Colombia protests Ecuador's unilateral deportation of prisoners
In a statement, Colombia's foreign ministry said the Ecuadoran government had 'unilaterally' initiated a 'deportation process' for Colombian nationals, disregarding 'respectful and repeated' requests to first establish a formal protocol.
'Colombia, using diplomatic channels, has expressed its strongest protest to the Government of Ecuador for this unfriendly gesture toward our country,' the statement added.
The ministry did not specify how many prisoners were sent back to Colombia, but denounced that under such conditions, their dignified treatment and the 'protection of their rights' could not be guaranteed.
Earlier this week, local media reported that Ecuador planned to expel around 800 Colombians.
Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa announced in 2024 his intention to deport Colombian inmates to ease overcrowding in the country's prisons. In April, small groups began being transferred to the border.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro opposed the move, saying that a joint plan was needed to safeguard the prisoners' rights.
The mayor of the border town of Ipiales, Amilcar Pantoja, told the media on Friday that prisoners without pending legal cases in Colombia would be released.
Drug trafficking gangs operating in Ecuador – some involving Colombian criminals – have turned the country into one of the most violent in Latin America.
The homicide rate has jumped from six per 100,000 people in 2018 to 38 in 2024, among the highest in the region.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
21 minutes ago
- Arab News
Pakistan to start deporting Afghan Proof of Registration card holders from Sept. 1
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will start deporting around 1.4 million Afghan Proof of Registration (PoR) card holders from September 1, the Pakistani interior ministry said on Monday, as Islamabad gave a fresh call for Afghan nationals to leave the country. Millions of Afghans have poured into Pakistan over the past several decades, fleeing successive wars, as well as hundreds of thousands who arrived after the return of the Taliban government in 2021. A deportation drive first launched in 2023 was renewed in April when Pakistan's government rescinded hundreds of thousands of residence permits for Afghans, threatening to arrest anyone who did not leave. Islamabad this year said it wanted 3 million Afghans to leave the country, including 1.4 million people with PoR cards and some 800,000 with Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC). 'Afghan nationals holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards shall be repatriated to Afghanistan as part of the ongoing implementation of the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP),' the interior ministry said in a notification issued on Monday. 'It has been decided that the voluntary return of PoR card holders shall commence forthwith, while the formal repatriation and deportation process will take effect from 1st September 2025.' More than a million Afghans have left Pakistan since the expulsion drive first began in 2023, according to data from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Pakistan previously said those with PoR cards could stay until June 30, while the government has deported thousands of ACC holders. 'The repatriation of illegal foreign nationals, including Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders, will continue as per the earlier decision under the IFRP,' the interior ministry added. In 2023, Islamabad said many of these Afghan refugees were found involved in militancy and crimes. Analysts say the expulsions are designed to pressure neighboring Afghanistan's Taliban authorities to control militancy in the border regions. Pakistan's security forces are under enormous pressure along the border with Afghanistan, battling a growing insurgency by ethnic nationalists in Balochistan in the southwest and the Pakistani Taliban and its affiliates in the northwest. Last year, Pakistan recorded the highest number of deaths from attacks in a decade and the government frequently accused Afghan nationals of taking part in assaults. Qaiser Khan Afridi, a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, this week urged Islamabad to adopt a 'humane approach to ensure voluntary, gradual, and dignified return of Afghans' and praised Pakistan for hosting millions of Afghan refugees for more than 40 years, the AP news agency reported. 'We call on the government to halt the forcible return and ensure a gradual, voluntary and dignified repatriation process,' Afridi said. 'Such massive and hasty return could jeopardize the lives and freedom of Afghan refugees, while also risking instability not only in Afghanistan but across the region.'
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Rwanda says will ‘accept up to 250 migrants' from US
Rwanda will accept up to 250 migrants from the United States, the government said on Tuesday, without giving details of who could be included in the deal. Washington has been pushing a deportation drive, with President Donald Trump's administration negotiating controversial arrangements to send people to third countries, among them South Sudan and Eswatini. It follows a cancelled agreement with Britain, under which Kigali would have received deported illegal migrants from the UK, after the British administration that negotiated the deal lost the 2024 national election. 'Rwanda has agreed with the United States to accept up to 250 migrants,' government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told AFP. She said Kigali would maintain 'the ability to approve each individual proposed for resettlement.' No further information was given, including any indication of timelines, with Makolo saying that Rwanda 'will provide more details once these have been worked out.'
