International
Colombia strikes ceasefire deal with main armed groups
| By AFP |
Colombia’s government has agreed to a six-month ceasefire with the five largest armed groups operating in the country, President Gustavo Petro announced on New Year’s Eve.
The truce was the main objective of Petro’s “total peace” policy, which aims to end the armed conflict that has persisted in the country even after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) dissolved in 2017.
The armed groups still operating in Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producer, are locked in deadly disputes over drug trafficking revenues and other illegal businesses, according to the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz), an independent think tank.
“We have agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with the ELN, the Second Marquetalia, the Central General Staff, the AGC and the Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada from January 1 to June 30, 2023, extendable depending on progress in the negotiations,” Petro tweeted.
He said there would be a national and international verification mechanism for monitoring progress under what he called the “bold” accord.
Peace talks had been suspended under the government of Ivan Duque (2018-2022), but after Petro came to power on August 7, leading the country’s first leftist government, he resumed negotiations in November.
Up to now the efforts to negotiate with Colombia’s various armed groups — with their combined total of more than 10,000 fighters — have failed to end a spiral of violence engulfing the country. Indepaz recorded nearly 100 massacres last year.
50 years of conflict
The National Liberation Army (ELN), the last recognized insurgency in the country, has been negotiating with the government since November.
On December 19 it announced a unilateral ceasefire to run until January 2. The government then called on other groups to join the truce.
The Segunda Marquetalia and Central General Staff — splinter factions of FARC that broke from the 2016 peace pact — have held separate exploratory talks with the government.
AGC, the country’s largest drug gang, is made up of remnants of extreme right-wing paramilitaries that demobilized in the early 2000s during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe.
The government is offering the groups “benevolent treatment from the judicial point of view” for the armed actors “in exchange for a surrender of assets, a dismantling of these organizations and the possibility that they stop exercising these illicit economies”, Senator Ivan Cepeda recently told AFP.
Some dissidents refused to lay down their arms alongside their FARC comrades six years ago, when the fearsome rebel army signed the deal with Bogota to end more than five decades of conflict.
Colombia has suffered more than 50 years of armed conflict between the state and various groups of left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers.
When Petro took power last August, he vowed to negotiate with all Colombian armed groups as part of his “total peace” policy.
But Uribe’s right-wing Democratic Center party dismissed the “total peace” approach as “defending crime and impunity.”
There are currently around 90 political and criminal groups operating in the country, according to Indepaz.
International
Venezuela Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 4,490 as Rescue Efforts Continue
The death toll from the powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24 has risen to 4,490, according to the latest official figures released by the government on social media.
Authorities reported that 16,740 people have been injured, while more than 19,500 residents remain in temporary shelters after the twin earthquakes devastated Caracas and the neighboring state of La Guaira.
Rescue teams from Venezuela and several foreign countries continue searching through collapsed buildings in an effort to recover victims who remain trapped beneath the rubble.
Government officials said the earthquakes damaged more than 850 buildings, with 190 structures completely collapsing.
Thousands of families who lost their homes are currently staying with relatives or friends, while more than 19,500 displaced people are living in overcrowded emergency camps set up in parks, stadiums, and public squares across La Guaira and Caracas.
International
Tensions Escalate in Middle East as U.S. Bombs Iran After Maritime Attacks
The United States launched new strikes against Iran on Wednesday, following President Donald Trump’s warning that Washington would “hit hard” against the Islamic Republic. While Trump ordered the retaliation after attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, he also said he hoped the latest wave of bombings would end soon and left the door open for renewed negotiations.
U.S. forces “have begun carrying out additional strikes against Iran to further reduce its ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” the United States Central Command said in a post on X.
Washington blamed Iran for what it described as “recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping.”
Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that explosions were heard in the port cities of Bandar Abbas, Konarak, and Chabahar.
“This is in retaliation for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will be much worse,” Trump wrote on social media alongside an image showing what appeared to be a bombing at an Iranian location.
Before ordering the strikes, the U.S. president said that the ceasefire with Iran had ended. Mediators Pakistan and Qatar called for de-escalation, while the United Nations also urged both sides to reduce tensions.
The Strait of Hormuz remains a critical flashpoint in the Middle East conflict, which began in late February after U.S. and Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran-linked attacks on at least three vessels in recent days triggered a U.S. offensive against Iranian targets on Tuesday. Tehran responded by launching attacks against Gulf countries that are allies of Washington.
International
Deadly Drug Trade Rivalry Suspected After Eight Bodies Discovered in Southern Mexico
Eight bodies were found Wednesday along a highway in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, near the border with Guatemala, in an incident authorities believe may be linked to a dispute over local drug sales.
The victims — six men and two women — were found abandoned on a road in a mountainous area of the municipality of El Bosque, according to the state prosecutor’s office in a statement published on Facebook.
Initial investigations indicate that the killings may be connected to “a dispute over retail drug sales between local criminal groups operating in the region,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Local media reports that several criminal incidents have increased in the area since the beginning of the year.
The road where the bodies were discovered is located in a mountainous region largely inhabited by Indigenous communities. Authorities have not released further details about the victims or possible suspects as the investigation continues.
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