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☆ Ecuador's Lasso authorizes civilian use of guns, citing insecurity
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 2 (Reuters) - Ecuador has authorized the carrying and use of guns by civilians, President Guillermo Lasso said in a televised broadcast, citing rising crime and insecurity in the Andean country. "We have a common enemy: petty crime, drug trafficking, and organized crime," Lasso said late on Saturday in a message also posted on Twitter. To fight rising insecurity, the government will allow civilians to carry and use guns, he added. "We've modified the decree that allows the possession and carrying of guns. Lasso did not say how long the state of emergency would last.

☆ Venezuela arrests nine CVG officials over corruption probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CARACAS, April 2 (Reuters) - Venezuelan authorities have taken nine officials from state-owned metals conglomerate Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG) - including from steel-maker subsidiary Sidor - into custody during corruption investigations, attorney general Tarek Saab said on Sunday. Prosecutors began investigating irregularities at CVG and Sidor on Friday, adding to investigations into alleged corruption at state oil company PDVSA and a government agency overseeing cryptocurrency transactions, both led by Tareck El Aissami who subsequently resigned as oil minister. Nestor Astudillo and Pedro Maldonado, the presidents of Sidor and CVG respectively, are under arrest, as well as four company vice presidents and three managers, Saab said on Twitter. Some 42 people have been arrested as part of investigations into corruption, Saab tweeted on Saturday night, without giving more details. Reporting by Mayela Armas Additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago Writing by Oliver Griffin Editing by Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Taiwan strengthens ties with Guatemala following Honduras rupture
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Sofia Menchu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen walks with her Guatemalan counterpart Alejandro Giammattei, during her visit at Chimaltenango hospital in Chimaltenango, Guatemala, in this photo released on April 2, 2023. Guatemala Presidency/Handout via REUTERSGUATEMALA CITY, April 2 (Reuters) - Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen completed a three-day trip to Guatemala on Sunday where she offered more cooperation with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei's government, one of Taiwan's few allies in the world. Tsai's tour, which will take her to Belize on Sunday afternoon, comes a week after Honduras severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing. China refuses to allow other countries to maintain diplomatic relations with both at the same time. While visiting Guatemala, Tsai signed a $4 million agreement to modernize rural areas and promised to promote and increase cooperation between the two countries.

☆ Survivor of Mexico detention fire and his family cross into U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Lizbeth Diaz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Jose Luis GonzalezEl PASO, April 1 (Reuters) - After her husband survived a fire which killed dozens of migrants at a detention center in northern Mexico, Venezuelan Viangly Infante crossed into the United States on Saturday, in search of new opportunities for her three children. "The storm has passed," Infante, 31, said while holding back tears as she walked to the vehicle which would take her to a migrant center in El Paso. The family had arrived in Ciudad Juarez just before the new year, but only Caraballo managed to cross into the United States. Mexican authorities have shut down the detention center and arrested five people over the migrants' deaths, including INM staff, a private security agent, and a Venezuelan accused of starting the fire. In the days following the fire, the U.S government announced it would aid those affected, with Infante's family the first to receive help.

☆ Colombia's government reduces gasoline subsidy to ease fiscal burden
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BOGOTA, April 1 (Reuters) - Colombia's government has reduced the value of a fuel subsidy on gasoline as of Saturday in a bid to reduce the fiscal impact of the Andean country's Fuel Price Stabilization Fund (FEPC), it said. Last year, Colombia's Autonomous Fiscal Rule Committee (CARF), which oversees public finances, urged the government to include debt from the FEPC in its goals for tackling the fiscal deficit. "A subsidy for fuels worth close to 40 trillion pesos a year is unsustainable," the committee said at the time. The FEPC deficit is estimated to close 2023 at 28 trillion pesos, with the decrease driven by measures such as cutting the gasoline subsidy, a finance ministry spokesperson said. Colombia's government is targeting a reduction in its fiscal deficit to 3.8% of GDP this year, down from 5.5% of GDP at the end of 2022.

☆ Number of dead from Ecuador landslide rises to 23
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

QUITO, March 31 (Reuters) - Ecuador's government on Friday raised the number of dead from a landslide in the Andean city of Alausi to 23, while rescue teams continued to look for missing people. The incident took place on Sunday night in a part of the city, which is located in the province of Chimborazo. The landslide has affected some 850 people and destroyed 57 buildings, according to official figures. The number of dead is growing gradually as rescue groups gain access to houses that were covered by huge amounts of earth. Ecuador's disaster agency had warned of potential landslide danger for a 247-hectare (610-acre) area in Alausi in February, which included part of the zone where Sunday's landslide hit.

