Curfew imposed after bomb attacks in Colombia injure six
Guerrilla fighters carried out four bomb attacks that wounded six people in a restive region of northeast Colombia, prompting officials to declare an overnight curfew Thursday and stoking concerns for a fragile peace process.
The police and military blamed the ELN group, with which the government called off peace talks last month, for the attacks in a cocaine-producing region near Colombia's border with Venezuela on Wednesday night.
A car bomb all but destroyed a toll booth outside the city of Villa del Rosario, while explosives were also detonated at police stations in the same city and in neighboring Cucuta, police commander General William Quintero told W Radio.
A source in the Norte de Santander departmental government, of which Cucuta is the capital, told AFP on Thursday that six people were injured.
Cucuta Mayor Jorge Acevedo announced an 11-hour curfew starting at 7:00 pm Thursday (midnight GMT), with schools shuttered on Friday.
Analysts say the security situation in Colombia has deteriorated under President Gustavo Petro's peace drive, which has seen an easing of the state's military offensive against armed groups, who are gaining strength.
Petro was elected in 2022 on promises of bringing "total peace" to a country battling to extricate itself from six decades of armed conflict between leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug cartels and the government.
Talks with remaining armed groups have broken down several times since a deal inked in 2016 led to the disarmament of the FARC, the biggest among the rebel armies.
The Norte de Santander department is a stronghold of the 5,800-strong National Liberation Army (ELN), which last month launched an offensive targeting rival fighters and civilians it alleged to be sympathizers in the Catatumbo region.
More than 60 people have been killed and some 50,000 driven from their homes, prompting Petro's government to suspend talks with the ELN.
The ELN has taken part in failed negotiations with Colombia's last five governments.
The country also faces a political crisis, with deeply unpopular Petro this month asking his entire cabinet to resign on the grounds they were ineffective.
One of those to quit was Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, whom Petro replaced with Air Force General Pedro Sanchez.
On Monday, the president claimed "big mafias" were plotting to down his plane with missiles.
bur-das/nn/mlr/dw/acb
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Frederick Forsyth: adventurer and bestselling spy novelist
A pilot who turned to writing to clear his debts, British author Frederick Forsyth, who died Monday aged 86, penned some 20 spy novels, often drawing on real-life experiences and selling 70 million copies worldwide. In such bestsellers as "The Day of the Jackal" and "The Odessa File", Forsyth honed a distinctive style of deeply researched and precise espionage thrillers involving power games between mercenaries, spies and scoundrels. For inspiration he drew on his own globe-trotting life, including an early stint as a foreign correspondent and assisting Britain's spy service on missions in Nigeria, South Africa, and the former East Germany and Rhodesia. "The research was the big parallel: as a foreign correspondent you are probing, asking questions, trying to find out what's going on, and probably being lied to," he told The Bookseller magazine in 2015. "Working on a novel is much the same... essentially it's a very extended report about something that never happened -- but might have." - Dangerous research - He wrote his first novel when he was 31, on a break from reporting and in dire need of money to fund his wanderlust. Having returned "from an African war, and stony broke as usual, with no job and no chance of one, I hit on the idea of writing a novel to clear my debts," he said in his autobiography "The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue" published in 2015. "There are several ways of making quick money, but in the general list, writing a novel rates well below robbing a bank." But Forsyth's foray came good. Taking just 35 days to pen "The Day of the Jackal", his story of a fictional assassination attempt on French president Charles de Gaulle by right-wing extremists, met immediate success when it appeared in 1971. The novel was later turned into a film and provided self-styled revolutionary Carlos the Jackal with his nickname. Forsyth went on to write a string of bestsellers including "The Odessa File" (1972) and "The Dogs of War" (1974). His eighteenth novel, "The Fox", was published in 2018. Forsyth's now classic post-Cold War thrillers drew on drone warfare, rendition and terrorism -- and eventually prompted his wife to call for an end to his dangerous research trips. "You're far too old, these places are bloody dangerous and you don't run as avidly, as nimbly as you used to," Sandy Molloy said after his last trip to Somalia in 2013 researching "The Kill List", as Forsyth recounted to AFP in 2016. - Real-life spy - There were also revelations in his autobiography about his links with British intelligence. Forsyth recounted that he was approached in 1968 by "Ronnie" from MI6 who wanted "an asset deep inside the Biafran enclave" in Nigeria, where there was a civil war between 1967 and 1970. While he was there, Forsyth reported on the situation and at the same time kept "Ronnie informed of things that could not, for various reasons, emerge in the media". Then in 1973 Forsyth was asked to conduct a mission for MI6 in communist East Germany. He drove his Triumph convertible to Dresden to receive a package from a Russian colonel in the toilets of the Albertinum museum. The writer claimed he was never paid by MI6 but in return received help with book research, submitting draft pages to ensure he was not divulging sensitive