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☆ Amazon plane crash: Oldest sister praised for 'heroic role' in Colombian jungle, grandfather says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Stefano Pozzebon Ruba Alhenawi Maria Plaza Heather Chen | Stefano Pozzebon | Ruba Alhenawi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

In clips shared online by the Colombian Defense Ministry, the children’s grandfather Narciso Mucutuy detailed how 13-year-old Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy cared for her younger siblings during the traumatic ordeal. “When she looked and saw that her mother was dead, she saw the foot of her youngest sister and she pulled them out,” he said. “Their learning from indigenous families and their learning of living in the jungle has saved them,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said. ‘We have a saying ‘We never leave an element behind,’ even less the four children, we would not leave Wilson. “I believe in the jungle, which is our mother … both the jungle and nature have never betrayed me,” he said.

Persons: Wilson, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, Narciso Mucutuy, Mucutuy, “, ”, Cristin, Soleiny Jacobombaire, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, farina, Gustavo Petro, Lesly, Belgian Shepherd, Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez, ‘, Manuel Ranoque, … Organizations: CNN, Colombian Defense Ministry, Forces, Colombian Locations: Belgian, Colombian, Bogota

CNN —Eating cassava flour helped save the lives of four children found alive in the Amazon jungle more than a month after their plane crashed, according to a Colombian military special forces official. The children ate “three kilograms (six pounds) of farina,” a coarse cassava flour commonly used by indigenous tribes in the Amazon region, said spokesperson Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez Suárez. The children’s mother Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia was killed in the plane crash on May 1, leaving them alone and stranded in the Amazon jungle. The children’s disappearance sparked a massive military-led search operation that saw more than one hundred Colombian special forces troops and over 70 indigenous scouts combing the deep forest. They told officials that they had found a dog – a Belgian Shepherd search dog named Wilson that belonged to special forces.

Persons: farina, Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez, ” Suárez, “, ”, Ranoque, Cristin Ranoque, What’s, Ivan Velasquez, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, Hernando Murcia Morales, Herman Mendoza Hernández, Belgian Shepherd, Wilson, Suárez, Gustavo Petro, ” Petro Organizations: CNN, Colombian Air Force, Colombian Defense, Colombian Locations: Colombian, Bogota, Belgian, Colombia

☆ Four missing Colombian children found alive weeks after plane crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Luis Jaime Acosta | Thomson Reuters | Luis Jaime Has Worked At Reuters For More Than Years. While He Chiefly Covers Colombia'S Armed Conflict | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BOGOTA, June 9 (Reuters) - Four children from an Indigenous community in Colombia were found alive in the south of the country more than five weeks after the plane they were traveling in crashed in thick jungle, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro said on Friday. The children were rescued by the military near the border between Colombia's Caqueta and Guaviare provinces, close to where the small plane had crashed. The four children who were lost ... in the Colombian jungle appeared alive," Petro said in a message via Twitter. Three adults, including the pilot, died as a result of the crash and their bodies were found inside the plane. Preliminary information from the civil aviation authority, which coordinated the rescue efforts, suggests the children escaped the plane and set off into the rainforest to find help.

Persons: Gustavo Petro, Petro, San Jose del Guaviare, Luis Jaime Acosta, Oliver Griffin, Jamie Freed Organizations: Cessna, Thomson Locations: BOGOTA, Colombia, Colombia's, Guaviare, Colombian, Araracuara, Amazonas province, San Jose, Guaviare province

☆ Four Colombian children found alive in jungle weeks after plane crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Four children from an Indigenous community in Colombia were found alive in the country's south on June 9, Friday - more than five weeks after the plane they were traveling in crashed in thick jungle, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro said. Four children from an Indigenous community in Colombia were found alive in the country's south on Friday more than five weeks after the plane they were traveling in crashed in thick jungle, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro said. Photos shared by Colombia's military showed a group of soldiers with the four children in the middle of the jungle. The four children who were lost ... in the Colombian jungle appeared alive," Petro said in a message via Twitter. They found them, it makes me very happy," Petro told journalists on Friday, adding the children had defended themselves alone in the middle of the jungle.

