International
Four dead, hundreds hurt as stands collapse in Colombia bullring
AFP
A toddler was among four people killed when the grandstand at a bullring in Colombia collapsed, injuring hundreds of others, officials said Monday.
One person died at the scene and three died in hospital, according to Juan Carlos Tamayo, the mayor of El Espinal, the central city where the collapse happened on Sunday.
The fatalities included a toddler of 14 months, Tamayo said.
Martha Palacios, health secretary in the department of Tolima, said 322 people were treated at various hospitals, of whom four were in intensive care.
People were taking part in a so-called “corraleja” — where members of the public face off with small bulls — when a three-story section of wooden stands holding spectators collapsed.
Attendees were hurled from their seats into the arena, where at least one bull was running around, according to drone images.
The event, on a holiday weekend, was part of celebrations for the festival of San Pedro, the most popular in the region.
“Our bullring is made up of 44 stands of which eight fell, each with 100 people,” said Tamayo.
– ‘Very difficult’ –
“I saw people amid the rubble, others trying to get out, very difficult,” Samuel Galindo, a neighbor who recorded the tragedy with a drone, told the AFP.
President Ivan Duque said on Twitter he would order an investigation, and expressed his solidarity with the victims and their next of kin.
The governor of Tolima department, Jose Ricardo Orozco, said the regional government would move to ban the corralejas, saying they were dangerous and promoted animal abuse.
On Saturday, several people were injured in at the corralejas in El Espinal, a city of some 78,000 people about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the capital Bogota.
Another person died earlier this month after being gored by a bull during a corraleja in the town of Repelon.
President-Elect Gustavo Petro, who will take office on August 7, joined Orozco in calling for the amateur bullfights to be banned.
When he served as mayor of Bogota, leftist Petro put a stop to bullfights in the city’s signature bullring, La Santamaria.
“I ask the mayors not to authorize any more events with the death of people or animals,” he said on Twitter Sunday, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.
While animal abuse is a crime in Colombia, bullfights and cock fights are protected as a cultural inheritance.
International
María Corina Machado: “Venezuela is closer than ever to regaining freedom”
Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado declared on Friday that Venezuela is facing “the most decisive moment in its contemporary history” and that the country is “closer than ever to regaining freedom and democracy.”
Her remarks were delivered via video message during the 81st General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Machado emphasized that the situation in Venezuela remains “extremely serious” due to censorship and repression imposed by Nicolás Maduro’s regime, particularly in a global context where “society is built on information.”
She warned that authoritarian governments manipulate public opinion through “psychological warfare” and disinformation, while shutting down media outlets and persecuting journalists.
“The only way to topple these regimes is through the constant, relentless, and unrestricted preaching of the truth. It is absolutely true that the truth will set us free,” she stated.
International
Millions to join “No Kings” march in U.S. amid Trump’s growing authoritarian backlash
Millions of Americans are set to take to the streets this Saturday in more than 2,500 cities across the United States for the second edition of the “No Kings” march, a massive protest organized by progressive groups and activists against what they describe as the authoritarian direction of President Donald Trump’s second administration.
The demonstration, expected to be the largest since Trump’s return to power, comes amid a federal government shutdown, further heightening political tensions in Washington.
From the White House, press secretary Abigail Jackson dismissed the event with a brief “Who cares?”, while senior Republican leaders labeled the march as an act of “hate against America.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson accused Democrats of blocking negotiations to reopen the government and claimed they were “unable to stand up to their raging base.” He also linked the protests to “supporters of Hamas and the Antifa terrorist group.”
President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News, blamed Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer for the legislative deadlock.
“He’s got nothing else left to do. Everyone’s hitting him hard,” Trump said.
The organizers — a coalition of Democratic leaders and more than 200 civil society and labor groups — argue that the Republican refusal to reopen the government is a clear symptom of the authoritarianism they seek to denounce.
The main rally will take place in Washington, D.C., which has been under heightened National Guard surveillance for weeks, officially to control rising crime. However, organizers contend the deployment is aimed at intimidating and silencing dissent.
Protesters have been urged to wear yellow, a reference to the 2019 pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
“With this color, we align ourselves with a historical context and remind the world that power must come from the people, not from crowns,” organizers stated on their website.
In addition to the capital, large marches are scheduled in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, and Honolulu, as well as abroad in London, Paris, Frankfurt, and several Spanish cities — Madrid (Puerta del Sol), Barcelona (Plaça Sant Jaume), Seville (Plaza Nueva), and Málaga (Plaza de la Marina).
During the first edition, held in June, the movement gathered around five million people, a figure organizers expect to surpass this weekend.
International
Petro expresses concern over fatal shooting during mass protests in Lima
Colombian President Gustavo Petro voiced his “concern” on Thursday over recent events in Peru, following the death of a protester reportedly shot during a massive demonstration in Lima against the government and Congress.
“I must express my concern over the events in Peru. A young artist has been killed in citizens’ protests,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The Colombian leader also noted that in Peru, “a popularly elected president remains imprisoned without conviction,” referring to Pedro Castillo, who led the country from July 2021 to December 2022 until he was removed by Congress following a failed attempted coup.
“This is a blatant violation of the American Convention on Human Rights,” Petro stated, adding, “I hope Peru seeks social and political dialogue to legitimize its public institutions.”
On Wednesday, Peru experienced widespread protests in several cities, with the largest demonstration in Lima in recent years, driven by citizens’ concerns over corruption and public insecurity.
During the capital’s mobilization, the Ombudsman’s Office confirmed the death of Eduardo Ruiz, 32, and reported clashes that left over 100 injured, including 78 police officers and 24 protesters, as well as ten arrests.
The Attorney General’s Office, investigating Ruiz’s death “in the context of serious human rights violations,” confirmed that the protester was shot.
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