International
Asking for permission to enter the house: the demand of Colombian indigenous people against Mennonites
“Yesterday they returned us,” say the Sikuani indigenous authorities in front of the barrier that prevents them from entering their homes, waiting for authorization to continue, and denounce that their ancestral lands, in the Colombian department of Meta, are now owned by third parties who, they say, bought them irregularly.
On the Santa Catalina farm, owned by the meat company La Fazenda, they receive a refusal to pass by the entourage of journalists that accompanies them; they try their luck with the other entrance, that of the Mennonite ultra-religious community, which does authorize them to pass.
“Our grandparents are buried here,” says Jairo Ortiz in front of one of the sacred sites of the Sikuani, now in Mennonite territory.
“In times of violence they left here, they did not sell the land to anyone and left them thrown away, at that time other people who are not indigenous arrived and they took over,” says the captain, a position of authority of this semi-nomadad people displaced in several episodes of Colombian history.
In the Meta they lived until the so-called period of “violence”, which began in 1946, when they had to flee to the neighboring departments of Vichada and Guaviare. Then they returned but came back to persecution with the “guahibiadas” and “jaramilladas”, terms used to refer to the hunts of indigenous people to displace them from their lands and seize them.
A few years ago they returned to the land of their ancestors when the Colombian conflict lowered its intensity, but they realized that theirs was now in the hands of others, including the ultra-religious Mennite community that, coming from Mexico, found the promised land in the Colombian Oriental Plains.
The problem of land in Colombia is one of the great debts of the State; it is very difficult to know whose property each property is because many territories are not entitled.
Now, the 135 Sikuani families of this settlement claim their lands and denounce their appropriation and accumulation by foreigners.
The Mennonites, when they saw the potential of the Meta, hired a lawyer who advised them on the purchase of land, so “in principle” they are legal, explains Diana Quintero, a lawyer of the National Commission of Indigenous Territories, who accompanies the Sikuani in their lawsuit, explains to EFE.
The problem comes when the titles that the Mennonites bought are analyzed, awarded by the state National Land Agency because they were vacant of the nation.
The rule says the wastelands have to remain in the hands of their owner for a certain time, but those who were sold to the religious community did not meet this deadline and the indigenous peoples were not taken into account.
Another alleged irregularity, Quintero continues, is that the allocation of vacant lots has a limit of hectares, something called the Family Agricultural Unit (UAF), and the owners of these lands acquired more than allowed by law, incurring hoarding.
Quintero maintains that the Mennonites hoard because “although they say they are different families, they are part of a nucleus” and link all their lands in the same production process, exceeding the legal limit of UAF.
“Two years ago the Mennonites began to enter little by little. He could not be told anything because they have someone who supports them,” explains Alexander Álvarez, governor of the Iwitsulibo community, which brings together 80 families, in reference to the alleged alliances of the religious community.
According to the indigenous people, in the area there is the presence of paramilitaries of the Gaitanist Self-Defense of Colombia (AUC), allied with the Mennonites to provide them with security. They travel with motorcycles without a license plate and do not identify themselves, while all the Sikuani authorities report having received threats for their demands.
The Sikuani demand a total of 58,000 hectares to be distributed among the four communities and ask for a receipt to be made. Tsabilonia is the community that is closest to getting its claims, since it has been awarded – pending formalization – a territory in extinction of domain that belonged to drug traffickers, but they demand more hectares.
At the entrance of Tsabilonia the difference in the use of the land made by both communities is visible: on the Mennonite side there is not a single tree, only hectares waiting to be cultivated, and on the Sikuani side, pasture and native vegetation.
“They are pressuring us, we are being contaminated by foreign Mennonites who come from Germany, Canada and Mexico,” denounces Albarrubiela Gaitán, the traditional authority of the Barrulia territory: “We want to be calm in our territory, cultivating our uses and customs because as indigenous people we need our motherland to live in peace and freedom.”
The plantings of the Mennonites arrive almost at the door of the house of Albarrubiela; for the moment, the religious community continues to expand the agricultural border while the Sikuani expect the Colombian Justice to issue a decision on a land that went from hope to dispute.
International
Three U.S. Executions Set for Same Day as Trump Pushes to Expand Death Penalty
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 U.S. states, while three others —California, Oregon and Pennsylvania— currently have moratoriums in place.
