Latest news with #diplomatictensions
CTV News
2 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Peru's president affirms sovereignty of Amazon River island as tensions with Colombia escalate
Peru's President Dina Boluarte gives a statement to the press during an official visit by Ecuadorean counterpart Daniel Noboa to the government palace in Lima, Peru, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo) LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Friday traveled to an Amazon River island at the center of a territorial dispute with Colombia, where she affirmed Peru's unquestionable sovereignty over the territory. The first visit from Boluarte to the island comes against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions with Colombia, whose president, Gustavo Petro, recently disavowed Peruvian jurisdiction over Santa Rosa Island. Security force chiefs and members of Parliament welcomed Boluarte and Cabinet ministers to the territory, where she sang the Peruvian national anthem as people waved red-and-white flags. 'Unfortunately, for several days now, unacceptable actions have been taking place that affect the brotherhood that unites our two nations and the border communities,' Boluarte said. 'Peru's sovereignty is not in dispute; the district of Santa Rosa de Loreto is Peruvian and will remain so.' Tensions between the neighboring countries escalated Tuesday, when Peruvian police arrested three Colombian men who were on the island doing land surveying work. Colombia's government on Thursday demanded the immediate release of the men after a Peruvian judge freed one of them but ordered the other two remain in jail for seven days while authorities investigate them for the alleged crime of attacking national sovereignty. Colombia's President Gustavo Petro gives a statement during a forum on democracy and multilateralism at La Moneda palace in Santiago, Chile, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix) Colombia's President Gustavo Petro gives a statement during a forum on democracy and multilateralism at La Moneda palace in Santiago, Chile, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix) Petro described the arrests as a 'kidnapping.' His government has said the detainees — a land surveyor and a boat driver — were conducting studies to measure the depth of bodies of water for a pier expansion in the Colombian border city of Leticia. Peruvian authorities said the workers were not authorized to carry out the measurements. The arrest of the two Colombians marks the third binational incident in the area since Petro denied Peru's jurisdiction over Santa Rosa Island on Aug. 5. Two days later, a Colombian military aircraft flew over the island, and on Monday, the former mayor of the Colombian city of Medellín, Daniel Quintero, planted a Colombian flag there. Police later removed the flag. About 3,000 people live in tiny Santa Rosa Island, which emerged in the middle of the Amazon River last century. Peru maintains it owns Santa Rosa Island based on treaties about a century old, but Colombia disputes that ownership because the island had not yet emerged from the river at the time. Amazon A man sails on a river at sunset on a traditional boat in the riverside regions of the city of Portel, located in the island of Marajo, Para state, on the mouth of the Amazon river, Brazil, Friday, Dec. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) ____ The Associated Press
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Peru's president affirms sovereignty of Amazon River island as tensions with Colombia escalate
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Friday traveled to an Amazon River island at the center of a territorial dispute with Colombia, where she affirmed Peru's unquestionable sovereignty over the territory. The first visit from Boluarte to the island comes against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions with Colombia, whose president, Gustavo Petro, recently disavowed Peruvian jurisdiction over Santa Rosa Island. Security force chiefs and members of Parliament welcomed Boluarte and Cabinet ministers to the territory, where she sang the Peruvian national anthem as people waved red-and-white flags. 'Unfortunately, for several days now, unacceptable actions have been taking place that affect the brotherhood that unites our two nations and the border communities,' Boluarte said. 'Peru's sovereignty is not in dispute; the district of Santa Rosa de Loreto is Peruvian and will remain so.' Tensions between the neighboring countries escalated Tuesday, when Peruvian police arrested three Colombian men who were on the island doing land surveying work. Colombia's government on Thursday demanded the immediate release of the men after a Peruvian judge freed one of them but ordered the other two remain in jail for seven days while authorities investigate them for the alleged crime of attacking national sovereignty. Petro described the arrests as a 'kidnapping.' His government has said the detainees — a land surveyor and a boat driver — were conducting studies to measure the depth of bodies of water for a pier expansion in the Colombian border city of Leticia. Peruvian authorities said the workers were not authorized to carry out the measurements. The arrest of the two Colombians marks the third binational incident in the area since Petro denied Peru's jurisdiction over Santa Rosa Island on Aug. 5. Two days later, a Colombian military aircraft flew over the island, and on Monday, the former mayor of the Colombian city of Medellín, Daniel Quintero, planted a Colombian flag there. Police later removed the flag. About 3,000 people live in tiny Santa Rosa Island, which emerged in the middle of the Amazon River last century. Peru maintains it owns Santa Rosa Island based on treaties about a century old, but Colombia disputes that ownership because the island had not yet emerged from the river at the time. ____
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Peru's president affirms sovereignty of Amazon River island as tensions with Colombia escalate
LIMA, Peru — Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Friday traveled to an Amazon River island at the center of a territorial dispute with Colombia , where she affirmed Peru's unquestionable sovereignty over the territory. The first visit from Boluarte to the island comes against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions with Colombia, whose president, Gustavo Petro, recently disavowed Peruvian jurisdiction over Santa Rosa Island.
