Today, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced that on April 19, a local pharmacist was charged by criminal complaint with attempted sex trafficking of a minor and attempted travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct. According to the criminal complaint and the underlying affidavit, law enforcement officers stopped Stefan Andres Correa, 42, of Miami, Florida, attempting to board a flight from Miami to Bogota, Colombia. It is alleged that, law enforcement officers discovered nine cellular phones in Correa’s possession containing videos of Correa engaging in inter ..read more

On Sunday, we saw the promised — and welcome — protests across the country against some of President Gustavo Petro’s reforms. Street demonstrations are part of any healthy democracy and I have been in Colombia long enough to remember when as a population this country never bothered to protest against anything. Photo: President Gustavo Petro speaking at the World Economic Forum in January 2023. (Credit: World Economic Forum / Boris Baldinger) The numbers on the street were neither small nor biblical. “Significant” would be a good term. And, even better, they were peaceful. The largest numbers ..read more

In June of 2022, a slight majority of Colombian voters elected Gustavo Petro as president. To say that they ignored numerous warning signs would be an understatement. Petro began his public life in the late 1970’s as a member of the M‑19, the bloodthirsty urban guerrilla group that—among its many acts of terrorism— stormed the Ministry of Justice in November of 1985, held its magistrates and hundreds of employees as hostages, and ultimately caused the violent death of 111 people. In 1994, a mere two years after the M‑19’s final official amnesty, which coincided broadly ..read more

A Colombian national has been extradited from Chile to the United States to face charges related to kidnapping and assaulting two U.S. Army soldiers who were on temporary duty in Bogotá, according to the US Department of Justice. According to charging documents, 47-year-old Pedro Jose Silva Ochoa, also known as Tata, of Bogotá, along with co-conspirators, targeted, incapacitated, and kidnapped two U.S. soldiers in Bogotá in order to rob them of their valuables. On the evening of March 5, 2020, the two victims went to an entertainment district in Bogotá to watch a soccer game. Per the Departmen ..read more

In this week’s Colombia Business News Recap: Click above to watch the video Canadian Sacha Lemaire Lepage facing Narcotics, Firearms & Wildlife Abuse Charges In Colombia Jimmy Carter’s Colombia Blacklist Revealed Colombian Kidnapper Hiding In Chile Captured & Sent to US WOM is bankrupt Ruta-N and SAP Announce Alliance To Support Entrepreneurship and Investment in Medellín The Feria 2 Ruedas motorcycle conventionreturns to Medellín May 2-5, bringing commerce, fun & learning opportunities.   Subscribe free at https://fcsubscribe.com Need to hire bilingual talent? T ..read more

Colombia’s attorney general’s office announced Friday that it has legalized the capture of Canadian citizen Sacha Lemaire Lepage for drug trafficking and illegal possession of firearms. The Prosecutor’s office was caught “in flagrante delicto” (red-handed) on a rural property in El Peñol, Antioquia near the Guatapé tourist and vacation area. Prosecutors elaborated that Lepage invited foreigners and Colombians to the property to for sex, drugs, and gunplay. Colombian magazine La Semana reported that Lemaire already had legal trouble in Colombia, accused of property damage in 2022, illicit appro ..read more

Thursday morning, SAP’s President for the Northern Region of Latin America and The Caribbean, Marcela Perilla was present at Ruta-N, Medellín’s municipally owned business incubator to announce a new initiative designed to support small businesses affiliated with Ruta-N along with companies in the area with solutions that may synergize with SAP software. “This alliance reflects our shared commitment to promote economic and social development through technology,” said Perilla, accompanied by Ruta-N’s executive director Carolina Londoño. SAP’s President for the Northern Region of Latin America a ..read more

This article, written by Peter Appleby, was originally published by InSight Crime, a Medellín-based foundation dedicated to the investigation and analysis of crime and security in Colombia and Latin America. A wastewater analysis has indicated that in Europe, cocaine from South America is now being consumed in smaller towns, as well as major urban areas. Photo: A dismantled cocaine laboratory in Tolima, Colombia. (Credit: Colombian Air Force) The report, published on March 20 by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), is the institution’s latest annual over ..read more

If there is one thing — beyond a dysfunctional congressional system — that Colombia has inherited from the United States, it’s the capacity to assign blame wherever possible. On this occasion, it is regarding the impact of El Niño. Both water and energy are in short supply, and suddenly it needs to be the government’s fault. Reservoirs have fallen below 30% — approaching critical levels. While the weather is slowly turning more rainy, it’s not happening quickly enough. Blaming the government is both pointless and inaccurate. If anything, El Niño has been milder than expected, so what were they ..read more

Colombia won’t be the only country watching its currency after the events of the weekend in the Middle East. If Brent oil prices spike due to concerns over oil supply, then logically the Colombian peso should shift back down below 3,800 to the US dollar once again. If the concerns over an escalation increase, however, then we may see a flight to dollars and the peso may come under pressure. This won’t be a question for today, but for the coming days — and even weeks — depending on how the story develops. Thus far, the reaction appears calmer than expected. But the situation is still in develop ..read more