Persons: Gustavo Petro, San Jose del Guaviare, Magdalena Mucutuy, Narcizo Mucutuy, Petro Organizations: Cessna, Twitter Locations: Colombia, Colombia's, Guaviare, Araracuara, Amazonas province, San Jose, Guaviare province, Colombian

☆ Colombian Children Rescued From Jungle Are Said to Be in Good Health
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Genevieve Glatsky | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Four Colombian children who survived in the Colombian jungle for 40 days after their plane crashed were eager to play and asked for books to read, officials said on Saturday, one day after the group was rescued. The siblings, aged 1 to 13, were recuperating at a military hospital in Bogotá, the capital, and were said to be in good health and spirits on Saturday, when they were visited by President Gustavo Petro and other officials. The country has been captivated by the children’s story, with many eagerly awaiting news of their fate since their plane crashed on May 1. The children, members of the Huitoto Indigenous community, had been traveling with their mother and an Indigenous leader from the tiny Amazon community of Araracuara, Colombia, to San José del Guaviare, a small city in central Colombia along the Guaviare River. When rescuers reached the crash site last month, the bodies of the three adults with whom they were traveling were found, but there was no sign of the children.

Persons: Gustavo Petro Locations: Colombian, Bogotá, Araracuara, Colombia, del

☆ Child plane crash survivors in "acceptable" state of health
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BOGOTA, June 10 (Reuters) - Four Indigenous children who were missing for more than five weeks in Colombia's southern jungle, after surviving a plane crash which killed their mother, are in an "acceptable" state of health, the government said on Saturday. "In general the boy and the girls are in an acceptable state. The youngest of the children turned one while in the jungle, while her brother had his fifth birthday, he said. Clues as to the siblings' whereabouts have been reported for weeks as the search, dubbed Operation Hope, continued. Three adults, including the pilot and the children's mother, died in the crash and their bodies were found inside the plane.

Persons: Gustavo Petro, Petro, Ivan Velasquez, Fidencio Valencia, Velasquez, General Carlos Rincon, Hope, Wilson, gaunt, Manuel Ranoque, San Jose del Guaviare, Carolina Pulice, Luis Jaime Acosta, Nelson Bocanegra, Oliver Griffin, Jamie Freed, Andrea Ricci Organizations: Twitter, Cessna, Thomson Locations: BOGOTA, Caqueta province, Bogota, Araracuara, Caqueta, San Jose, Guaviare

☆ 4 Missing Children Found Alive After 40 Days in Colombian Jungle
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Genevieve Glatsky | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

After 40 days in the Colombian rainforest, all four children who had been missing since the plane they were traveling in crashed on May 1 have been found alive, according to Colombia’s president. “They achieved an example of total survival that will go down in history,” President Gustavo Petro said in a news conference on Friday night. When rescuers reached the site of the plane’s wreckage last month, the bodies of the three adults on board were found, but there was no sign of the four children known to have been on the plane. In a case that captivated the nation, local Indigenous communities from the remote region, along with the Colombian military, then began scouring the jungle for the children, aged 13, 9, 4 and 1.

Persons: “, Gustavo Petro Organizations: Colombian Locations: Colombian

CNN —Four young children have been found alive after more than a month wandering the Amazon where they survived like “children of the jungle,” according to Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro. Petro said the children were all together when they were found, adding they had demonstrated an example of “total survival that will be remembered in history.”“They are children of the jungle and now they are children of Colombia,” he added. The children, who appear gaunt in the photos, are being evaluated by doctors and will be taken to the town of San Jose del Guaviare. When we found the children we felt joy, we don’t know what to do, but we are grateful to God,” he said. During a press conference Friday evening, Petro said he hoped to speak with the children on Saturday.

