International
The Government of Colombia denies having given money to the ELN through corrupt contracts
The Colombian Government rejected on Wednesday the accusations of the former director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) Olmedo López, who assured in statements to Justice that the guerrilla National Liberation Army (ELN) received money from the State through contracts of this entity, immersed in a corruption scandal.
This was stated by the delegation of the Government that negotiates peace with the ELN in a statement in which he pointed out that “as we have reiterated in all circumstances, the demand on the ELN to suspend the practice of kidnapping for economic reasons that the National Government has formulated has never been subject to any offer of consideration or economic benefits.”
The negotiators emphasize that “all the actions in progress of the peace process with the ELN have strictly adhered to the principle of legality that means respect for the Constitution and the laws in force.”
In a statement he gave last month to investigators of the Supreme Court of Justice, revealed last Tuesday by Noticias Caracol, López, who is being investigated for several cases of corruption during his management in the UNGRD, said: “This is a network that includes from ministers to contractors, but in the middle there are other officials (…) and it touches an actor who has a very strong military capacity.”
“The name that says that role that I showed the Prosecutor’s Office and that reads in the summary of my statement (…) is the ELN and its great influence in the department of Arauca (border with Venezuela),” López added.
The former director of the UNGRD recalled that last December, in the fifth cycle of the peace negotiation held in Mexico City, the Government and the ELN agreed that this armed group would cease kidnappings for economic purposes.
However, last May, when the corruption scandal had already broken out and López was no longer director of the Unit, the guerrillas “ended” the suspension of kidnappings for economic purposes, considering that the Executive has failed to comply with the creation of a “multi-donor fund for the peace process.”
In that direction, López assured the investigators: “they issued a statement a few months ago: ‘we return to the kidnappings because they have not guaranteed the maintenance of the men’ (…) and how were they going to guarantee it? With contracts.”
After this, the former official pointed out that a UNGRD contract was delivered to the representative of the Chamber Karen Manrique, of the department of Arauca, an area “of a high guerrilla influence of the ELN.”
In their statement, the Government’s peace negotiators recalled that all the issues that are negotiated with the ELN are framed in the legality and that, in addition, there is “permanent observation of the international community” as are the guarantor and accompanying countries, the UN and the Catholic Church.
“The contents of each of the sessions of the Dialogue Table, the working commissions and the meetings of the heads of the delegations, are duly recorded in the working minutes signed by both delegations and the representatives of the international community,” the document emphasizes.
For his part, the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, said on social networks that in the peace negotiations with the ELN “they have only achieved a first point of political commitment, any funding with the ELN, as happened with the FARC, would take place in the final phase with the definitive demobilization of violence and would never be given through public procurement.”
The president assured that “Olmedo’s falsehood is that he desperately needs to denounce to lower his sentence, without returning the stolen money.”
International
Meta Says Russia Seeks to Ban WhatsApp for Defending Secure Communication
U.S. tech giant Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, said that Russia is seeking to ban the messaging app because it “challenges government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication.”
Russian authorities have encouraged citizens to switch to state-backed applications, and in August they already blocked WhatsApp’s calling feature.
On Friday, the communications regulator Roskomnadzor claimed that the platform was being used to “organize and carry out terrorist acts in the country, recruit perpetrators, and facilitate fraud and other crimes.”
“If the messaging service does not comply with Russian law, it will be completely blocked,” the regulator warned.
WhatsApp remains one of Russia’s most widely used messaging services, alongside Telegram.
Moscow is pressuring both platforms to grant authorities access to user data upon request for investigations into fraud and activities the government labels as “terrorist.”
Human rights advocates fear the demand could be used to target critics of the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin, or the war in Ukraine.
International
Archbishop Wenski criticizes Trump’s deportation policies, calls for stronger push for reform
The Archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, has called for increased pressure on the U.S. Congress to advance comprehensive immigration reform and criticized President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies, arguing that they “do nothing to help.”
“We need to apply more pressure on Congress so lawmakers can make the necessary changes. It is also important for the Administration to listen to our voice. We do not want to be anyone’s enemy—we are Americans,” Wenski said in an interview with EFE.
The religious leader, who heads one of the dioceses with the largest Latino and Haitian populations in the United States, issued a call to defend the rights of migrants. He also emphasized that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has maintained a strong and public stance in favor of migrants for decades.
International
Trump relaunches diplomatic push to finalize U.S.-Backed peace plan for Ukraine War
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his diplomatic team will resume meetings with delegations from Russia and Ukraine in an effort to pressure both sides to accept the peace plan proposed by Washington to end the war in Ukraine.
As part of this new round of talks, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will hold discussions with Ukrainian representatives to narrow differences on the remaining points of the agreement.
Trump also confirmed his intention to meet personally with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and with Putin, though he emphasized that such meetings will only take place “when the agreement is fully finalized or in its final stage.”
The president claimed that his administration has made “tremendous progress” toward resolving the conflict and reiterated that the war “never would have started” if he had been in the White House at the onset of the crisis.
The U.S.-backed peace plan consists of 28 points and has been revised following feedback from both sides. According to Trump, only “a few points of disagreement” remain under active discussion.
One of the most controversial aspects of the proposal is the suggestion that Ukraine cede parts of the Donbas region to Russia and limit the size of its armed forces. Kyiv is working closely with Washington to soften these clauses in search of an arrangement that does not compromise its sovereignty or security.
With this diplomatic push, Trump aims to solidify his role as the main mediator in the conflict and steer the war toward a political resolution after years of devastation, humanitarian crisis, and rising global geopolitical tensions.
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