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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, April 27th 2024 - 19:39 UTC

Tag: Colombia

  • Monday, April 3rd 2017 - 10:16 UTC

    Mudslide in Colombian sweeps away half a city: 254 dead, hundreds missing

    Heavy rains caused several rivers to overflow, pushing sediment and rocks onto buildings and roads in the capital of southwestern Putumayo province

    Flooding and mudslides in the Colombian city of Mocoa sent torrents of water and debris crashing onto houses in the early hours of Saturday morning, killing 254 people, a quarter of them children, injuring hundreds and sending terrified residents, some in their pajamas, scrambling to evacuate.

  • Wednesday, March 1st 2017 - 17:41 UTC

    Colombia cancels construction contracts with Odebrechet

    Colombia’s prosecution office reported there is evidence to suggest Odebrecht paid bribes: allegedly it handed US$6.5 million to a former transportation vice minister

    The Colombian National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) has cancelled a US$1.89 billion highway construction contract with Odebrecht. The Brazilian contractor is the majority partner in a consortium that won the 25-year public private partnership (PPP) contract in 2010.

  • Monday, January 30th 2017 - 15:51 UTC

    FARC member accused of carrying out 300 abortions extradited from Spain to Colombia

    Arboleda Buitrago will face trial in Colombia for murder, attempted murder and abortion without consent. He was working as a nurse with no medical training

    Spain has agreed to extradite to Colombia a former FARC rebel accused of carrying out 300 forced abortions on women fighters, some of them underage. Hector Arboleda Albeidis Buitrago, who has Spanish nationality, was detained in Madrid in December 2015.

  • Saturday, December 17th 2016 - 17:03 UTC

    Colombia's Central Bank lowers interest rate to tack inflation

    Outgoing Colombian Central Bank manager Jose Dario Uribe spoke of “greater confidence in the consolidation of the process” as intereste rates were lowered for the first time in four years.

    The Central Bank of Colombia Friday surprisingly decided to lower the interest rate by 25 basis points to 7.50 percent to support the recovery of the economy and to push inflation towards the target set for the coming semester.

  • Thursday, December 15th 2016 - 08:28 UTC

    Colombia's FARC expels five commanders who rejected demobilization; fears they will turn to criminal gangs

    “We call on all combatants who have been tricked into this futureless path to distance themselves from this mistaken decision taken by their commanders”

    Colombia's FARC rebels have expelled five commanders for refusing to demobilize and join a peace process with the government aimed at ending more than five decades of war, guerrilla leadership said. The five commanders, all from units in the country's southeast jungle, include one former participant in four-year-long peace talks in Cuba.

  • Wednesday, December 14th 2016 - 09:21 UTC

    Yesterday Colombia, now Venezuela closes border with Brazil

    Venezuela first closed its border with Colombia and now with Brazil to avoid money trafficking

    The government of President Nicolas Maduro government closed the border with Brazil for 72 hours for the same reason it had taken the same measure with Colombia: money smuggling, Brazilian local authorities and residents of southern Venezuela who routinely cross to Brazil where they can make transactions in bolivars confirmed.

  • Tuesday, December 6th 2016 - 06:19 UTC

    It's Official: Chapecoense are South American Cup Champions

    Conmebol declares Chapecoense winners of the match they were enroute to playing when their airplane crashed

    The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) Monday officially awarded the 2016 South American Cup title to the Brazilian team Chapecoense, who lost most of their players and staff as their airplane crashed in Colombia last week on its way to playing the final's first leg in Medellín against the local squad of Atlético Nacional, who was awarded the Conmebol's Fair Play Centennial prize.

  • Tuesday, November 29th 2016 - 11:16 UTC

    Plane carrying Chapecoense football team crashes on approach to Medellin

    From celebration to mourning. Plane carrying Brazilian football club players crashed in Medellin...

    A Bolivian-registered airplane carrying the football players of Brazilian team Chapecoense crashed in a mountainous area as it approached Medellin's Jose Maria Cordova international airport around Monday midnight, local time. The team was due to play the first leg of the South American Cup (the second most important club continental competition) final against Libertadores Cup holders Atlético Nacional on Wednesday. Five survivors out of 81 people on board have been reported.

  • Thursday, November 24th 2016 - 15:13 UTC

    Santos and FARC sign new peace agreement; new version submitted for a vote in Congress

    “The government and FARC delegations have agreed to sign the final agreement to end the conflict and build a stable and lasting peace,” said the statement

    Colombia's government and FARC guerrillas will sign a new peace accord on Thursday, after a previous agreement to end their half-century-old war was defeated in a referendum, both parties said. The new, revised accord will be submitted to Congress for approval, rather than put to another referendum, they added.

  • Tuesday, November 22nd 2016 - 10:50 UTC

    Santos: “I have no metastases, no tumor”

    President Juan Manuel Santos says his treatment will not stop him from discharging his duties

    The President of Colombia made the announcement Monday following an urgent trip to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, US, on his doctors' advice last week due to disturbing test results that would indicate a relapse of his prostate cancer which was removed surgically in 2011.