by the Clan del Golfo breaks the ceasefire.... Days earlier, in a radio interview on March 13, Petro accused the group of destroying a municipal aqueduct in Antioquia province amid roadblocks connected to protests by informal gold miners. Petro said the group had "broken the ceasefire" and there was no possibility of negotiations with the group if they continue attacks.

☆ Senior U.S. envoy to travel to Honduras as it considers China ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

TEGUCIGALPA, March 16 (Reuters) - A high-ranking envoy of President Joe Biden will travel to Panama and Honduras this month, the U.S. Department of State said on Thursday, days after Taiwan ally Honduras said it would establish formal diplomatic ties with China. "China has been suppressing Taiwan's diplomacy, so it will invest funds related to specific countries in order to block Taiwan's diplomatic development," he said. "Therefore, we very much hope that Honduras can recognize the true nature of China and hope they maintain diplomatic relations and not be deceived." While the United States has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, it is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier. China says Taiwan is one of its provinces with no right to state-to-state ties, a view the democratically elected government in Taipei strongly rejects.

☆ Death toll from Colombia coal mine explosion climbs to 21
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BOGOTA, March 16 (Reuters) - Ten miners reported missing after an explosion caused by accumulated gas in coal mines in central Colombia have been found dead, raising the death toll to 21, authorities said on Thursday. The explosion in several adjoining coal mines took place late on Tuesday in a rural area of Sutatausa, about 75 km (46 miles) north of Bogota. Serious accidents are common at open pit and subterranean coal and gold mines in Colombia, mostly at illegal or informal operations and those without proper safety measures. There were 117 accidents at mines in Colombia last year, according to the agency, killing 146 people. The deadliest recent accident was in June 2010, when 73 people were killed in a mine explosion the northwest.

TEGUCIGALPA, March 15 (Reuters) - Honduras' decision to seek official relations with China and cut them with Taiwan on Tuesday was about "pragmatism, not ideology," driven by rising debt and investment needs, Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina said on Wednesday. China does not allow countries to hold diplomatic ties with both itself and Taiwan as it claims Taiwan as its own territory with no right to state-to-state ties, which Taiwan disputes. Speaking on local television, Reina said Honduras was "up to its neck" in financial issues and debt - including the $600 million it owes Taiwan - and this had partly motivated Honduras' decision to open relations with China. Honduras' decision puts pressure on Taiwan ahead of a visit by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to the U.S. and Central America. Honduras intends to keep trade ties with Taiwan, however, Reina added during his television appearance.

☆ Honduras president says govt to seek official relations with China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TEGUCIGALPA, March 14 (Reuters) - Honduras President Xiomara Castro said on Tuesday she had instructed the country's foreign minister to bring about the opening of official relations with China. Honduras' foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the announcement. China does not allow countries with which it has diplomatic relations to maintain official ties with Taiwan. If Honduras breaks off its relations with Taiwan, it would leave it with formal diplomatic ties with only 13 countries. Taiwan's foreign ministry said it was "in the process of understanding" the situation, without giving further details.

☆ People on Twitter are mocking George Santos for weighing in on the Silicon Valley Bank implosion: 'Tell them how you once ran Switzerland's largest bank, George'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Aditi Bharade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

New York Rep. George Santos tweeted that he was against bailing out Silicon Valley Bank. "Tell them how you once ran Switzerland's largest bank, George," read one tweet. Santos was referring to an announcement from federal regulators assuring the public that depositors of Silicon Valley Bank will be made whole. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took control of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday after a disastrous bank run. "Says financial expert and former Goldman CEO George Santos," read a tweet from Chris Jackson, a former county commissioner in Lawrence County, Tennessee.

☆ Colombia prosecutor suspends warrant for FARC dissidents in step toward talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Estado Mayor Central armed group was founded by former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels who did not join that group's demobilization and conversion to a legal political party. The suspension will allow discussions to take place between the dissidents and government officials, Petro said on Twitter - a first step to beginning formal talks. The government is already in peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and the two sides have said they are progressing toward a bilateral ceasefire deal. The country's top peace official told Reuters last month the government expects talks with the Estado Mayor and Segunda Marquetalia, another FARC dissident group, within weeks. The attorney general said in January he would not drop extradition warrants for drug-trafficking bosses, with whom Petro wants to agree surrender deals.