☆ Colombia raises alert level for deadly volcano on increased seismic activity
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] An aerial view of Nevado Del Ruiz volcano located on the border of Caldas and Tolima April 10, 2013. REUTERS/John Vizcaino/BOGOTA, March 31 (Reuters) - Colombian authorities have raised the alert level for the deadly Nevado del Ruiz volcano to orange, suggesting a greater probability of an eruption in the coming days or weeks, due to an increase in seismic activity. The Nevado del Ruiz is a stratovolcano, or composite volcano, which straddles the border between Colombia's Tolima and Caldas provinces. "We have an orange alert due to the change in seismology at the Ruiz volcano. Mayors must prepare the protocols for this state of alert," President Gustavo Petro said in a Twitter message on Friday.

☆ Ecuador's top court says Lasso impeachment hearings can proceed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

QUITO, March 29 (Reuters) - Ecuador's constitutional court said on Wednesday that impeachment hearings for embezzlement against conservative President Guillermo Lasso, requested by opposition lawmakers over alleged corruption at state companies, can proceed. The decision may make it more likely that Lasso will dissolve the assembly and call early elections for both his post and legislators' seats. Fifty-nine opposition lawmakers formally requested the hearings in mid-March, accusing Lasso of involvement with embezzlement and bribery, which he has always denied. The court's approval enables the assembly to hold the hearings but does not constitute a backing of the claims by judges. The constitution enshrines so-called two-way death - allowing Lasso to call elections for both his post and the assembly instead of facing hearings.

☆ Digging with scant hope, families search for dozens missing in Ecuador landslide
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] People dig amid debris as they look for relatives, following a landslide, in Alausi, Ecuador March 28, 2023. REUTERS/Karen ToroALAUSI, Ecuador, March 28 (Reuters) - Families and rescue groups in Ecuador worked to find dozens of people still missing after a landslide smothered buildings and a stadium in the small city of Alausi, with the official death toll of seven expected to rise. Some 64 people were missing as of Monday night, according to Ecuador's disaster agency, and around 32 survivors had been rescued. Using spades, relatives dug through the dirt in spots they believe their loved ones were when the landslide hit. President Guillermo Lasso visited the area on Monday night and offered to extend the rescue efforts to find the missing.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

Resurgent inflation is devouring the income of Venezuelans - even the relatively privileged ones like Mendoza who have access to U.S. dollars. That is leaving them hungry and struggling to buy food and medicine, they told Reuters. "Neither dollars or bolivars are enough. Many Venezuelans were left to scour through garbage to find food, and millions fled the country to build new lives across South America and beyond. "Whether you pay in bolivars or dollars it is not enough," Lochunga said, sitting in front of his stall.

☆ 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's Viva Air grounds fleet after Avianca merger hold-up
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BOGOTA, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Viva Air said it has temporarily suspended operations as the indebted low-cost carrier awaited a ruling by Colombia's civil aviation authority on its proposed merger with Avianca (AVT_p.CN). Viva Air said late on Monday it had halted ticket sales and grounded its entire fleet after the regulator allowed five other airlines including Aerolineas Argentinas and JetSMART to take part in the merger process. Low-cost carrier JetSMART and regional giant LATAM Airlines have both expressed an interest in buying Viva Air. LATAM, Avianca and local airline Satena will offer alternatives to stranded passengers on some routes at no additional cost, the civil aviation authority said. Colombia's superintendency of transportation will open an investigation against Viva Air, which could result in possible sanctions, it said.

☆ Ecuador, Belgium sign deal to fight crime after mega cocaine bust
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Karen ToroQUITO, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Ecuador and Belgium on Monday agreed to increase bilateral cooperation in their fight against international organized crime, a day after Ecuadorean police seized nearly nine tonnes of drugs bound for the European country. Ecuadorean police found some 8.78 tons of cocaine hidden in a container with bananas, the organization said on Sunday. The size of the seizure over the weekend makes it necessary for Ecuador to further strengthen cooperation with the Belgian government, Ecuador's Interior Minister Juan Zapata told reporters. Of the 201 tonnes of drugs seized in Ecuador last year, almost 18% was destined for Belgium, specifically Antwerp, Zapata said. So far in 2023, Ecuador has seized some 39 tonnes of drugs, especially cocaine, according to police data.

[1/6] Workers carry a mix of seized cocaine and coca paste with industrial waste to produce cement slurry to be used in a construction, at a waste treatment plant at an undisclosed location, in Ecuador February 10, 2023. REUTERS/Karen ToroQUITO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Huge quantities of seized drugs in Ecuador are presenting the Andean country with an unlikely new construction material: cocaine. The amount of drugs seized in Ecuador almost doubled in 2021 versus the previous year to more than 210 tonnes, mostly cocaine, according to the country's police. So far some 350 tonnes of crushed cocaine and coca paste - a cocaine precursor - seized between 2021 and 2022 have been used to fill the hole, according to plant technicians. Some 83 tonnes of cocaine are waiting to be encapsulated.

☆ 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.

