Tag: colombia

Colombian President Calls On Lawmakers To Legalize Marijuana To Combat Cartel Violence In The Illicit Market

The president of Colombia is calling on lawmakers to legalize marijuana in the country, arguing that prohibition “only brings violence” from cartels in the illicit market. And he’s also pushing other nations to legalize coca leaves for “for purposes other than cocaine.”

On Sunday, President Gustavo Petro warned in a social media post of the “multinationalization of the cocaine mafias,” claiming that there are more cartels today than before high-profile trafficker Pablo Escobar was caught and imprisoned.

“The empowerment of mafia organizations shows the failure of prohibition and the absence of alternative measures to simple prohibition,” the president said, according to a translation.

“My government will maintain full cooperation with all governments in the matter of confiscating cocaine,” he added. “And it has focused and will focus its action on large shipments and on high-ranking cocaine and money laundering bosses worldwide.”

Petro then said he’s asking the Colombian Congress to “legalize marijuana and remove violence from this crop.”

“The prohibition of marijuana in Colombia only brings violence,” he said.

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Colombian president calls for cocaine to be legalised worldwide and says it’s ‘no worse than whisky’

Colombia’s socialist president has said cocaine ‘is no worse than whisky’ and is only illegal because it comes from Latin America – as he called for the illicit drug to be legalised around the world. 

Colombia is the world’s biggest cocaine producer and exporter, mainly to the United States and Europe, and has spent decades fighting against drug trafficking. 

President Gustavo Petro’s remarks came during a live broadcast of a government meeting on Tuesday, in which he also claimed that cocaine is being scapegoated by American politicians. 

He stated that the illicit drug ‘is illegal because it is made in Latin America, not because it is worse than whisky.’

‘Scientists have analyzed this. Cocaine is no worse than whisky,’ he added, suggesting that the global cocaine industry could be ‘easily dismantled’ if the drug were legalized worldwide.

‘If you want peace, you have to dismantle the business (of drug trafficking),’ he said.

‘It could easily be dismantled if they legalize cocaine in the world. It would be sold like wine.’

Petro also pointed out that fentanyl ‘is killing Americans and it is not made in Colombia’, referring to the opioid responsible for around 75,000 deaths in the United States a year, according to official data.

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Cocaine Outpaces Oil As Colombia’s Most Valuable Export

In a shocking development, Colombia’s cocaine production, for the 10th year straight, soared to a new record high. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that the year’s annual output grew 52% year over year to a startling 2,664 metric tons, the largest amount ever produced. Despite the government in the capital Bogota, with U.S. backing, committing substantial resources to disrupt what is now an economically crucial illicit industry in rural Colombia coca cultivation and cocaine manufacturing keeps spiraling higher. The booming cocaine trade drives heightened insecurity and corruption which are damaging key economic sectors, notably the fiscally vital petroleum industry with oil Colombia’s most valuable export.

Since the 1990s, except for a brief period from 2011 to 2012, Colombia has consistently been the world’s leading cultivator of the coca plant. The bushy shrub’s alkaloid-rich leaves, long chewed by Indigenous South Americans to boost energy and ward off altitude sickness, are the vital precursor needed to manufacture the popular recreational narcotic cocaine hydrochloride which is widely consumed in developed nations around the world. The volume of cocaine produced is spiraling ever higher despite Colombia, since the 1980s, waging a multi-billion-dollar U.S.-backed war on drugs, 

This conflict not only failed to stem the flow of cocaine but prolonged Colombia’s civil war and cost hundreds of thousands of Colombians (Spanish), mostly civilians, their lives. There are multiple reasons for this, but the key is the weakness of the Colombian state which is exacerbated by Bogota being caught in a protracted country-wide multiparty asymmetric conflict rooted in inequality, Cold War politics and foreign interference. Colombia’s widespread poverty and lawlessness create favorable conditions for the growth of illicit economies, such as smuggling, thereby allowing the cocaine trade to take root.

While the cocaine business has existed since the early 1970s in Colombia, it was the formation of the Medellin and Cali Cartels toward the end of that decade that put the Andean country firmly on the global map as a leading cocaine exporter. The vast profits cocaine generates caught the attention of a multitude of illegal armed groups across Latin America including those waging a vicious decades-long civil war in Colombia. This led to a significant escalation in the conflict among cartels, leftist guerrillas, and right-wing paramilitaries, all vying for control of the lucrative billion-dollar illicit industry. These events sparked a vicious cycle of escalating violence, which fueled further lawlessness thereby perpetuating the conditions that allowed the cocaine trade to thrive.

Surprisingly, large-scale cultivation of the coca plant did not occur in Colombia when the Medellin Cartel was at the peak of its power during the 1980s. Estimates put the amount of coca being cultivated during the mid-1980s at a mere 32,000 acres or 13,000 hectares, roughly a twentieth of what it is today. Both the Medellin and Cali Cartels, at the time the world’s largest suppliers of the drug, relied upon coca paste imported from Bolivia and Peru to manufacture the cocaine they were shipping to the U.S. and Europe. This changed as other illegal armed groups, particularly rightwing paramilitary death squads and the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC – Spanish initials) entered the fray. 