☆ Colombian president accuses criminal group of breaking ceasefire
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BOGOTA, March 13 (Reuters) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Monday said the Clan del Golfo, the country's largest criminal organization, has broken a ceasefire and there is no possibility of negotiations with the group if they continue attacks. In a radio interview, Petro accused the group of destroying a municipal aqueduct in Antioquia province amid roadblocks connected to protests by informal gold miners. The Clan del Golfo versus humble people," Petro said in a Twitter message on Sunday. Gold miner Mineros SA has suspended operations in the region until it can guarantee security, it said in a statement. The government's National Mining Agency (ANM) last year said it would create a public company to help informal miners and put a dent in Colombia's illegal gold trade.

☆ Exclusive: Colombia's Amazon reserves suffer staffing delays, risking environmental damage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Oliver Griffin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"We (permanent staff) are few," an official at one Amazon park, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. As of Friday morning, 22 contracts for personnel for working on the national parks agency's Amazon reserves had been published via Colombia's national contracting agency. Last year, at least 107 contractors had deals for work on Amazon reserves by January, data from the agency seen by Reuters showed. The government of leftist President Gustavo Petro, who took office seven months ago and has pledged to lower deforestation, plans to initially replace annual contracts for national parks workers with four-year. Five would-be park workers told Reuters the delays meant they had been forced to find other jobs.

☆ George Santos was 'in charge' of a credit card fraud scheme, former roommate alleged, contradicting what the congressman previously said about his role in the case: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

George Santos's former roommate alleged that the congressman was in charge of an ATM fraud scheme. The former roommate alleged that Santos taught and provided "all the material" for the scheme. "Santos had a warehouse located on Kirkman Road in Orlando, Florida," Trelha alleged. When Trelha was arrested in 2017, the former roommate alleged in the statement that Santos visited him in a Seattle jail. In an interview with Politico, Santos's lawyer friend, Tiffany Bogosian, said that Santos told her his role in the scheme was as an "informant."

☆ Colombia, ELN rebels have made first steps toward ceasefire
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Henry RomeroBOGOTA, March 10 (Reuters) - Colombia's government and the left-wing ELN guerrilla group have taken the first steps toward a bilateral, temporary ceasefire, the heads of their delegations at peace talks said on Friday, as they closed their second cycle of negotiations in Mexico City. The ELN is Colombia's oldest remaining rebel group, and the talks are the cornerstone of efforts by leftist President Gustavo Petro - himself once a member of the now-demobilized M-19 insurgents - to bring "total peace" to Colombia. "We took the first steps to firm up a bilateral, national and temporary ceasefire which will create better conditions for Colombians' mobilization and participation in the peace process," said the ELN's Pablo Beltran. On New Year's Eve, Petro announced a ceasefire, but days later the ELN said it had not agreed to the measure. The ELN, founded in 1964 by radical Catholic priests, has some 2,500 combatants and is accused of financing itself through drug trafficking, illegal mining and kidnapping.

☆ Honduras lifts decade-long ban on 'morning after pill'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Castro, the country's first female president, took office last year after running on the promise of rolling back the country's restrictive reproductive policies. Honduras, a heavily Catholic nation, banned the use and sale of the morning after pill in 2009, arguing the emergency contraception would cause abortions. Castro, who signed the order on International Women's Day, tweeted that the morning after pill was "part of women's reproductive rights, and not abortive," citing the World Health Organization. The year before Castro took office, Honduras' Congress passed a constitutional reform to protect anti-abortion laws, requiring a three-fourths vote to change them. Between 50,000 to 80,000 clandestine abortions occur each year in the country, according to a 2019 estimate from local rights groups.

☆ Colombia, Ecuador working to prevent Indigenous abuse by armed groups
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Luis Jaime Acosta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BOGOTA, March 7 (Reuters) - The human rights ombudsmen of Colombia and Ecuador on Tuesday launched a joint alert system to prevent abuses by illegal armed groups from affecting Awa Indigenous communities that live along the countries' shared border. Some 29,000 Indigenous Awa people live along the border and are subject to killings, forced displacement, land mines and recruitment of minors, among other ills, by armed groups, Colombia's ombudsman said. "The possibility of carrying out their operations along a porous border - with gaps in state presence - favors the interests of illegal groups," Colombia's Ombudsman Carlos Camargo said. Armed groups hide arms and combatants on the Ecuadorean side of the border, Camargo added. Camargo called on the armed groups to stop attacks on Indigenous communities and accede to policies of total peace pushed by the government of Colombia's leftist President Gustavo Petro.