The United States is set to carry out three executions on the same day, a rare occurrence that has not happened since 2010, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.
President Donald Trump has sought to expand the use of capital punishment for what he describes as “the most heinous crimes.” In April, the Department of Justice proposed expanding execution methods to include firing squads, lethal gas and electrocution.
Tennessee is scheduled to execute Anthony Darrell Dugard Hines, 66, on Thursday. He was sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of a woman, according to local media.
In Oklahoma, Carlos Cuesta-Rodríguez, 70, is scheduled to be executed for a 2003 murder.
Meanwhile, Alabama plans to execute Jeremy Williams, 42, who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl.
The United States carried out 47 executions in 2025, the highest number since 2009, when 52 executions were recorded.
Florida conducted the largest number of executions last year, with 19, followed by Alabama, South Carolina and Texas, with five each.
Of the executions carried out in 2025, 39 were conducted by lethal injection. Three were carried out by firing squad and five through nitrogen hypoxia, a method that involves forcing nitrogen gas into a face mask, depriving the prisoner of oxygen.
The United Nations has condemned nitrogen gas as a cruel and inhumane method of capital punishment.
International
Colombia Earthquake Death Toll Reaches 265 as Rescue Teams Race Against Time
The 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck Colombia on Monday, the strongest to hit the country this century, has so far left 265 people dead and around 3,500 injured.
In Cali, Pereira and other cities in western Colombia, rescue teams are working around the clock as they search for survivors. The first 72 hours following the earthquake will be reached at 7:34 a.m. local time (12:34 GMT), a critical window for rescue efforts as the chances of finding survivors generally decline significantly after that point.
Among those anxiously awaiting news is Valeria Cardona, a 26-year-old student searching for two of her cousins in Cali.
“We have some suspicions about their location, but there are no signs of life,” she said. “Hope is the last thing you lose, but we are anxious about receiving news we don’t want to hear.”
A team of members from the Topos Aztecas, the renowned Mexican volunteer rescue group, has also arrived in Cali to join the search. The rescuers had been working in neighboring Venezuela, where a double earthquake on June 24 left more than 6,000 people dead.
“We all came from Venezuela, from La Guaira. The 41 days we spent working there made us stronger because we overcame hunger, pain and sleepless nights,” said Héctor Méndez, 80, president of Topos Aztecas.
Méndez encouraged those affected by the disaster not to lose hope and emphasized the commitment required from rescue teams during an emergency.
“Do not feel like victims. This is not an office or workshop schedule. This is real life, where the best part of the human spirit emerges. These are things of nature that happen,” he said.
International
German Authorities Investigate More Than 100 New Cases Against Convicted Nurse
German authorities announced Monday that they are investigating more than 100 additional cases involving a nurse who was sentenced to life in prison in November for the murder of 10 patients.
The man, who was 44 at the time of his conviction, worked in palliative care at a hospital in Würselen, near Aachen. He was also found guilty of 27 attempted murders.
Aachen prosecutors are now examining 121 new cases, a spokesperson for the office said.
Prosecutors leading the investigation are preparing a new indictment that could be filed next year. Nearly 40 bodies have so far been exhumed as part of the investigation, which covers alleged incidents dating back to September 2022.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in the city of Cologne are investigating 18 additional cases. According to a spokesperson, the oldest case dates back to 2010.
Before working at the Würselen hospital, the nurse is believed to have worked at a clinic in eastern Cologne, according to local media reports.
At the time of his November conviction, the court ruled that the severity of his crimes was particularly serious, a finding that would make it difficult for him to obtain early release after 15 years in prison.
Between December 2023 and May 2024, the nurse administered overdoses of sedatives or painkillers to terminally ill patients, most of them elderly, according to the indictment in the original case.
His alleged motive was to sedate patients who required care so that he could minimize his workload during night shifts, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, the nurse worked «without enthusiasm» and «without motivation». When faced with patients requiring extensive care, he allegedly became «irritated» and showed a lack of empathy.
The case has revived painful memories in Germany of Niels Högel, a former nurse and serial killer who was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2019 for the murders of at least 85 patients.
Three U.S. Executions Set for Same Day as Trump Pushes to Expand Death Penalty
Colombia Earthquake Death Toll Reaches 265 as Rescue Teams Race Against Time
German Authorities Investigate More Than 100 New Cases Against Convicted Nurse
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