Ecuador deports more than 800 Colombian inmates as Bogota cries foul
In 2024, Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa announced his intention to deport Colombian inmates to ease overcrowding in the country's prisons. Small groups were transferred starting in April.
But Colombian President Gustavo Petro opposed the move, saying that a joint plan was needed to safeguard the prisoners' rights.
More than 800 prisoners were deported through the Rumichaca border crossing in Carchi province, Governor Diana Pozo told reporters at the site.
The inmates, wearing orange uniforms, waited in line to reenter their home country under the watchful eye of Ecuadoran police and military personnel.
Early in the day, some in shorts and t-shirts did exercises while waiting for their turn to cross the border in the chilly Andean air, saying "We want to cross, we want to cross."
On Friday, the government in Bogota lodged a formal complaint with Quito, saying such a move without prior agreement was a violation of international law and an "unfriendly gesture."
A source in the Carchi governor's office who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said the mass deportation began on Friday, and the 870 inmates slated for expulsion represented about 60 percent of all Colombians in Ecuador's prisons.
Juan Morales, an official in the Colombian town of Ipiales, said that authorities had to scramble to handle the influx of people, because Ecuador had not informed them of the deportations.
Ecuador's foreign ministry said Saturday that Bogota was told about the plan on July 8.
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.
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ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
More than a million Afghans forced back from Iran face poverty and uncertain future
At the Islam Qala crossing, Afghanistan's western border with Iran, bus after bus unloads families clutching what little they can carry — bags of clothes, mattresses, crying children. More than 1.8 million Afghans have been forced to return this year. The majority were hosted in Iran, while about 185,500 were repatriated from Pakistan, and 5,000 from Türkiye. Many were abruptly deported, stripped of their belongings and rights, and returned to a country in the grip of economic collapse and draconian restrictions, especially for women. One of them is teacher and publisher Azita Nazhand, who has opened a secret school for girls in Kabul since returning. "We do not have official permission," she explained. "When the Taliban's Department of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice visits the school, we tell them that we are only teaching Islamic subjects and the Quran to the girls." Azita fled to Iran last year, hoping to study, work, and live freely — hopes her father, also a writer, had instilled in her and her sister. "The smile of the girls at school was a hope for me," Azita told the ABC, tears welling in her eyes. "When I left them, it was like leaving my soul and everything behind." But life in Iran brought its own cruelties. She says Afghan workers like her were treated as second class. "When we went somewhere to be employed and handed our CVs, no-one would pay attention to us," she said. "Better working conditions were specified for Iranians, while worse ones were given to Afghan labourers, which was heartbreaking." When her visa expired in May, she returned reluctantly to Kabul. "I am highly disappointed," she said quietly. According to the UN, Afghanistan has become "the world's most severe women's rights crisis". Almost 80 per cent of young women are excluded from education, work, or training. Not a single woman holds office in the Taliban's government. Over 80 decrees have stripped women of basic rights — banning them from school after grade 6, barring most jobs, and prohibiting entry to parks, gyms, and public spaces. For men too, returning has meant hardship, humiliation and loss. Darwesh Parwani sent eight of his 12 family members to Iran and Türkiye to work after he became ill and could no longer support them. They took a week-long journey on foot, crossing mountains and the desert illegally. They worked in carpentry, poultry farming and other physical labour, but said they faced severe harassment from Iranians. "My family was harassed on the way to Iran, at work, and at their home," he said. Darwesh alleges Iranian authorities would ask for money in exchange for leaving them alone. But eventually they were deported. Now that his family are back in Kabul, they're living in poverty, burning plastic and paper for cooking fuel. "We live near a mountain, with no access to water or electricity. We cannot even afford gas," he says, standing outside his modest home. "If our dignity is respected here, and if there are job opportunities for the young boys and schools for our children, it is better to stay in our country so that we do not suffer humiliation and abuse in another country." Aid agencies warn the mass returns are pushing Afghanistan closer to collapse, cutting off vital remittances and deepening poverty. Over half the population already depends on humanitarian aid, which has been slashed by funding cuts. In the camps near the border, temperatures soar over 40 degrees Celsius. Babies are changed on bare blankets, fathers queue for hours for rations, and children sleep under canvas tents or in the open. The crisis escalated after Iran's short war with Israel in June. Authorities there accused Afghans of spying for Israel and began a fierce crackdown — rounding