☆ Hostages taken by anti-oil firm protesters in Colombia are freed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BOGOTA, March 3 (Reuters) - A group of 88 police officers and employees of oil firm Emerald Energy taken hostage in Colombia amid a deadly protest against the company have been freed, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Friday. Rural and indigenous protesters also took 79 police officers and nine Emerald employees hostage, blocked access to an oil field, and set a fire to demand the company fix roads in the area, authorities said. Petro confirmed the hostages had been freed Friday, calling on investigators to find those responsible for the deaths. Emerald Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Rosalba O'BrienOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Colombia prosecutors to investigate President Petro's son
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BOGOTA, March 3 (Reuters) - Colombia's attorney general's office said on Friday it will begin an investigation into accusations that President Gustavo Petro's oldest son took money from drug traffickers in exchange for including them in his father's peace efforts. The president had called for the attorney general's office to investigate and Nicolas Petro welcomed an investigation on his Twitter account late on Thursday. The woman, Nicolas Petro's ex-partner, had told local media that two people accused of involvement with drug trafficking had given Nicolas money for his father's campaign, among other alleged acts of corruption. An investigation into the accusations against Petro's brother began in January, prosecutors added. That effort is one prong of Petro's pledge to bring 'total peace' to Colombia, whose six-decade internal armed conflict has killed at least 450,000 people.

☆ Two dead, dozens of police held hostage in Colombia in protest against oil company
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The attorney general's office should investigate the killings, while the Red Cross should attend to those being held hostage, he said. The office of human rights ombudsman Carlos Camargo confirmed in a statement a policeman and a civilian had been killed. Officials from Camargo's office were accompanying the police officers and Emerald employees who were being held, the office said on Twitter. Protests in areas close to oil and mining projects regularly occur in Colombia as communities push for companies to build infrastructure including roads and schools. Reuters could not immediately reach Emerald Energy, a subsidiary of China's state-owned company Sinochem, for comment.

☆ Colombia, Bolivia to ask UN to remove coca leaf from narcotics list
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Claudia MoralesBOGOTA, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Colombia and Bolivia will jointly ask the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs to remove coca leaves from its list of prohibited substances and accept the plant's traditional uses, Colombia's government said on Wednesday. "Bolivia and Colombia consider it is the moment to once again put this issue on the table," she said. "To remove the coca leaf - the leaf, not cocaine - from the prohibited substances list." Coca leaves are widely used in different countries in Latin America, especially by indigenous groups, to treat stomach aches and altitude sickness, among other ceremonial uses. Bolivian President Luis Arce said in January his government would push for coca leaves to be removed from the list so they can be commercialized, after his predecessor Evo Morales decriminalized coca nationally.

☆ Honduras extends, expands state of emergency for second time
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TEGUCIGALPA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The Honduran government extended its state of emergency for a second time on Tuesday, while also expanding it to cover a growing portion of the Central American country, as part of leftist President Xiomara Castro's crackdown on gangs. The state of emergency, initially covering the country's two largest cities, now covers 123 municipalities. "The success of the operation is measured by the number of lives saved, not by the number of arrests, weapons seized or drugs seized," Sanchez added. The state of emergency allows authorities to restrict freedom of movement and assembly, as well as to search homes and make arrests without a warrant. Honduras' crackdown follows a nearly year-old state of emergency in neighboring El Salvador, which has widespread public support but has swelled the prison population and drawn allegations of human rights abuses.

