Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — For weeks, representatives of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his would-be successor, opposition leader Juan Guaidó, have been shuttling back and forth to Barbados trying to agree on a common path out of the country’s prolonged political standoff.

The meetings have been slow-going and shrouded in mystery, with neither side disclosing details. But now Maduro’s supporters are accusing the U.S. of trying to blow up the fragile process.

27 July 2019; DW: Across Colombia, protesters carried photos of murdered activists and signs reading: "No more bloodshed." Over 400 people have been killed in an alarming wave of violence since the 2016 peace deal was signed.

Thousands of people took to the streets across Colombia on Friday night to urge for an end to the killings of hundreds of human rights activists and social leaders by armed groups in the wake of the country's 2016 peace deal.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — María Victoria Guarín was a key adviser on Colombia’s biggest-ever transportation project: a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) highway across mountainous terrain connecting the capital to busy Caribbean ports.

As an investment officer for a World Bank unit, it was her job to help the government set the terms for competitive bidding by contractors. It turns out she was also married to a senior executive of a company that won part of the very contract she helped to oversee.

MEDELLIN, June 29. /TASS/: The Organization of American States (OAS) supports restoring democracy in Venezuela by peaceful means and calls for holding presidential elections in the Bolivarian Republic, according to the declaration adopted on Friday at the session of the OAS General Assembly.

"We support peaceful restoration of democracy in Venezuela by Venezuelan people through constitutional means. We call for holding free, honest, transparent and legitimate presidential elections in the nearest future," the declaration said.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — U.S. investigators have received permission from Ecuador to question a Swedish programmer close to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who has been held in jail for more than two months on suspicion of hacking, The Associated Press has learned.

The interview with Ola Bini is set for June 27, according to an Ecuadorian prosecutor’s order provided to AP by someone closely following the case.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Major European nations are considering imposing sanctions on Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and several top officials for their recent crackdown on political opponents, although divisions remain over the timing of any action for fear of derailing a negotiated exit to the country’s crisis, The Associated Press has learned.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Sweden is hosting talks between major global powers with stakes in dealing with Venezuela’s political turmoil, the latest effort to jumpstart flagging attempts to find a peaceful solution to the country’s crisis.

A European diplomat said Thursday that representatives of Russia, the United Nations, the Vatican, Cuba and the European Union were attending the Stockholm meeting. An American official with knowledge of the discussions said the U.S. was invited but decided against participating.

BOGOTA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Colombia's state oil company Ecopetrol said Saturday that the Transandino Pipeline (OTA) has been bombed.

It has been the seventh attack against OTA so far this year. The attack happened in a village in Colombia's southern province of Narino.

The oil firm said on its Twitter account it activated a contingency plan following Friday's attack. "The attack resulted in a ruptured pipe and an oil spill," it said.

BOGOTA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- An explosive attack that left a soldier dead on Saturday was attributed to the guerrilla group National Liberation Army (ELN), said the Colombian military.

The attack using explosives killed the 39-year-old Colombian soldier Carlos Urena in the northwestern province of Antioquia, the Colombian Seventh Military Brigade said.

Via his Twitter account, the brigade commander Juan Carlos Ramirez confirmed Urena's death following the attack allegedly carried out by the Taraza group which belongs to the ELN.

9 Apr 2019; DW: Colombian authorities are investigating an alleged militant plan to target President Ivan Duque during a scheduled meeting with indigenous communities on Tuesday.

"We have reliable information that ... some armed organized groups, which have infiltrated this social and indigenous movement, would like to carry out a terrorist act that could affect the safety of the president himself," Attorney General Nestor Martinez said.