up undocumented workers, raiding homes, and deporting thousands each day — many who have lived there for decades. Mir Mohammad Nazari, who spent 16 years in Iran, said his family was humiliated and cheated as they left. He worked in construction for years until back pain forced him into lighter work as a caretaker. When the deportations began, he was ordered to leave by July 7, but his employers withheld his wages and refused to pay what he was owed. "We were ordered to leave … [but] when we asked for our money, they made excuses in different ways" he said. Even after paying official fees for an exit permit and transport, he says officials demanded more money at every stage of the journey home. Without passports, the family had relied on temporary registration cards in Iran, but those were revoked before their expulsion. "There was no justice," he said. "They knew once we left, they could keep everything for themselves." It took them three days to leave Iran, and they have now been waiting at a Kabul camp for a week, unsure of what comes next as they hope to return to their home province of Takhar. Afghan officials have promised to build housing for returnees, but most remain crowded into camps or dependent on relatives who are struggling themselves. The UN has urged Iran to show restraint and called on donors to step up aid — warning that Afghanistan cannot absorb such a shock alone. Families stepping off buses at Islam Qala each day face daunting challenges — from securing documents, housing, healthcare, and education, to rebuilding their lives in a homeland that no longer feels like home. For Azita, the return to Kabul feels like the end of a dream. "When we left everything behind in Afghanistan, and went to Iran, we carried with us hopes and ambitions we wanted to achieve abroad," she said. "[But now], all I have is disappointment."
News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
Man slaps woman across the face at airport in shock footage
Shocking footage shows the moment an irate man strikes a woman across the face inside an airport terminal in Colombia after she refused to give up her seat so he could sit next to his wife. Claudia Segura, a human rights defence lawyer, was working on her laptop before her flight at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá on Sunday, when she was approached by Héctor Santacruz. Santacruz could be seen standing over Ms Segura allegedly telling her, 'get up or I'll get you up', before suddenly striking her across the left side of her face with his phone in his hand. Shocked passengers immediately got up to defend Ms Segura as one man pushed and shoved Santacruz away from the woman. Others could be heard yelling at Santacruz before his wife Karen de Santacruz stood up and got involved. She grabbed their belongings as Santacruz was handcuffed and escorted by an airport police officer out of the terminal. A separate video shows Ms Segura, who suffered soft tissue trauma, laying on her back while she was tended to by an airport worker, According to her lawyer, Maité Bayona, 'other factors have been diagnosed, for which appointments have been scheduled with specialists'. Bayona added that their client, who is a contractor for the Bogotá City Hall, may also require psychological therapy, 'because she is very upset as a result of this attack and the violation of her rights that she experienced last Sunday'. The lawyer confirmed a criminal complaint has been filed. Ms Segura, who is a government contractor, expressed her frustration at the handling of the incident by airport staff. She told local publication El Tiempo she was waiting to board her flight and was looking for a place to sit so that she could continue to work on her laptop. 'When I got to the waiting area, everything was completely full, and I only saw one empty chair,' she said. 'I didn't have any bags or clothes on me to indicate it was occupied, so I sat down.' Ms Segura said Santacruz's wife Karen told her that the seat was occupied but she countered by telling her that it was not occupied. She had just finished a work-related phone call when Santacruz allegedly threatened her, demanding she 'get up'. 'He hits me on the hand, knocks off my phone, and hits me hard in the face and head,' she recalled. 'The magnitude of the impact knocked my earring off.' Ms Segura said that the police took her to a local urgent care centre in the town of Engativá for a medical evaluation and that she had to share the same vehicle as her attacker. 'I am affected and very afraid,' she said. Meanwhile, Santacruz's wife Karen, who owns a design business, has since spoken out about the incident condemning the actions of her husband – before deleting her Instagram account. 'The person shown physically assaulting a woman is my husband. And you don't know how much it hurts me to say this out loud,' she said in a video apology on Wednesday. 'And it really hurts me as a woman, as a mother, as the founder of Khala, because all of this goes against what we want, what we've been working on for so many years. 'I know that when things like this happen, it's easy to point fingers, judge, and dismiss. But I also know that many of us have made mistakes at some point in our lives. 'But as the old saying goes, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. This doesn't mean it's right, because it isn't.' She went on to say she does not 'condone' or 'approve of it', and 'I won't remain silent'. 'I reject it from the bottom of my heart because I believe in dignity, in boundaries, and in respect.'
