Health officials on Colombia’s side of the Darien Gap – the region and dense jungle on the border with Panama – are increasingly dealing with migrant children’s physical and mental health issues. The Darien is one of the fastest growing and most dangerous migration routes in the world, with over 500,000 migrants crossing the 100 km stretch of jungle in 2023. By Milenioscuro – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link However, as this number grows, so to does the sheer number of children who are undertaking this route, including unaccompanied children and those from outside of Latin America.  A rece ..read more

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has replaced Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva, who was suspended over his handling of a controversial contract to print passports. Petro appointed Luis Gilberto Murillo as Leyva’s permanent replacement. Murillo had been acting foreign minister and ambassador in the United States since January when the Inspector General’s Office first suspended Leyva. The president is expected to appointed to appoint a new ambassador to Washington DC in the coming days. Murillo on two occasions was elected governor of the western Choco province and was a mayor player in the gove ..read more

Colombia’s prosecution said it may drop terrorism and conspiracy charges filed against people who took part in anti-government protests in 2021. The prosecution confirmed that Justice Minister Nestor Osuna formally requested a directive to protect peaceful protesters from political persecution. At an event in Cali, Osuna said that “I know that very soon they will issue a directive that states that acts of social protest are neither terrorism nor conspiracy to commit a crime.” “This implies that all those who are in jail will get out,” said the minister. The prosecution lowered the expectation ..read more

Some 120 people who are suspected of stealing arms and munitions from Colombia’s security forces have been reported to the prosecution, according to the commander of the National Army. In an interview with W Radio, General Luis Ospina said that the internal investigation was triggered by an attack on the highway between the capital Bogota and the south of the country. Because this attack was carried out with an army grenade, the National Army began verifying the military stockpile in the Tolemaida base in the Tolima province. We began to verify with more than 100 people going through the amm ..read more

Colombia’s far-right successfully convinced the House of Representatives to suspend all debates and votes on reforms proposed by the government of President Gustavo Petro. Representative Jose Jaime Uscategui of the far-right Democratic Center party had requested the suspension “as a response to the corruption scandals and the president’s incendiary discourse against the National Electoral Council” (CNE). The House agreed to suspend the “debate and vote on all the ordinary and statutory law, and legislative bill projects” put forth by the Petro administration. The suspension threatens to sink ..read more

Colombia’s Supreme Court called National Electoral Council (CNE) magistrate Alvaro Hernan Prada to trial over his alleged attempts to bribe a witnesses. According to Senator Ivan Cepeda, Prada’s first day in court will be held next week. The CNE magistrate has been charged with conspiracy to bribe witnesses because of his alleged involvement in a criminal organization that bribed witnesses for the benefit of former President Alvaro Uribe. Prada allegedly recruited a former member of paramilitary organization AUC to bribe a key witness in the investigation into Uribe’s alleged ties to paramili ..read more

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said Wednesday that “the silent coup has begun” after magistrates of the National Electoral Council (CNE) proposed to formally investigate his 2022 campaign. The formal investigation was proposed by the two magistrates who have been investigating Petro’s campaign since early 2023. In order to open a formal investigation, magistrates Alvaro Hernan Prada and Benjamin Ortiz need the support of six of the CNE’s eight magistrates. “Democracy is in an emergency,” said Petro on Twitter. According to the president, a CNE investigation would be arbitrary and unconsti ..read more

The “Comuneros del Sur” front that operates in southwest Colombia has broken ties with the ELN to pursue peace with the government of Gustavo Petro. In a video, a guerrilla spokesman said that the guerrillas from the Nariño province unanimously voted to abandon the ELN. The ELN dissident spokesman also said that the Comuneros del Sur would continue ongoing peace talks with the national government and regional peace building projects. In a response, Peace Commissioner Otty Patiño said that the government will “treat this group from Nariño as a distinct and independent organization.” According ..read more

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro extended the term of acting Foreign Minister Luis Murillo after the Inspector General’s Office extended the term of suspension of Alvaro Leyva. In a decree, Petro extended Murillo’s term until August 8 in order to ‘guarantee the compliance and the continuity of services of the Ministry of Foreign Relations.” Murillo, who formally is Colombia’s ambassador to Washington DC, replaced Leyva in February amid an Inspector General investigation into alleged irregularities in the Foreign Ministry. According to the Inspector General’s Office, Leyva could sabotage the ..read more

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said that corruption allegations made against government officials and members of Congress are part of a “coup strategy.” During a speech, Petro said that admittedly corrupt former officials were being used to falsely implicate others in government and Congress in a scandal that erupted over the embezzlement of disaster management funds. They are using the corrupt people to stop the political reforms that benefit the people in Congress… They are using the corrupt people that we ourselves took out, who we did not allow to take public money out of the country ..read more