International
Colombia’s most-wanted drug lord ‘Otoniel’ captured
AFP
Colombia’s most-wanted drug trafficker “Otoniel” has been captured, officials said Saturday, a major victory for the government of the world’s top cocaine exporter.
Dairo Antonio Usuga, who headed the country’s largest narco-trafficking gang known as the Gulf Clan, was captured near one of his main outposts in Necocli, near the border with Panama.
Images released by the government showed the 50-year-old Otoniel in handcuffs and surrounded by soldiers.
“This is the hardest strike to drug trafficking in our country this century,” president Ivan Duque said in a message, adding that the arrest was “only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar,” the notorious Colombian narco-trafficking kingpin.
Some 500 soldiers backed by 22 helicopters were deployed in the Necocli municipality to carry out the operation, which left one police officer dead.
It was “the biggest penetration of the jungle ever seen in the military history of our country”, Duque said.
A live broadcast by the police later showed a handcuffed Otoniel landing in Bogota before being taken into custody under heavy security.
Colombia’s police chief Jorge Vargas said during a press conference that authorities carried out “an important satellite operation with agencies of the United States and the United Kingdom.”
According to police, Otoniel was hiding in the jungle in the Uraba region, where he is from, and did not use a telephone, relying on couriers to communicate.
Fearful of authorities, he “slept there in the rain, never approaching inhabited areas,” Vargas said.
The United States had offered a $5 million bounty for information leading to the arrest of Otoniel, one of the most feared men in Colombia.
He was indicted in the United States in 2009, and faces extradition proceedings to the country, where he would appear in the Southern District of New York federal court.
The Colombian government blames the group — financed mainly through drug trafficking, illegal mining and extortion — for being one of the main drivers of the worst bout of nationwide violence since the signing of a peace pact with FARC guerillas in 2016.
The Gulf Clan is present in almost 300 municipalities in the country, according to the independent think tank Indepaz. However, recent government efforts have seen the organization decimated.
– Life of violence –
Although Otoniel announced in 2017 he intended to reach an agreement to participate with the Colombian justice system, the government responded by deploying at least 1,000 soldiers to hunt him down.
He took over the leadership of the Gulf Clan — previously known as the Usuga Clan — from his brother Juan de Dios, who was killed by police in 2012.
Born to a poor family, Otoniel joined the Popular Liberation Army (EPL), a Marxist guerrilla group that demobilized in 1991.
After laying down his arms, he later returned to fighting, joining far-right paramilitary groups.
Many of these were demobilized in 2006 at the initiative of former right-wing president Alvaro Uribe’s administration, but Otoniel decided to remain in the fight.
Colombia is the world’s top producer of cocaine, with the United States as its principal market, despite half a century of efforts to clamp down on the drug trade.
In remote areas where there is little government presence, criminal groups like the Gulf Clan, dissident FARC guerrillas and leftist ELN rebels fight bloody turf battles to control drug trafficking corridors and illegal mining operations.
International
María Corina Machado kidnapped and forced to record videos before being released, says opposition
The Venezuela Command, the campaign team of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, denounced the “kidnapping” and subsequent release of political leader María Corina Machado after she led a protest in Caracas on the eve of the Venezuelan presidential inauguration.
In a post on X, the opposition team stated that the former lawmaker was “intercepted and knocked off the motorcycle she was traveling on” after leading a rally in the Chacao area of the Venezuelan capital.
“Gunshots were fired during the incident. She was forcibly detained. During her kidnapping, she was forced to record several videos, and then she was released,” the statement added, which was made public nearly two hours after Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, reported that she had been “violently intercepted.”
International
Governor Jenniffer González expresses solidarity with Venezuela’s struggling opposition
Puerto Rico’s Governor Jenniffer González expressed her sorrow over Venezuela’s political crisis on Thursday and voiced her support for Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, just one day before President Nicolás Maduro is set to take office following the controversial July elections.
“I think it is sad that the Venezuelan people have to suffer the consequences of a dictator who came to power by deceiving the people. I recognize Edmundo González for his leadership,” the governor stated during a press conference, coinciding with a day of protests by Venezuela’s opposition.