☆ Colombia's central bank may need more rate hikes depending on inflation - IMF
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BOGOTA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Colombia's central bank may need to consider additional hikes to its benchmark interest rate, depending on how inflation in Latin America's fourth-largest economy behaves, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a statement on Tuesday. The board of Colombia's central bank has raised borrowing costs by a total of 1,100 points to 12.75%, its highest rate since 1999, since launching into an upward monetary cycle in September 2021. "Additional increases in the monetary policy rate could be necessary depending on the evolution of inflation, inflation expectations, and conditions of demand, among other factors," the IMF said. Last week central bank board chief Leonardo Villar warned that inflation in the Andean country had yet to top out, which will likely lead to a more restrictive monetary policy than expected. That sentiment was echoed by the IMF, which said Colombia's central bank will have to maintain a restrictive monetary police until after 2023.

☆ 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.

☆ Violence in Colombia falls in first month of ceasefire
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BOGOTA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Colombia's ceasefire with four armed groups has led to significant reductions in violence during its first month, Interior Minister Alfonso Prada said on Monday, with fewer murders and attacks on armed forces. Homicides in provinces heavily affected by conflict and where one or more of the groups participating in the ceasefire are active fell by up to 68%, he said, without giving absolute figures. The Pacific province of Choco saw the 68% reduction, followed closely by Arauca, on the Venezuelan border, which saw murders fall by 66%. In Cordoba homicides were down 52%, while in Magdalena they fell 37%, Prada said. Prada did not give figures for members of illegal armed groups killed this month, but the country's navy said earlier on Monday at least nine rebels from the ELN died in fighting last weekend close to Buenaventura.

☆ Ecopetrol says CEO Bayon to leave his post on March 31
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BOGOTA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Colombian majority-state-owned energy company Ecopetrol (ECO.CN) on Thursday said Chief Executive Felipe Bayon will leave his post on March 31, following more than five years in the position. Choosing Bayon's replacement will involve a rigorous selection process by the company's board of directors, the company said in a statement. "Ecopetrol expresses its gratitude to Felipe Bayon for his management and wishes him success in his new professional projects," Ecopetrol said. According to his Linkedin, Bayon spent just over 20 years at London-listed oil giant BP before joining Ecopetrol in 2016 as executive vice president and chief operating officer. He took on the mantle of chief executive a year later and steered the company through the coronavirus pandemic and celebrated surging profits as oil prices recovered.

☆ Colombia must strengthen rule of law, state presence in areas hit by violence -UN
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Volker Turk speaks before he signs the subscription to the headquarters agreement in Bogota, Colombia January 25, 2023. REUTERS/Luisa GonzalezBOGOTA, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Colombia must strengthen the rule of law and the state's presence to tackle violence in areas affected by the country's internal armed conflict, Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Wednesday. Colombia's human rights ombudsman on Monday reported that a record 215 human rights activists and social leaders - a term referring to community, land, and environmental leaders, among others - were killed in 2022. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has verified 112 killings of human rights defenders from last year, Turk said. "It's clear that in such a difficult situation as we currently have in Peru, we call on de-escalation, we call on respect for human rights," he said.

☆ Venezuela public sector workers march for better salaries
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] A demonstrator holds a placard that reads "Together for a living salary", during a march by teachers, health workers, workers' unions members and members of the opposition to demand better salaries, as the government of President Nicolas Maduro faces renewed challenges in its attempt to fight inflation, in Caracas, Venezuela January 23, 2023. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez ViloriaCARACAS, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Hundreds of public sector workers including teachers, nurses and retired police officers took to the streets in Venezuela on Monday to demand better salaries and pensions at a time when the government of President Nicolas Maduro faces growing inflation. Workers in Venezuela's education and health sectors have held three peaceful demonstrations in a dozen cities so far this year to demand more money. In Maracaibo, the capital of the once-powerful oil-rich Zulia state in northwestern Venezuela, protesters marched to the governor's office. "With a (monthly) salary of just $10 it's impossible for a family of four or five people to survive," Jimenez, 56, said.

☆ Colombia, Ecuador agree joint plan to tackle organized crime on border
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Daniel TapiaBOGOTA, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The armed forces of Colombia and Ecuador on Wednesday signed an agreement to implement a plan to contain drug trafficking and organized crime on their shared border, authorities in both countries said. Colombia and Ecuador share a porous border that stretches some 586 kilometers and where criminal gangs and illegal armed groups engage in smuggling and drug trafficking. "Efforts currently under our responsibility to eliminate drug trafficking, environmental crimes, smuggling, and other areas will not decline," General Helder Giraldo, the general commander of Colombia's military, said in another statement. The government of Colombian President Gustavo Petro in November called on countries with which it shares a border to work together on a military offensive against illegal armed groups. As well as Ecuador, Colombia shares a border with Brazil, Venezuela, Peru and Panama.

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