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Hilarious: Leftist Doom Posts About Trump’s Columbia Spat Aged Like Rancid Milk

On Sunday, the socialist President of Colombia Gustavo Petro refused to let deportation planes departing the US land in his country and return hundreds of Columbian illegals that were rounded up by the Trump administration.

Petro accused Trump of treating “Colombian migrants as criminals,” and announced that he was refusing “entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants” until the US has established “a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants.”

Trump immediately threatened tariffs and other sanctions.

The State Department outlined what would happen.

Within minutes, the Columbian President completely capitulated and backed down, agreeing to all Trump’s terms on taking back illegals.

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Without job opportunities in their homeland, Colombians are recruited by Kiev

NATO’s proxy war against Russia through Ukraine has shown significant changes in various aspects, particularly regarding the participation of foreign mercenaries. While, at the start of the war, the flow of fighters was predominantly composed of individuals from Europe and the United States, a notable shift occurred throughout 2024, with a considerable increase in mercenaries from Latin America, especially Colombia. The driving factor behind this growing presence of Latin American fighters is not ideological, but rather economic, with many of these soldiers seeking a way to survive financially abroad, considering the extreme poverty in their home countries.

Colombia, one of the nations most affected by economic inequality in Latin America, serves as an example to understand this reality. With a large portion of the population living below the poverty line, many Colombians see themselves with few viable alternatives to improve their financial situation. For many Colombians, military service appears to be one of the few legal options that guarantees some level of financial stability, albeit modest. However, with scarce job opportunities and a struggling economy that fails to offer appealing alternatives, the chance to participate in the war in Ukraine, where mercenaries’ payments can be much higher, becomes attractive to many ex-soldiers who were previously trained in the Colombian armed forces.

The situation in Ukraine, however, does not turn out to be a “simple battlefield” for these mercenaries, as it might have seemed initially. When the first foreign fighters arrived, particularly Europeans and Americans, many saw the war as an opportunity to test their skills or even to partake in an “adventure.” However, as the conflict intensified, it became clear that the reality of the Ukrainian battlefield was far more brutal than many had imagined. Modern warfare, with its predominant use of heavy artillery, airstrikes, and large-scale exhausting confrontations, is an environment unfamiliar to soldiers who, like many Colombians – as well as Brazilians and other Latin soldier – were used to urban combat and guerrilla warfare, where the use of light weapons at short distances is common.

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Colombia’s Diverse Environments Grow Marijuana With ‘Uncommon Terpenes’ That Can Have ‘Unique Therapeutic Benefits,’ Study Shows

New research on Colombian-grown cannabis reveals “significant phytochemical diversity” in the plants, uncovering what authors say are “four distinct chemotypes based on cannabinoid profile” as well as plants that are rich in uncommon terpenes.

The findings “underscore Colombia’s capacity to pioneer global C. sativa production,” the study says, “particularly in South America with new emerging markets.”

The diversity in compounds produced by Colombian cannabis plants could benefit not only growers—for example, by increasing resistance to pests and other pathogens—but also the development of unique medical marijuana products, says the study, published in the journal Phytochemical Analysis.

One factor behind the observed biological diversity could be Colombia’s varied environmental zones, the research says. The country is home to snow-covered volcanoes, tropical beaches, deserts, grasslands, rainforest and more. That variety also contributes to Colombia’s other agricultural industries, such as coffee.

Authors of the new study, from universities in Columbia, Germany and the United States, sought out licensed cultivators of medical marijuana across Colombia. Ultimately, growers donated 156 samples from 17 total cultivation sites, representing seven provinces and five different regions.

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Mysterious deaths of two US Border Patrol agents as one is found dead in vacation hotel room after prostitute tryst – and the other kills himself days after trip

The deaths of two US border patrol agents after their Colombian vacation is being investigated by the FBI. 

Jaime Eduardo Cisneros, 54, and Alexander Ahmed, 54, traveled to Colombia together in late May. 

But before they returned home, Cisneros was found dead in a Medellin hotel after a tryst with a woman described locally as a prostitute. 

Ahmed then killed himself on American soil after returning home from the trip, before FBI agents had the chance to interview him about his friend’s death. 

Cisneros’ cause of death remains unknown. The woman he’d been with was seen waving goodbye to him and leaving his room, according to local outlets. 

US investigators spent days in Medellin working with Colombian officials to piece together how he died. 

Officials discovered that his phone and other valuables were missing from the hotel room where his body was found, and his clothes and suitcase were in ‘total disarray’. 

His wallet had also been emptied.  

