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Thousands of US-bound migrants stranded in Colombia
AFP
Thousands of migrants are stranded in a Colombian port town as they wait for boats to cross into neighboring Panama on their way to the United States, a state relief agency said.
The Gulf of Uraba, on Colombia’s northern coast, is one of the main transit points for refugees from nearby Latin American nations as well as Africa, and Asia, trying to cross into Panama through a jungle corridor known as the Darien Gap.
The United States is usually their final destination.
But the number of migrants arriving in the municipality of Necocli has swelled in recent weeks and a local shipping company that transports people across the gulf into Panama’s southern jungle is unable to keep up, the municipal disaster management agency said Tuesday.
In the absence of land crossings to the border, “the company takes around 700 to 750 (migrants) but at night 1,000, 1,100, 1,200 more arrive,” head of the disaster management unit, Cesar Zuniga, told AFP.
He added that more than 10,000 migrants had now accumulated in the municipality of 45,000 people.
Dozens of migrants, including pregnant women and children, can be seen crowded on the beach waiting for a spot on a boat in images shared by local authorities.
Zuniga said many of them were living in local hotels or rented rooms.
In January, hundreds of migrants living in makeshift tents on the beach were trapped in Necocli due to strict border closures meant to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
“This time it is different,” said Zuniga. “There is no forced border closure, the build-up is due to the operational and logistical inability of the transport company,” Zuniga said.
In May, Colombia reopened its land, river, and sea borders with Panama, Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil, after closing them for more than a year due to the pandemic.
Earlier in July, it also reopened borders with Venezuela.
A United Nations report in June showed global displacement figures swelled to around three million in 2020 after an already record-breaking year in 2019, with the majority of refugees hosted in countries neighboring crisis areas.
Colombia hosts the world’s second-largest refugee population with 1.7 million displaced people living in the country, the UN said in the report.
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Eight Killed in Series of Armed Attacks in Ecuador’s Manabí Province
At least eight people were killed in four separate armed attacks reported Sunday night in the cities of Manta and Montecristi, in Ecuador’s coastal province of Manabí, one of the areas hardest hit by the country’s escalating wave of criminal violence, local media reported on Monday.
The shootings occurred between 7:50 p.m. and 10:50 p.m. local time and affected several neighborhoods, as well as a family gathering, according to press reports. Police are investigating the incidents.
The first attack took place in the Los Artesanos sector of Montecristi, where a couple was shot dead in a public street.
Minutes later, in Manta’s 12 de Octubre neighborhood, a man was killed while sitting down. Police arrested a suspect at the scene and seized a 9mm magazine, authorities said.
A third incident occurred in the Bellavista area of Manta, when an armed assailant entered a home and shot a man during a family celebration. The attacker was captured by neighbors and sustained injuries.
The deadliest attack was reported at 10:50 p.m. in the Leonidas Proaño parish of Montecristi, where gunmen opened fire from two vehicles on a group of people, leaving four dead and five wounded.
According to Jaime Salgado, acting chief of the Manta Police District, officers recovered seven 7.62mm shell casings, consistent with rifle ammunition, and 14 .40-caliber casings at the scene.
With these killings, the Manta police district, a port and tourist area on Ecuador’s Pacific coast, has recorded 51 violent deaths so far in January 2026, according to official figures.
The attacks occurred amid a state of emergency declared by the government in December due to serious internal unrest in Manabí, where military operations have been intensified this month, particularly in high-conflict zones.
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El Salvador Launches Fourth Year of Ocean Mission to Protect Marine Ecosystems
El Salvador’s Ministry of Environment has launched the fourth consecutive year of “Ocean Mission,” a permanent strategy focused on the protection, restoration, and responsible management of marine ecosystems, linking conservation efforts from inland mountain ranges to the coastline.
During an event held at the Los Cóbanos Protected Natural Area, Environment Minister Fernando López highlighted the ecological, social, and economic value of the site, which is recognized as the country’s eighth wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
“We are in one of the most valuable natural treasures of our country, not only because of its beauty, but also due to the enormous ecological, social, and economic importance that Los Cóbanos holds for El Salvador,” López said.
The minister emphasized that this volcanic-origin ecosystem is home to coral reefs and key coastal-marine systems that serve as refuge, breeding, and feeding grounds for emblematic species such as sea turtles, cetaceans, and a wide diversity of fish.
“Protecting Los Cóbanos means protecting biodiversity, community livelihoods, the local economy, and our natural heritage,” López stated.
He also stressed that Ocean Mission goes beyond rhetoric, focusing instead on direct action framed within the National Environmental Education Policy. “We are not here to talk about environmental education; we are here to practice it,” he said, underscoring the guiding principle of moving from paper to action.
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Convicted gang member challenges Guatemala’s anti-gang law, citing Human Rights Violations
A member of a criminal gang currently facing sentencing for the crime of extortion has filed a constitutional appeal before Guatemala’s Constitutional Court against the recently approved and enacted Anti-Gang Law.
The appeal, submitted by Dylan Smaily Archila García, argues that the new legislation violates his fundamental human rights and claims there were procedural irregularities during its approval process, according to local Guatemalan media.
Archila García filed the motion just hours after the law took effect. The new legislation, passed by Guatemala’s Congress, increases penalties for crimes linked to gang activity and authorizes the construction of a mega-prison, modeled after El Salvador’s Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT).
Local outlets reported that in his petition, Archila García contends that the approval of the law did not comply with constitutional requirements and requests that the Court issue a ruling to annul the legislation, effectively halting its enforcement.
The appeal further claims that the Anti-Gang Law infringes on due process rights, as it allegedly fails to guarantee a fair criminal trial in which defendants can prove their innocence, undermining legal certainty and judicial security.
Through this legal action, the petitioner seeks to have the law suspended and ultimately struck down by the Constitutional Court, preventing it from being debated again in Congress.
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