“The Venezuelan community has my full support, and, as we have done in the past, we will maintain that line of communication with whatever we can collaborate on,” assured the Puerto Rican head of government.
González Urrutia is currently in the Dominican Republic, the last announced stop on his American tour, where he was accompanied by Dominican President Luis Abinader and former Latin American presidents from the Spain and Americas Democratic Initiative (Grupo Idea).
International
Hundreds of venezuelan protesters demand ‘democratic change’ in Rome
Dozens of Venezuelans demonstrated in central Rome on Thursday to show their support for opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia and demand a “democratic change,” on the eve of the presidential inauguration that has deeply divided the country.
The protest took place in the Roman square of Largo Argentina and gathered several members of the Venezuelan diaspora and refugees, who sang their national anthem and displayed signs with the slogan “Glory to the brave people.”
Around 150 participants were present, according to one of the coordinators of the protest, Celeste Puerta from the ‘Aiuto Venezuela’ Civic Movement, who spoke to EFE.
Similar actions have been organized in other Italian cities, including Bologna, Florence, and Milan in the north.
María Corina Machado kidnapped and forced to record videos before being released, says opposition
Governor Jenniffer González expresses solidarity with Venezuela’s struggling opposition
Hundreds of venezuelan protesters demand ‘democratic change’ in Rome
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Ecuador prison riot leaves at least 43 dead
-
Central America5 days agoHonduras arrests former military leaders over 2009 killings
-
International5 days agoBiden administration approves $8 billion arms sale to Israel ahead of Trump’s Presidency
-
International4 days agoMachado calls Venezuelans to the streets one day before the presidential investiture
-
International3 days agoThe US ambassador says goodbye to Mexico without regretting “anything” despite bilateral tension
-
International3 days agoArgentine Jorge Fernández Díaz wins the 81st Nadal Award with ‘El secreto de Marcial’
-
International2 days agoThirteen cuban military members missing after explosion at arms warehouse
-
International3 days agoA military judge sends the Supreme court trial against colonels accused of coup in Brazil
-
International2 days agoTrump considers declaring National Economic Emergency to justify universal tariffs
-
International2 days agoIsraeli forces recover hostage remains amid ceasefire talks with Hamas
-
International4 days agoSheinbaum defends Mexico’s presence in Maduro’s investiture
-
International2 days agoAt least 13 civilians killed in russian missile attack on Zaporizhzhia
-
International4 days agoJustin Trudeau announces his resignation from the leadership of his party and as Prime Minister of Canada
-
International4 days agoBoluarte promises to reduce citizen insecurity in Peru this year
-
International4 days agoBathing with elephants, the popular Thai tourist activity criticized by animal rights activists
-
International2 days agoAmerican citizen killed by mexican police officer in Ciudad Juárez shooting
-
International2 days agoVenezuelan opposition candidate Enrique Márquez detained ahead of Maduro’s inauguration
-
International3 days ago
Donald Trump insists that Canada should be part of the US after Justin Trudeau’s resignation
-
International15 hours agoMaria Corina Machado calls for nationwide protests ahead of presidential inauguration
-
International3 days agoThe Pentagon reaches an agreement with LGTBIQ veterans discharged for their sexual orientation
-
International3 days agoCuba records just under 13,000 earthquakes in 2024, a record year of earthquakes
-
International4 days agoThree Israelis killed in a Palestinian attack in the northern West Bank
-
International15 hours agoMaría Corina Machado kidnapped and forced to record videos before being released, says opposition
-
International4 days agoThe trial against Sarkozy opens for financing his campaign with Gaddafi money
-
International4 days agoNew Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip leave at least 48 dead in the last few hours
-
International4 days agoEmmanuel Macron accuses Elon Musk of supporting “a reactionary international” in a world in “disorder”
-
International4 days agoThe federal president of Austria commissions the far-right Herbert Kickl to form a government
-
International4 days agoNorth Korea launches an intermediate-range missile, its first test in two months
-
International4 days agoRussia announces the capture of the Ukrainian bastion of Kurákhove in the Donestsk region
-
International15 hours agoHundreds of venezuelan protesters demand ‘democratic change’ in Rome
-
International15 hours agoGovernor Jenniffer González expresses solidarity with Venezuela’s struggling opposition