☆ Colombia and Venezuela sign deal to revive trade
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro react during a meeting for signing the Partial Scope Agreement Number 28 that will resume bilateral trade between Colombia and Venezuela at the Atanasio Girardot International Bridge on the border between Colombia and Venezuela, in San Antonio del Tachira, Venezuela, February 16, 2023. Colombian Presidency/Handout via REUTERSBOGOTA/CARACAS, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Colombia and Venezuela on Thursday signed an agreement to revive trade between the two countries during a ceremony on a border bridge at which Colombia's President Gustavo Petro and Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro both signed. The deal "updates everything having to do with tariffs, with goods traded, (and) lays the foundations for a new dynamic, for the expansion of trade between Colombia and Venezuela," Maduro said at the event broadcast on Venezuelan state television. "We have to fill these bridges with trade," Petro said, warning that "there is lots still to do because it is not a question of whether these bridges are filled with trade but rather than they are filled with people." Caracas broke off relations with Bogota in 2019 after Venezuelan opposition activists tried to send aid trucks from Colombia.

☆ In Argentina's drought-hit fields, billion dollar losses and farmers going under
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Lucila Sigal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] Dried sunflowers are seen on a farm, amid Argentina's worst drought in sixty years, in Tostado, northern Santa Fe Argentina February 8, 2023. The wheat harvest was already slashed in half by drought. Like many farmers, Giailevra - who has experienced bad droughts before - has seen his livelihood hammered over the last year. Many farmers in the area say they have lost early-sown corn, wheat and soy, so to rake back income they have planted fields with more drought-resistant cotton. The government has rolled out some tax relief measures for farmers, though with depleted state coffers has limited firepower.

☆ Colombians march to support President Petro's social and economic reforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Luis Jaime Acosta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] A man holds a flag as supporters of Colombian President Gustavo Petro demonstrate in favor of the reform projects planned for his government, in Bogota, Colombia, February 14, 2023. REUTERS/Nathalia AngaritaBOGOTA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Colombians took to the streets across the country's major cities on Tuesday to support economic and social reforms put forward by President Gustavo Petro as part of efforts to reduce poverty, exclusion and inequality in the South American country. Supporters marched across the country to signal to Congress and the Constitutional Court that the proposed reforms have widespread backing. "What President Petro is doing seems good to me, we need a change, for the poor to have access to health, education, decent housing," street vendor Maria Isabel Cubillos, 43, told Reuters in capital Bogota. Colombia's opposition called for marches and rallies in cities across Colombia on Wednesday to reject Petro's reforms, arguing they threaten the country's economic stability and risk plunging it into more poverty.

☆ Ex-Honduras president bribed by prominent family, U.S. prosecutors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was bribed by the country's prominent Rosenthal family, which owned a "massive" group of businesses in the Central American country, U.S. prosecutors said on Friday. Marlon Duarte, a lawyer for the Rosenthal family in Honduras, denied the allegations. The wealthy and politically connected Rosenthal family once controlled businesses including a soccer club, an automobile importer and one of the country's largest banks through their Grupo Continental conglomerate. Duarte noted that Hernandez was president when the Honduran government seized Grupo Continental's assets. "Juan Orlando Hernandez was against all the Rosenthals," Duarte told Reuters in a telephone interview, arguing that prosecutors would struggle to prove the family bribed Hernandez.

Cooperman says he voted for Biden in 2020, but he accused Democrats of deliberately misleading people about how the billionaire tax proposal would work. The billionaire tax proposal is "completely dead on arrival," said Charles Myers, a 2020 bundler for Biden's presidential campaign and the chairman of Signum Global, an investment advisory firm. Myers said the purpose of Biden's billionaire tax announcement, however, was never to jumpstart a negotiation in Congress. But for some in the party, Biden's billionaire tax contains a fatal flaw. With plans for a billionaire tax stalled in Washington, wealth tax advocates and activists are turning to the states.

☆ From 'babaloo' to 'slop chest,' these are 35 secret terms only cruise workers know — and the ones you don't want to hear as a passenger
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Hannah Towey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Cruise workers have their own secret language they use to communicate with one another. That's because crew members have dozens of secret code words and sayings they use to communicate while keeping passengers in the dark. Insider compiled a dictionary of cruise ship language based on interviews with cruise workers, previous reporting, and industry blogs. GUSTAVO GRANADO/AFP via Getty ImagesBabaloo: Alternatively spelled "Babalu," this is widespread cruise worker slang that means "fool" or "idiot." Slop chest: A tiny convenience store in the crew-only section of a cruise ship that sells essential items.

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