International

Colombian State offers public apology for false positives in Bogota and Soacha

Photo: @infopresidencia

October 4 |

The act of public apology for the extrajudicial executions of which young residents of Bogota, capital of Colombia, and the municipality of Soacha, in Cundinamarca, were victims, took place this Tuesday in Bogota’s Plaza de Bolivar.

The Minister of National Defense Iván Velásquez indicated that after a meeting held in the afternoon with the mothers of the victims, each one of them referred to what happened to their children.

On behalf of the State, Velásquez appeared before the international community to apologize for the crimes that have been called false positives, true extrajudicial executions, and stressed the need for truth.

“Today, committed to truth and justice, we present ourselves before the victims, before the Colombian society, we present ourselves before the community to say sorry, this should never have happened and it cannot happen again”, he assured.

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The Minister of National Defense also emphasized that despite tonight’s public act, “we still need to know the truth of what has been happening in the country for so many decades, in order to achieve guarantees of non-repetition. Only the truth can restore to achieve the forgiveness we need”.

For his part, Colombian President Gustavo Petro acknowledged that it is not an easy journey, because it is paradoxical that after making accusations for years, in the name of the State, he has to ask for forgiveness.

In this sense, he stressed that the flow of history makes that societies are built from their own mistakes to learn to be human.

“In what is specifically human and not animal, we have learned to kill the other, for power, for greed. We have developed a history of power, profoundly more barbaric than that developed by certain animal species”, he said.

The head of state alluded to the history of genocides in the world, and acknowledged that Colombian history began with the genocides of the Spaniards, then those that were evident in the republican life of the nineteenth century and later, those that were carried out in the name of the homeland or ideas that ended up defending greed.

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In this sense, he stressed the need to retake the historical memory, to avoid that extrajudicial executions such as those of the young people whose mothers the State asked for forgiveness from happening again.

“You are the mothers of the homeland. The mothers they wanted to silence. The mothers whom greed wanted to see silenced, who were a joke, who were mocked. That is why they transformed the words, so that people would think they were crazy,” he stressed.

In this regard, the dignitary pointed out that this greed and desire for power killed those 6,402 young people, it was not the bullets, but it is an act that remains in the history of the Army.

“Here they killed to concentrate wealth, to keep the land. Here they killed to keep the oil. Here they killed to keep the cocaine profits, for greed, and they are willing to kill more,” he denounced.

The president urged to take a space for reflection, which passes first of all because the truth is known and to take up the initiatives of other peoples of the world to prevent the continuation of the killings within societies.

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“Colombians are us, a collective. We have to rebuild ourselves on the basis of the truth, that is why I thank the Special Justice for Peace that they wanted to conclude their work in such a way. We have to tell those magistrates to work more, because more and more truth is needed, without fear”, he emphasized.

In this sense, the president asked them to discover the truth, because they have the support of both the soldiers and the current government, so that life may flow after so much death in the South American country, for the sake of reconciliation.

He explained that the concept of social forgiveness, which he issued during his campaign, can help to rebuild the country, as has happened in Spain, Germany, France and even the United States.

Likewise, he indicated that the truth also needs the Prosecutor’s Office to carry out investigations in the context of the current corruption regime, as a legacy of five decades of drug trafficking that propitiated the arrival to power of criminals in Colombia who, out of greed, have become genocidal.

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International

Brazil offers to mediate Colombia-Ecuador tensions, calls for restraint

The government of Brazil has offered to mediate in the ongoing tensions between Colombia and Ecuador, while calling on both nations to exercise restraint.

In a statement released Wednesday, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the parties involved to act with moderation and seek a peaceful resolution to the dispute.

“Brazil encourages all sides to act with moderation in order to find a peaceful solution to the controversy. It stands ready to support dialogue efforts aimed at preserving peace and security in the region,” the statement said.

Brazil also expressed “serious concern” over reports of deaths in the border area between Colombia and Ecuador, noting that the circumstances surrounding the incidents have not yet been clarified.

The diplomatic move comes amid rising tensions between the neighboring countries, increasing regional concern over stability and security along their shared border.

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International

U.S. lowers travel advisory for much of Venezuela but keeps high-risk zones under warning

The U.S. Department of State announced on Thursday that it has lowered its travel advisory for much of Venezuela to Level 3 (“Reconsider Travel”), reflecting what it described as improved security conditions in parts of the country.

However, the agency will maintain the highest Level 4 warning (“Do Not Travel”) for several regions, including the states of Táchira, Amazonas, Apure, Aragua and Guárico, as well as rural areas of Bolívar, citing ongoing risks such as crime, kidnapping and terrorism.

The updated advisory marks a shift from December, when the United States raised the alert for Venezuela to Level 4 nationwide, warning of severe security threats.

Despite the partial downgrade, U.S. authorities continue to urge caution, emphasizing that conditions remain volatile in certain areas and that travelers should carefully assess risks before planning any trips to the country.

International

EU lawmakers move to ban AI tools that generate non-consensual nude images

Members of the European Parliament are pushing to ban across the bloc artificial intelligence services that allow users to digitally “undress” people without their consent.

The proposal, adopted on Wednesday at committee level, aims to prohibit applications that generate non-consensual explicit images. Irish lawmaker Michael McNamara, one of the sponsors, said the measure seeks to stop tools that “have caused significant harm for the benefit of a few.”

Dutch MEP Kim van Sparrentak welcomed the move, calling it “a major victory, especially for women and children in Europe.”

The amendment, part of broader EU legislation on artificial intelligence, was approved by the Parliament’s civil liberties and internal market committees. It specifically targets systems that use AI to create or manipulate sexually explicit or intimate images resembling identifiable individuals without their consent.

The proposal will be put to a full vote in the European Parliament on March 26. If adopted, lawmakers and European Union member states will need to agree on a final version before it can take effect.

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Separately, representatives of the 27 EU countries recently backed a Franco-Spanish amendment seeking to ban AI services used to generate non-consensual sexual images or child sexual abuse material.

The initiative follows controversy surrounding a feature introduced in Grok, developed by xAI, which allowed users to create simulated nude images from real photos. The tool sparked widespread criticism and prompted an EU investigation.

In response, xAI restricted image generation features in mid-January to paying subscribers and stated it blocks the creation of sexualized images in jurisdictions where such content is illegal.