After his death, Ahmed returned to Texas alone, but killed himself days after. 

Ahmed’s body was discovered June 4 in El Paso. 

Both men were assigned to the Clint station, just outside Texas’ sixth largest city, and were nearing retirement eligibility.

US Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of US Border Patrol, did not immediately respond to a request for comment by DailyMail.com. 

In December, the US Embassy in Bogota issued a travel alert after eight American men died in a span of two months in the South American nation under ‘suspicious’ circumstances.

To date, 28 tourists, including Americans, have died in Medellin this year, Colombian authorities admitted.

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Chiquita found liable for financing paramilitary group

A Florida jury on Monday found banana company Chiquita Brands International liable for financing the Colombian paramilitary group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC).

The jury in the civil case, in federal court in the Southern District of Florida, found that “Chiquita knowingly provided substantial assistance to the AUC to a degree sufficient to create a foreseeable risk of harm to others.”

Chiquita, one of the world’s largest banana producers, has been ordered to pay a total of $38.3 million to the families of eight victims of the AUC, which was a far-right paramilitary group that was designated a terrorist organization by the US. The group disbanded in 2006, according to Stanford University’s Mapping Militants Project.

In an amended Florida lawsuit, which was filed in 2008, the plaintiffs alleged payments from Chiquita to the AUC propped up the paramilitary group’s violence in Colombia and that the company should be held liable for the group’s murders.

In a statement to CNN, Chiquita said it planned to appeal to jury’s verdict.

“The situation in Colombia was tragic for so many, including those directly affected by the violence there, and our thoughts remain with them and their families. However, that does not change our belief that there is no legal basis for these claims,” the company’s statement said. “While we are disappointed by the decision, we remain confident that our legal position will ultimately prevail.”

In 2007, Chiquita pleaded guilty to making over 100 payments to the AUC totaling over $1.7 million despite the group being designated a terrorist organization. Chiquita recorded the AUC payments as “security services,” though the company never received any actual services from these payments, according to a US Justice Department press release from the time. The company agreed to pay the US government a $25 million fine, the US said in its release.

An unnamed company executive had told the Justice Department that the payments had been made under the threat of violence, according to the release. However, the Florida jury ruled that Chiquita failed to “act as a reasonable businessperson would have acted under the circumstances.”

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The truth behind the ‘alien’ in Colombia: As mysterious corpse is discovered, scientist reveals what it could really be – and whether or not it is an extraterrestrial

While most scientists look to the stars for signs of extraterrestrial life, others claim that the evidence might already be here on Earth.

Mysterious remains surfaced in Colombia this week, which some say could have their origins beyond this world. 

Veteran public radio reporter, Josep Guijarro, claimed the unusual corpse could be an extraterrestrial or a ‘tiny humanoid’ from an ancient species. 

But experts now say that the real explanation is likely far simpler. 

Professor Sian Halcrow, a forensic anthropologist and expert on infant remains, told MailOnline that this is probably the remains of a preterm human baby. 

…The alleged alien has a large elongated skull, slanted eyes, an umbilical cord and, an ‘unusual number of ribs’.

In an article published in Espacia Misterio, he claimed that the remains only had 10 ribs on each side of the body compared with 12 in the typical human. 

Mr Guijarro also claims that the remains emerged from ‘el cerro de los enanos’ (‘the Hill of the Dwarves’) in remote Colombia.

However, in a later post on X, he added that he could not know the exact origin of the specimen because he lacked ‘verifiable data’.  

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Colombian actor Kevin Munoz who appeared on Netflix and Apple TV is found tied up and tortured to death

A Colombian actor who appeared in a Netflix movie and Apple TV series has been found dead with his hands and feet tied.

The body of Kevin Andres Munoz Tovar was found in La Playita, in the Colombian city of Tulua on Monday. 

The actor was found tied at the hands and feet, and suffered several machete wounds in what appeared to be an act of torture, local media reported. 

A 19-year-old teenager, who has not yet been named, was arrested as a suspect for the murder, according to local police.

Major Nicolas Guillermo Suarez Plata, of the Tulua Police District, said: ‘The Valle Police Department reports that,thanks to the timely information provided by citizens, in an operational deployment of the Police, the capture of a 19-year-old man was achieved who, minutes before, had allegedly participated in the homicide of Kevin Andres Munoz Tovar, a renowned actor from a Colombian film.

‘The subjects who caused the injuries then fled the scene, but thanks to information from the community, one of them was captured.’

Tovar participated as a secondary actor in the 2020 Netflix film titled ‘Lavaperros’, which was called ‘Dogwashers’ when released to Western audiences, directed by Carlos Moreno, which focuses on the conflict of a man in financial trouble with a loan shark looking to kill him.

He also participated in the Apple TV series ‘Echo 3’, in which he also had a secondary role.

The show is about an American scientist in Colombia who is kidnapped, and the attempts by her husband and brother to rescue her. 

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