Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro escalated his country's conflict with Colombia Friday by expanding the partial closure of their shared border to four new frontier towns. However most political analysts believe there is a huge premeditated interest in arising strong nationalistic feelings ahead of the December legislative elections.
The US has announced sanctions against four alleged members of Colombia's Farc rebel group, accusing them of drug trafficking and money laundering. The four men used a shop in Switzerland as a front for their activities, the US treasury department said. It says the Farc still use drugs to fund their “ruthless operation”.
Deteriorating conditions in Venezuela are causing increasing numbers of Cuban medical personnel working there to immigrate to the United States under a special US program launched in 2006 that expedites their applications.
Representatives of Colombia's largest guerrilla movement have asked to meet Pope Francis in Cuba in September and have requested the Catholic Church name a permanent delegate to their peace negotiations with the government.
Colombian authorities accused the FARC guerrillas Monday of forcing 19 oil tanker drivers to dump their cargo of crude on the ground, raising fears it could contaminate water supplies.Officials said FARC fighters stopped the tankers in a dawn raid as they transported their cargo across a remote area of the oil-producing region of Puerto Asis in the southwestern department of Putumayo.
The Colombian government and FARC guerrillas said they plan to form a truth commission to investigate atrocities committed during the country's five-decade civil war. The agreement was announced on Thursday and will consist of an independent and impartial body as soon as a final peace deal is reached.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang vowed to deepen economic ties with Colombia after arriving to Bogotá on Thursday, as part of his four-nation South American tour aimed at boosting trade and investment. Li is the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Colombia since the two nations established diplomatic ties 35 years ago and his visit was hailed as historic by President Juan Manuel Santos.
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has ordered the resumption of bombing raids against FARC rebels after an attack he blamed on the group killed 10 soldiers, a move that will intensify combat after efforts to cool tensions.
Colombia's FARC rebels cannot be submitted to the same judicial processes as common criminals under a possible peace deal, the Marxist group said on Friday. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) made the comments after President Juan Manuel Santos said in an interview that the biggest hurdle to signing peace would be getting the group to agree to face justice after 50 years of war.
Colombian government and Marxist oriented guerrillas jointly announced an agreement to remove landmines and other explosives from the battlefield in a sign of progress in their two-year-old peace talks being held in Cuba.