Persons: Gustavo Petro, “, ” Petro, Petro, ”, María Fátima Valencia, “ I’m, gaunt, San Jose del Guaviare, Ivan Velasquez, Jacobombaire, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, Cristin Ranoque, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, Hernando Murcia Morales, Herman Mendoza Hernández, they’d, Fidencio Valencia, Narcizo Mucutuy, Villavicencio, Lucho Acosta Organizations: CNN, Twitter, Colombian, Colombian Defense Ministry Locations: Colombia, Villavicencio, San Jose, Bogota, Colombian, ”

☆ Colombia and ELN guerrillas agree to six-month ceasefire
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Stefano Pozzebon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Bogota, Colombia CNN —The Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) – one of the oldest and largest guerrilla groups still operating in the country – have agreed to implement a bilateral, six-month ceasefire starting on August 3. Cuba, Mexico, Norway, and Venezuela have acted as “guarantors” for the peace talks, as well as the United Nations and the Colombian Catholic church. The third round of peace negotiations between the Colombia's and the ELN in Havana on May 2, 2023. The ELN is still present in large swathes of the Colombian countryside and operates a military force of several thousand men according to military analysts and the Colombian military forces. Last week, Petro’s chief of staff Laura Sarabia and the Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, both resigned amid mutual accusations of wiretapping.

Persons: Gustavo Petro, Miguel Diaz, guerre ‘ Antonio García, ”, Yamil Lage, ‘ Pablo Beltrán, ’, Ivan Duque, Petro, Laura Sarabia, Armando Benedetti Organizations: Colombia CNN, Colombian, National Liberation Army, Cuban, United Nations, Colombian Catholic, Getty, Revolutionary Armed Forces, FARC, European Union Locations: Bogota, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Havana, Norway, AFP, Colombian, United States

☆ Colombian Amazon plane crash: children's plight is the latest in a long list of air travel mishaps
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Stefano Pozzebon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The three adults onboard, including the pilot and the children’s mother, Magdalena Mucutuy, died in the crash. Calderon dismisses the idea that his job is particularly high risk, but he concedes flying in the Colombian Amazon is not for the faint hearted. Soldiers stand next to the wreckage of a plane during the search for child survivors on May 19, 2023. Moreover, this type of older airplanes are often the most apt to operate in the limited infrastructure of the airfields in the Colombian Amazon. This year the Colombian government budgeted the equivalent of over $200 million to boost airports across the Amazon region over the next 30 years, and to open eight new commercial flight routes Amazon region.

☆ Colombia suspends ceasefire with Estado Mayor Central rebels in some areas
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Luis Jaime Acosta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BOGOTA, May 22 (Reuters) - Colombia's government on Monday suspended a national ceasefire with the Estado Mayor Central (EMC) armed group in some provinces, following the murder of four Indigenous teenagers. The EMC was founded by dissident former members of the now-demobilized FARC rebels, who reject a 2016 peace deal signed by that group. "The current bilateral ceasefire with this armed group in the provinces of Meta, Caqueta, Guaviare and Putumayo is suspended and all offensive operations are reactivated," the government said in a statement. The EMC has an estimated 3,500 members, including nearly 2,200 combatants, and operates in 23 of Colombia's 32 provinces, according to security force documents. Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; editing by John StonestreetOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

CNN —As the Colombian military frantically searches for four children missing after a jungle plane crash over two weeks ago, new details are emerging about the plane’s history – and local concerns over the safety of air travel in that part of the Amazon. Colombian Military Forces/ReutersIndigenous activists who mourned the deaths in a statement earlier this week said the crash was no surprise, accusing airline companies operating in the Amazon of chasing profits and the Colombian government of failing to uphold safety standards. Speaking to CNN, OPIAC president Julio Cesar Lopez pointed out that the ill-fated plane had previously crashed in the same region, on July 25, 2021. The report states that the plane was built in 1982 and, prior to the 2021 crash, had accumulated over 10 thousand flight hours. Relatives say the children knew the jungle well, and are holding out hope that they will be found alive.