information. - Flying dreams - In later years Forsyth turned his attention to British politics, penning a regular column in the anti-EU Daily Express newspaper. He also wrote articles on counter-terrorism issues, military affairs and foreign policy. Despite his successful writing career, he admitted in his memoirs it was not his first choice. "As a boy, I was obsessed by aeroplanes and just wanted to be a pilot," he wrote of growing up an only child in Ashford, southern England, where he was born on August 25, 1938. He trained as a Royal Air Force pilot, before joining Reuters news agency in 1961 and later working for the BBC. But after he wrote "Jackal", another career path opened up. "My publisher told me, to my complete surprise, that it seemed I could tell a good story. And that is what I have done for the past forty-five years," he recalled in his autobiography. rsc-eab/br/boc/jkb/phz
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Zelensky dismisses Trump's verdict on Putin as ‘personal opinion': ‘Trust me'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted that he understands the 'mentality of the Russians' better than President Trump and his officials — as he issued a warning to the president. Zelensky roundly rejected Trump's conclusion that Vladimir Putin wants to stop his bloody war on Ukraine, cautioning his Washington counterpart about the Russian tyrant's true motives. 'With all due respect to President Trump, of course. I think it's just his personal opinion maybe,' Zelensky told ABC New's 'This Week' in an interview that aired Sunday. Advertisement 'Inside his [Putin's] mind, it's impossible to end this war without total defeat of Ukraine. If Ukraine is not defeated, he will not feel that it's a victory for him,' he continued. 'Trust me, we understand the Russians much better, the mentality of the Russians, than the Americans understand the mentality of [the] Russians. I know for sure that Putin doesn't want to stop the war.' Zelensky's comments come after Trump told since-suspended ABC News correspondent Terry Moran in April, 'I think he does,' when asked if Putin wants peace. 4 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seeking to build support in the US for a new sanctions package against Russia. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement 4 Russian leader Vladimir Putin has been keen on at least capturing the Donbas region. POOL/AFP via Getty Images Last week, however, Trump had a roughly 75-minute phone call with Putin, which he described as a 'good conversation' but conceded it would not lead to 'immediate peace.' Trump has grown increasingly critical of Putin in the public eye, blasting the dictator for the onslaught of drone and missile attacks near civilian enclaves in Ukraine. Advertisement Still, the president has balanced that with his desire to be a third-party mediator in the years-long war, pivoting from the Biden administration's policy of standing steadfastly behind Ukraine. Zelensky, for his part, continues to rally for Trump to further tighten the screws on the Kremlin as a way to force Putin to stop the bloodhsed. 'They will remain very, very pragmatic if very hard pressure is applied on them, then they will stop the war,' he predicted of the Russians. 'But then the question, the next question will be for how long they will stop this war? Advertisement 'We know the Russians very well. Without proper securities, strong security guarantees, if we have such, then the peace will be sustainable and long. If there are weak security guarantees, it will just be a pause.' 4 President Trump has made ending the war in Ukraine one of his top foreign policy objectives. AFP via Getty Images Zelensky previously agreed to the Trump administration's proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, which Russia rejected. As the stalemate continued, Ukraine carried out a daring surprise attack deep in Russian territory at the beginning of June, wiping out dozens of nuclear 'doomsday' bombers, as well as other aircraft with drones. The stunning 'Operation Spider's Web' attack is believed to have debilitated a substantial proportion of the Russians' air force capabilities. Ukraine did not give the Trump administration advance notice of the attack, Axios reported. 'Well, they gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night. That's the thing I didn't like about it. When I saw it, I said, 'Here we go, now it's going to be a strike,'' Trump told reporters of the top secret operation. In response, Russia launched about 500 drones on Ukraine overnight Sunday in its largest aerial bombardment since the war began in February 2022, according to Kyiv. Ukrainian forces claimed to have downed about 460 of the 479 drones that pummeled them. 4 The Russians have pummeled civilian enclaves in Ukraine. Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images Advertisement Zelensky also hit back at Trump's suggestion that Ukraine and Russia are like children 'fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart.' 'We are not playing in the park with the Russians like two boys, two kids. Putin is not a kid,' Zelensky countered. 'So we can't compare, and we cannot say, 'OK, let them fight for a while. 'It's not about President Trump,' he went on. 'Anyone living thousands of miles away can't fully understand the pain, even parents who live in Ukraine cannot feel the pain of those who lost their children.' Advertisement Zelensky also acknowledged that Trump believes the Russians are winning the war and disputed that notion. 'It's not true. It's not a victory when you spent, really spent 1 million people,' Zelensky stressed. The Ukrainian leader also claimed that the Trump administration had diverted some 20,000 anti-drone missiles away from Ukraine. Zelensky's interview comes amid a growing bipartisan push in Congress to significantly ramp up sanctions on Russia.
