All articles tagged with #farc
Former Venezuelan general Hugo Carvajal pleaded guilty to charges including narco-terrorism, drug importation, and weapons offenses, for his role in partnering with the FARC to flood the U.S. with cocaine and support terrorist activities, with sentencing scheduled for October 2025.
A series of bomb and gun attacks in southwestern Colombia, including Cali, have resulted in at least seven deaths and numerous injuries, with some links to FARC factions, amid escalating violence and recent political tensions.
A wave of "suspicious deaths" of U.S. citizens in Medellín, Colombia has raised concerns about safety for tourists, with at least eight Americans killed in November and December. The resurgence of kidnappings in Colombia, once infamous for its kidnapping industry, has been attributed to armed criminal groups seeking to extort protection "taxes" and instill fear in the community. The case of Tou Ger Xiong, a well-known Hmong comedian and activist, who was kidnapped, tortured, and killed, highlights the dangers faced by tourists in the country. The U.S. Embassy in Bogotá has warned about criminals using dating apps to lure victims, and while Medellín is considered a safe city, the increase in tourism has led to a rise in certain criminal activities.
Four children who survived 40 days in the Colombian jungle after their plane crashed were fleeing for their lives from an armed group that forcibly recruited children by threatening violence. The children's escape plane crashed, killing their mother and two other adults and sending the quartet on a traumatic weekslong survival journey in the Amazon jungle. The rescue of the children has provided a rare moment of unified celebration in a deeply divided nation, with broad swaths of society, from left to right, praising the work of the search team.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has suspended a ceasefire with the dissident Farc rebel group EMC-Farc in the four regions where it is most active, following the killing of four indigenous teenagers by the group. The EMC-Farc is a splinter group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) and is made up of left-wing rebels who refused to lay down their arms when the Farc leadership signed a peace deal in 2016. Indigenous groups have borne the brunt of Colombia's armed conflict, with many of their children abducted or lured away to fight for armed groups.
A semi-submersible submarine carrying $87m worth of cocaine, along with two dead bodies and two surviving crew members, was intercepted off the coast of Colombia. The 2,643 kilograms of cocaine inside the sub was bound for Central America. The Colombian Navy will continue deploying all its capabilities to counter the scourge of drug trafficking structures that commit crimes in the Colombian Pacific.