☆ Colombia jungle plane crash: Government official hopeful children found alive in jungle 17 days after plane crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Mia Alberti Stefano Pozzebon Jennifer Deaton | Mia Alberti | Stefano Pozzebon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A Colombian government official is “very confident” four children were found alive 17 days after their plane crashed in the Amazon jungle but is awaiting further proof. The Director of Colombia’s Family Affairs Institute, Astrid Caceres, said her team received second hand confirmation that search teams rescued and identified the children missing following the crash of a small airplane in southern Colombia. While the children were found alive, Aerocivil said they found another three bodies inside the small aircraft. President Petro said news of the rescue was “a joy for the country.”“After arduous searching by our military, we have found alive the four children who went missing after a plane crash in Guaviare. A joy for the country,” Petro tweeted earlier on Thursday.

☆ Colombian children found alive in jungle weeks after plane crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The children were rescued by members of the military, firefighters and civil aviation authority officials in the dense jungle of Colombia's Caqueta province. "After arduous searching by our military, we have found alive the four children who went missing after a plane crash in Guaviare. A joy for the country," Petro said in a message via Twitter. Three adults, including the pilot, died as a result of the crash and their bodies were found inside the plane. Rescuers, supported by search dogs, had previously found discarded fruit the children ate to survive, as well as improvised shelters made with jungle vegetation.

☆ Colombia's ELN guerrilla group warns of peace talks 'crisis'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BOGOTA, May 15 (Reuters) - Colombian leftwing guerrilla group the National Liberation Army (ELN) on Monday said peace talks with the government were in crisis due to comments made by President Gustavo Petro. Petro had questioned the unity of the group's leadership and ordered Colombia's military to target illicit activity such as drug trafficking that finance illegal armed groups. "The peace talks cannot be subject to the fluctuations in the public statements of the president," the ELN said in a statement. The government says the group finances itself through drug trafficking, illegal mining and kidnapping. Negotiations with the ELN under previous administrations faltered on the group's diffuse chain of command and dissent within its ranks.

CNN —Venezuela’s former opposition leader Juan Guaidó is visiting Washington this week, where he hopes to meet with the Biden administration, he told reporters on Tuesday during a surprise appearance at the Washington Conference on the Americas. Asked if he sought political asylum in the US, he said, “I am currently visiting. Guaidó landed in Miami the following day, after accusing Colombia of forcing him out of the country – a claim Colombian officials refuted. “We also hope to meet with the Biden administration – obviously it’s a critical moment for the region, especially Venezuela, a moment in which we are pressing to achieve a free election,” he said. The Biden administration loosened some sanctions against the Maduro government in 2022, and last November, it granted Chevron limited authorization to resume pumping oil from Venezuela.

☆ Colombia’s President Replaces Market-Friendly Finance Minister in Cabinet Reshuffle
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Juan Forero | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

President Gustavo Petro has seen some of his signature proposals stall in Congress or run into political opposition. Photo: Oliver Contreras/Bloomberg NewsBOGOTÁ, Colombia—Colombian President Gustavo Petro , a leftist who has pressed for broadscale social reforms in eight months in office, replaced his market-friendly finance minister on Wednesday amid the breakup of his congressional coalition. José Antonio Ocampo, a Columbia University professor who was seen by the markets as a stabilizing force, was replaced as finance minister in a cabinet shuffle that saw seven ministers ousted. The shake-up weakened the long-battered Colombian peso and sent bonds tumbling.

☆ Colombia's Gustavo Petro finds his opening in Washington
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Stefano Pozzebon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

So what was the most solid common ground President Biden, as host, could find for his guest? Leaders from the region tend to see the climate issue as their platform in international summits. Like many countries in Latin America, Colombia has received considerable investments from Chinese companies in recent years, mostly in the transport and mining sectors. “Petro has the aspiration of leading the new phase of Latin America’s geopolitics. And Biden can also tout a considerable concession from his meeting with Petro, who had always refused to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine – until now.

Exxon has held eight exploration and production contracts in Colombia, including the fracking pilot. All either have been or are being ended, suspended or liquidated, Colombia's National Hydrocarbon Agency (ANH) told Reuters. The proposed bill would ban development of non-conventional energy projects including fracking. "We will continue to have constructive dialogue with the Colombian government on a comprehensive assessment of our unconventional investments," Exxon spokesperson Michelle Gray told Reuters. Exxon said it continuously evaluates and prioritize investments, including those in Colombia.