2 hours ago
Colombian presidential candidate in critical condition after assassination attempt
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Miguel Uribe, a conservative Colombian presidential hopeful, was in critical condition on Monday after being shot in the head from close range during a rally over the weekend. In a statement, doctors said the 39-year-old senator had 'barely' responded to medical interventions that included brain surgery following the assassination attempt that has had a chilling effect on the South American nation. Uribe was shot on Saturday as he addressed a small crowd of people who had gathered in a park in Bogota's Modelia neighborhood. On Sunday hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital where Uribe is being treated to pray for his recovery. Some carried rosaries in their hands, while others chanted slogans against President Gustavo Petro. 'This is terrible,' said Walter Jimenez, a lawyer who showed up outside the hospital with a sign calling for Petro's removal. 'It feels like we are going back to the 1990's,' he said, referring to a decade during which drug cartels and rebel groups murdered judges, presidential candidates and journalists with impunity. Petro has condemned the attack and urged his opponents to not use it for political ends. But some Colombians have also asked the president to tone down his rhetoric against opposition leaders. The assassination attempt stunned the nation, with many politicians describing it as the latest sign of how security has deteriorated in Colombia, where the government is struggling to control violence in rural and urban areas, despite a 2016 peace deal with the nation's largest rebel group. The attack on Uribe comes amid growing animosity between Petro and the Senate over blocked reforms to the nation's labor laws. Petro has organized protests in favor of the reforms, where he has delivered fiery speeches referring to opposition leaders as 'oligarchs' and 'enemies of the people." 'There is no way to argue that the president … who describes his opponents as enemies of the people, paramilitaries and assassins has no responsibility in this,' Andres Mejia, a prominent political analyst, wrote on X. The Attorney General's office said a 15-year-old boy was arrested at the scene of the attack against Uribe. Videos captured on social media show a suspect shooting at Uribe from close range. The suspect was injured in the leg and was recovering at another clinic, authorities said. Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez added that over 100 officers are investigating the attack. On Monday, Colombia's Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo said that minors in Colombia face sentences of up to eight years in detention for committing murders. Camargo acknowledged that lenient sentences have encouraged armed groups to recruit minors to commit crimes. However, she said that Colombian law also considers that minors who are recruited by armed groups are victims, and is trying to protect them. 'As a society we need to reflect on why a minor is getting caught up in a network of assassins, and what we can do to stop this from happening in the future,' she said. Camargo said officials had not identified any death threats against Uribe prior to Saturday's assassination attempt. But on Monday, Uribe's lawyer said he has sued the director of the National Protection Unit, a government agency that assigns security guards and bullet proof vehicles to politicians and human rights leaders. Uribe launched his presidential campaign in October. His lawyer, Victor Mosquera, said the National Protection Unit ignored multiple requests by Uribe to have his security detail expanded as he campaigned. 'His security detail had to be improved,' Mosquera said in a press conference. 'We have to investigate whether the attack (on Uribe) was a consequence of negligence.'