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
Opposition party stages rallies in Pakistan's northwest to demand ex-PM Khan's release
PESHAWAR: Supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party held coordinated rallies across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Tuesday to demand the release of jailed ex-premier Imran Khan but were unable to convene in the capital and other key regions due to arrests of supporters and restrictions on public gatherings. The rallies mark the second anniversary of Khan's arrest and come amid a 90-day 'do or die' protest campaign the party launched in mid-July. The PTI leadership has pledged peaceful but sustained mobilization against what it calls politically motivated cases against Khan and other party leaders. Ahead of Tuesday's rallies, at least 120 PTI supporters and leaders were arrested in raids overnight, security officials confirmed to Reuters. Most of the detentions, made on Monday night and early on Tuesday, were in the eastern city of Lahore where the PTI had vowed its biggest demonstration, as well as protests elsewhere. At least 200 activists had been arrested from Lahore, said party spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari, adding that the protest would go ahead. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province the PTI has ruled since 2018, saw widespread mobilization on Tuesday despite a ban on public gatherings under Section 144 imposed in the federal capital and other regions. The main rally in the provincial capital, Peshawar, was led by KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, while district-level convoys converged at interchanges and city centers across the province. 'This protest is being held to raise a voice against the illegal arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan and to demand his immediate release,' said a statement by the PTI's chapter in North Waziristan, a main district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 'Imran Khan is the hope and voice of the people of Pakistan and is being targeted for political revenge,' party speakers said at a rally in North Waziristan's main town of Miranshah, adding that 'all false and baseless cases must be immediately dismissed.' Rallies were reported in Swabi, Charsadda, Mardan, Nowshera, Mohmand, Battagram, Abbottabad, Upper Chitral, Shangla, Upper Dir, Mansehra and Kurram, among other areas. 'The Freedom Movement rally will also be held in other districts, with a large number of workers participating,' PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa social media head Ikram Khattana said in a statement shared with media. 'The rally departing from Swabi, Charsadda and Mardan will conclude at Ambar Interchange, Swabi … The rally departing from Chakdara Toll Plaza at 4pm will be led by MPAs Junaid Akbar and Fazal Hakim,' Khattana added. In Upper Chitral, a major rally was led by Deputy Speaker of the KP Assembly Surayya Bibi and PTI District President Shehzada Sikandarul Mulk. Party representatives said cabinet members, tehsil chairpersons, women's wing leaders and VC chairmen participated as the caravan moved toward Charon Bridge. In district Kurram, PTI described the rally as 'historic,' and said it was held in defiance of 'difficult conditions' for political activism in the area. 'The people of Kurram have proven that they stand with Imran Khan,' the party's district unit said. The protests follow a national call to action by PTI, which announced in July it would stage 'do or die' demonstrations every week for 90 days to demand Khan's release. The party's leadership claims he is facing over 170 cases, including charges of corruption, sedition and terrorism, which they allege are part of a military-backed crackdown to keep him out of politics. The government and army deny the charges of political persecution. The PTI ruled Pakistan from 2018 until 2022, when Khan was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote. He was arrested in May 2023 and again in August 2023, and is currently imprisoned at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where he is serving sentences in multiple cases. He has also been disqualified from holding public office by Pakistan's election commission. Security was tight in the capital and in parts of Punjab on Monday and Tuesday, with the government imposing Section 144 to prevent large gatherings. In Rawalpindi and Islamabad, authorities preemptively detained dozens of PTI activists, according to local media reports. However, there were no major reports of violence from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the PTI remains in government. Khan's party had always created 'chaos,' Uzma Bukhari, a spokesperson of the provincial government, told a press conference on Monday. 'No political party can be barred from politics in Pakistan, but a terrorist organization disguised as a political party is not allowed to disrupt Pakistan's peace.'