☆ Colombian president asks cabinet to resign ahead of reshuffle - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BOGOTA, April 25 (Reuters) - Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has asked his cabinet ministers to resign ahead of a reshuffle, two sources told Reuters late on Tuesday, as the leftist leader said he had lost his majority coalition in Congress. "The political coalition agreed as a majority has ended today due to decisions of some party presidents," Petro said in a message via Twitter late on Tuesday. Petro has largely backed his ministers, including Velez, though disagreement over the health reform proposal already lead to the exit of the education minister, Alejandro Gaviria. Interior Minister Alfonso Prada could be take over as defense minister, said one government source who declined to be identified. Others, including Velez, could hold on to their posts, the source said.

☆ Democrats say Florida is 'dead for Biden' as his 2024 presidential campaign starts: 'We just need to be realistic'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

"It's like a dead carcass on the side of the road," DeSantis said in April of the Florida Democratic Party. Nearly two decades ago, Florida Democrats were "similarly declared dead, you know, forever, Amen," Schale said, but they rebounded. Wilfredo Lee/AP PhotoDemocrats say they still have spend in FloridaBut it's important for Democrats to still invest campaign resources in Florida, Democratic insiders said. Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said the party had no infrastructure and no voter registration drive when she took the helm in February. Joe Raedle/Getty Images, Scott Olson/Getty ImagesBuilding a Democratic benchFried she's optimistic about Florida Democrats' future — and Biden's potential there.

[1/5] Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva attend an international conference on the political crisis in Venezuela, at Palacio de San Carlos in Bogota, Colombia April 25, 2023. The meeting in Bogota, hosted by Colombian President Gustavo Petro with support from the United States, included Spain, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Brazil and others. The meeting was meant to help Maduro and the opposition restart stalled talks in Mexico focused on free elections and the possible lifting of sanctions against the government. Attendees found common ground over the need for free elections and lifting of sanctions parallel to agreements between the two sides, he said. The Mexico talks, held briefly last year and in 2021, are supposed to provide a roadmap out of the long-running crisis.

☆ Andes Turmoil Rattles Governments, Spurs Migration to U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Ryan Dube | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LIMA, Peru—Mounting violent crime and political upheaval are buffeting Andean countries in South America that had recently been stable, threatening fragile governments and prompting hundreds of thousands to flee north to the U.S. In Ecuador, President Guillermo Lasso faces an impeachment vote in May as drug-related homicides have risen. Bolivia has run out of dollars, its government hobbled by tumbling natural-gas exports. Peru’s economy has contracted sharply since President Pedro Castillo was removed from office in December, sparking violent protests. Colombian drug gangs run rampant in some rural regions, even as the former guerrilla who leads the government, Gustavo Petro , embarks on peace negotiations with them.

[1/4] U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Colombian President Gustavo Petro in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., April 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueApril 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden praised Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Thursday for his country's treatment of refugees from Venezuela and for his commitment to democracy and human rights. "As we begin the next century of our partnership, I believe we can do even more" to deepen and develop cooperation, Biden told Petro during Thursday's meeting. Biden thanked Petro for the hospitality and support that Colombia was showing to Venezuelan refugees. REGIONAL PARTNERS"We're working closely with regional partners to help Colombia meet this challenge," Biden said.

☆ Searching for the disappeared must be priority at Colombia peace talks -official
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Julia Symmes Cobb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

At least 104,600 people have been forcibly disappeared in connection with Colombia's conflict between leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitaries, criminal groups and the government. The Search Unit for Disappeared People was created under a 2016 peace deal with the FARC rebels to find and identify missing people or their remains and give suffering families answers. Forero added she hopes the unit will be able to tally many more recoveries of remains and identifications during her tenure. The disappeared unit is the least well-known of the justice mechanisms created by the 2016 accord, which also include the truth commission and a tribunal tasked with trying war crimes. The country's truth commission estimated the number of disappeared could be as high as 210,000.

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