~theguardian-world | Bookmarks (13)

Celebrity fashion designer, who recruited couriers to transport bags from her native Colombia to US on commercial flights, receives 18-month sentence A leading fashion designer whose accessories were used by celebrities from Britney Spears to the cast of the Sex and the City TV series has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in Miami federal court on charges of smuggling...

In announcement three weeks before election, José Raúl Mulino gave no details of how he would stop migrant flowPanama’s presidential frontrunner has vowed to “close” the Darién Gap, the swampy jungle straddling the border with Colombia that has become an unavoidable ordeal for many US-bound migrants – but experts criticised the idea as unworkable and potentially dangerous.Presided over by criminal groups and corrupt officials,...

Bogotá brings in water rationing with El Niño weather phenomenon meaning city could run out in under two monthsCouples in Bogotá are being asked to shower together as water supplies are rationed in the Colombian capital.Major neighbourhoods were cut off from the water grid on Thursday to preserve dangerously low water levels at reservoirs that have been starved of rain by the weather phenomenon...

Descendants of enslaved miners who dug up gold, silver and emeralds worth billions call on Colombia to halt plan to lift cargoIndigenous communities in Bolivia have objected to Colombia’s plans to recover the remains of an 18th-century galleon believed to be carrying gold, silver and emeralds worth billions, calling on Spain and Unesco to step in and halt the project.Colombia hopes to begin recovering...

South American neighbours respond to blocking of Corina Yoris, who was favoured to beat strongman Nicolás Maduro in electionsA chorus of Latin American nations, including Brazil and Colombia, have voiced concern over the deteriorating political situation in Venezuela after the opposition politician best-positioned to challenge its strongman leader, Nicolás Maduro, in July’s presidential election was prevented from registering for the vote.Corina Yoris, an 80-year-old...

Attempt to stop movement through perilous rainforest leaves people stuck in two remote Caribbean townsMigration towards the US through a perilous but increasingly well-trodden rainforest border crossing has ground to a halt after the Colombian navy arrested two boat captains for trafficking migrants.But the attempt to stop movement through the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama has left more than 3,000 people stranded in...

Salvatore Mancuso was taken into police custody and is expected to cooperate with investigation into war crimes in 1990s and 2000sA Colombian warlord found responsible for more than 1,500 murders and cases of forced disappearance has been returned to his native country after serving a drug-trafficking sentence in the United States and being denied several requests to be sent to Italy, where he also...

Adil Meléndez Márquez received call from bodyguards 20 minutes after Sir Henry Brooke award from Alliance for Lawyers at Risk“I’m very afraid,” says Colombian lawyer Adil Meléndez Márquez, the day after being presented with an award in London honouring human rights defenders.Meléndez is no stranger to death threats, because of his work on cases related to Colombia’s decades-long civil war, environmental justice and corruption,...

Cluster of cases in seven days follows spate of druggings and robberies of tourists, some of which have ended in deathAuthorities in Medellín will meet representatives of embassies and popular dating apps this week after five foreigners were found dead in Colombia’s second city in the past seven days.Police say none of the deaths were violent, though one of the cases appears to involve...

Dozens of people also injured after mudslide in mountainous area on road connecting major citiesThe death toll from a mudslide in western Colombia has risen to 34, authorities have said.The mudslide struck a busy municipal road on Friday in a mountainous area connecting the cities of Quibdó and Medellín. Continue reading...

US embassy issues warning after US citizens died in Medellín following suspected drugging and robbing on app-arranged datesForeign visitors to Colombia should take serious caution when using dating apps after a spate of suspicious deaths in the South American country, the US embassy in Bogotá has warned.In the last two months of 2023, eight US citizens died in the city of Medellín, in incidents...

Daniel Noboa designates nearly two dozen gangs as terrorist groups after wave of violence across countryEcuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, said on Wednesday that his country was “at war” with drug gangs who are holding more than 130 prison staff hostage and who briefly captured a TV station live on air, in a wave of violence that has left city streets deserted.At least 10 people...

Jungle between Colombia and Panama marks the start of the dangerous trek north from South America to the United StatesA record 520,000 people crossed the treacherous jungle between Colombia and Panama known as the Darién Gap in 2023, more than double the number reported the year before, according to new figures from the government of Panama.The people who made the journey that marks the...