Free Trade

U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement goes into effect

South Florida is expected to be a big beneficiary of increased trade between the two countries

Colombia bar at center of Secret Service sex scandal has a Miami branch

If you want to taste the ambience of Tu Candela, the bar in Cartagena where the alleged encounter between a young Colombian woman and an American man unleashed the Secret Service prostitution scandal, you don’t have to go very far.

Colombia

Colombian rebels suggest French journalist’s release may be in works

A new video of a Colombian rebel commander suggests the group may be seeking to release a French journalist who was captured last month.

Colombia

Magazine spread may be in the cards for woman at the center of Colombia sex scandal

Rumors are spreading in Cartagena that Dania Suárez may be trying to sell the exclusive story about her encounter with the Secret Service

Colombia

Hunt for French journalist who may have fallen into Colombian rebel hands continues

Colombian authorities say they are still searching for the missing journalist who disappeared after being wounded in an ambush Saturday

SECRET SERVICE SCANDAL | COLOMBIA

Dance club encounter set the stage for Secret Service scandal in Colombia

The still-unfolding prostitution scandal that has snared 12 U.S. Secret Service agents began after two couples headed home after a night at a popular Cartagena club.

Secret Service scandal

Secret Service sexcapade has also embarrassed Colombians

Colombia, fighting to shed its reputation as a drug-trafficking and criminal hub, fears the public relations fallout from the burgeoning scandal.

In My Opinion

Cartagena summit should not reject “democratic clause”

When I asked Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos about the ongoing U.S.-Latin American spat over Cuba’s absence in the 33-country Summit of the Americas that he will host in Cartagena this weekend, he gave an answer that many civil rights advocates find troublesome.

DRUG WAR

Coast Guard discloses nearly two-ton Caribbean coke bust

Coast Guard says it seized $43 million worth of cocaine off a speedboat in the Caribbean, calling it a major accomplishment in the region’s Operation Martillo drug enforcement effort.

Security

Fashionable bullet-proof wear finds growth abroad

Miguel Caballero started making bullet-proof clothing in Colombia 19 years ago. Latin America’s surging crime wave is creating new markets.

Colombia Mining

Where the gold is green, and so are the profits

For generations, Afro-Colombians have practiced environmentally friendly gold mining. Nowadays, it’s paying off big-time.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Tensions linger between Colombia and Ecuador

Ecuador today will begin imposing stiff tariffs on hundreds of Colombian imports, the latest round in a festering dispute between the neighbors.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Ecuadoran town a hub for drug-running rebels, Colombia says

Authorities in neighboring Colombia contend that the Ecuadorean border town of Puerto Nuevo is the thriving nerve center for an elite Colombian rebel unit that helps keep a 44-year-old insurgency alive by trafficking cocaine through Ecuador's ports.

KCJA

Colombian blogs use acid humor to reflect polarization

Whether they criticize President Uribe or his opponents, bloggers from Bogotá and other cities employ irreverent humor—borrowing from the British and Argentine traditions—to illustrate Colombia's political tensions. “Behind the liberty that their pseudonyms give them, (the bloggers) loosen the reins of their political passions," the weekly magazine Semana says.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

A key to Colombia peace: Reintegrating ex-fighters

Programs that help former FARC rebels and paramilitary troops reenter society is seen as crucial to the nation's long-term peace. The U.S. is on board, checkbook in hand.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

Colombian drugs behind Guinea-Bissau murders?

The murder of the president and the Army chief on Monday raises questions about the nature of the instability in the African nation.

EFE

Mexican student visited other FARC camps (Spanish)

El ex director de Inteligencia del Ejército ecuatoriano Mario Pazmiño confirmó hoy a Efe que informes y fotografías que señalaban la presencia de la estudiante mexicana Lucía Morett en varios campamentos de las FARC el año pasado están documentados en la Dirección de Inteligencia Militar.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Colombia is asked to probe slayings of Indians in Narino state

Human rights groups Tuesday called on the Colombian government to investigate the disappearance and slayings of members of an indigenous community in southwestern Colombia.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Shine is off FARC rebel army

Colombian military officials say the 20% increase in FARC desertions last year from the 2007 level is compelling evidence of their increasing battlefield dominance over the FARC, which the military has been fighting for more than 40 years.