The Australian
3 days ago
- The Australian
Terrified by Trump raids, LA's undocument migrants hide at home
For over a month, Alberto has hardly dared to leave the small room he rents in someone's backyard for fear of encountering the masked police who have been rounding up immigrants in Los Angeles. "It's terrible," sighed the 60-year-old Salvadoran, who does not have a US visa. "It's a confinement I wouldn't wish upon anyone." To survive, Alberto -- AFP agreed to use a pseudonym -- relies on an organization that delivers food to him twice a week. "It helps me a lot, because if I don't have this... how will I eat?" said Alberto, who has not been to his job at a car wash for weeks. The sudden intensification of immigration enforcement activity in Los Angeles in early June saw scores of people -- mostly Latinos -- arrested at car washes, hardware stores, on farms and even in the street. Videos circulating on social media showed masked and heavily armed men pouncing on people who they claimed were hardened criminals. However, critics of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sweeps say those snatched were only trying to earn a meagre wage in jobs that many Americans don't want to do. The raids -- slammed as brutal and seemingly arbitrary -- sparked a wave of demonstrations that gripped the city for weeks, including some that spiraled into violence and vandalism. Alberto decided to hole up in his room after one such raid on a car wash in which some of his friends were arrested, and subsequently deported. Despite being pre-diabetic, he is hesitant to attend an upcoming medical appointment. His only breath of fresh air is pacing the private alley in front of his home. "I'm very stressed. I have headaches and body pain because I was used to working," he said. In 15 years in the United States, Trump's second term has turned out to be "worse than anything" for him. - 'Ghost town' - Trump's immigration offensive was a major feature of his re-election campaign, even winning the favor of some voters in liberal Los Angeles. But its ferocity, in a place that is home to hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers, has taken the city by surprise. Faced with mounting raids, migrants are limiting their movement as much as possible. In June, the use of the public transportation system -- a key network for the city's poorer residents -- dropped by 13.5 percent compared to the previous month. "As you're driving through certain neighborhoods, it looks like a ghost town sometimes," said Norma Fajardo, from the CLEAN Carwash Worker Center, a non-profit organization that supports these workers. It has joined forces with other groups to deliver hundreds of bags of food every week to those afraid to step outside. "There is a huge need for this," said the 37-year-old American. "It's very saddening and infuriating. Workers should be able to go to work and not fear getting kidnapped." In June, ICE agents arrested over 2,200 people in the Los Angeles area, according to internal documents analyzed by AFP. About 60 percent of them had no criminal record. Given the colossal resources recently allocated to ICE by Congress -- nearly $30 billion to bolster immigration enforcement, including funding to recruit 10,000 additional agents -- Fajardo says she is not expecting any let up. - 'New normal' - "It seems like this is the new normal," she sighed. "When we first heard of an ICE raid at a car wash, we were in emergency crisis mode. Now we are just really accepting that we need to plan for the long term." Food assistance has also become essential for Marisol, a Honduran woman who has been confined to her building for weeks with 12 family members. "We constantly thank God (for the food deliveries) because this has been a huge relief," says the 62-year-old Catholic, who has not attended Mass in weeks. Marisol -- not her real name -- has hung up curtains on the windows at her home entrance to block any view from outside. She forbids her grandchildren from opening the door and worries enormously when her daughters venture out to work a few hours to provide for the family's needs. "Every time they go out, I pray to God that they come back, because you never know what might happen," she said. Marisol and her family fled a Honduran crime gang 15 years ago because they wanted to forcibly recruit her children. Now, some of them wonder if it's worth continuing to live in the United States. "My sons have already said to me: 'Mom, sometimes I would prefer to go to Europe.'" rfo/hg/aks