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Peru's president affirms sovereignty of Amazon River island as tensions with Colombia escalate
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Friday traveled to an Amazon River island at the center of a territorial dispute with Colombia, where she affirmed Peru's unquestionable sovereignty over the territory. The first visit from Boluarte to the island comes against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions with Colombia, whose president, Gustavo Petro, recently disavowed Peruvian jurisdiction over Santa Rosa Island. Security force chiefs and members of Parliament welcomed Boluarte and Cabinet ministers to the territory, where she sang the Peruvian national anthem as people waved red-and-white flags. 'Unfortunately, for several days now, unacceptable actions have been taking place that affect the brotherhood that unites our two nations and the border communities,' Boluarte said. 'Peru's sovereignty is not in dispute; the district of Santa Rosa de Loreto is Peruvian and will remain so.' Tensions between the neighboring countries escalated Tuesday, when Peruvian police arrested three Colombian men who were on the island doing land surveying work. Colombia's government on Thursday demanded the immediate release of the men after a Peruvian judge freed one of the men but ordered the other two remain in jail for seven days while authorities investigate them for the alleged crime of attacking national sovereignty. Petro described the arrests as a 'kidnapping.' His government has said the detainees — a land surveyor and a boat driver — were conducting studies to measure the depth of bodies of water for a pier expansion in the Colombian border city of Leticia. Peruvian authorities said the workers were not authorized to carry out the measurements. The arrest of the two Colombians marks the third binational incident in the area since Petro denied Peru's jurisdiction over Santa Rosa Island on Aug. 5. Two days later, a Colombian military aircraft flew over the island, and on Monday, the former mayor of the Colombian city of Medellín, Daniel Quintero, planted a Colombian flag there. Police later removed the flag. About 3,000 people live in tiny Santa Rosa Island, which emerged in the middle of the Amazon River last century. Peru maintains it owns Santa Rosa Island based on treaties about a century old, but Colombia disputes that ownership because the island had not yet emerged from the river at the time. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
Yahoo
04-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Posts falsely claim to show footage of Ethiopian prime minister fleeing country after shooting
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was elected in 2018 on a reform agenda, but domestic conflicts and diplomatic tensions have piled on the pressure during his time in office. A Facebook account has shared two videos, claiming one shows police vehicles responding after Abiy was shot by a bodyguard, and the second a clip of an Ethiopian Airlines plane with the country's leader and his wife onboard, fleeing. However, these posts are false: the video of the plane taking off at night is more than four years old, while Abiy attended an international conference in the capital of Addis Ababa after he was purportedly shot. Neither claim has been reported by local or international media. The post, published on Facebook on July 22, 2025, includes a video with text overlays in Amharic that translate to: 'Arat Kilo is in turmoil following the shooting of Abiy by one of his security guards.' Arat Kilo is the location of the Ethiopian prime minister's office. The post has been shared more than 230 times. Another post shared by the same Facebook account a day later claims a 'secretly recorded video shows Abiy Ahmed fleeing the country with his wife following yesterday's protest'. The post has been shared more than 140 times. The Facebook account spreading these claims is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, according to information in the bio. The account regularly publishes posts on political developments in the Sidama region — one of Ethiopia's 12 regional states. Despite the end of the brutal two-year war in the northern region of Tigray in November 2022, Ethiopia is still plagued by conflict, including in the Oromia and Amhara regions. Oromia, Ethiopia's most populous region, has been dominated by an insurgency involving the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) since 2018, despite attempted peace talks that have failed (archived here). More recently, a local militia known as Fano was initially allied with the Ethiopian federal government before launching an armed rebellion in the Amhara region in April 2023 (archived here). The armed conflicts have posed major challenges for Abiy and his government. However, the videos do not show Abiy fleeing the country after being shot. Ethiopian cargo flight AFP Fact Check used the video verification tool InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video showing an aeroplane taking off at night. The results established that the video was first published on TikTok in 2021, with the caption that it shows an Ethiopian Airlines cargo Boeing 777 leaving for Liège in Belgium (archived here). An official statement issued in 2024 by Ethiopian Airlines confirms how the airports in Ethiopia and Liège have maintained a partnership for the transport of goods between Europe, Africa and the rest of the world for more than 17 years (archived here). Despite claims in the post that Abiy had fled the country following a protest in the capital on July 21, 2025, searches revealed there were no demonstrations in Addis Ababa on that day. We could not find the source of the second video, which appears to be user-generated content (UGC) -- meaning it was filmed by a bystander -- of police cars racing through a street, purportedly after Abiy was shot by a bodyguard. AFP Fact Check compared the images of the vehicles, some of them marked with the letters 'EFP' in yellow, and found they resemble the fleet used by the Ethiopian Federal Police. We have reached out to the Ethiopian Federal Police for comment. The article will be updated accordingly. A keyword search confirmed that Abiy delivered a public speech at the World Food Systems event, co-hosted with Italy and held in Addis Ababa, on July 28, 2025 -- days after the posts were published (archived here). Notably, there are no credible media reports of Abiy being shot by one of his security guards, the day before he purportedly fled the country with his wife.
