International
Colombian forces seize six tons of cocaine from ELN rebel jungle labs
AFP
Colombia’s military seized six tons of cocaine from a jungle laboratory run by ELN guerillas in the southwest of the country, Defense Minister Diego Molano said Tuesday.
“I want to announce to the country the most important blow to the ELN drug trafficking this year, with the seizure of six tons of cocaine hydrochloride,” he said in a video released to the media.
Operation Jared, in which three “large laboratories” were destroyed by the armed forces and law enforcement agencies, was carried out in the municipality of Samaniego, in department of Narino, near the border with Ecuador.
“The cocaine, equipment and other elements found would have been worth more than $9 million. The narcotic was ready to be packed and transported to the Colombian Pacific coast (…) to be sent to Mexico and the United States” said attorney general Francisco Barbosa.
Molano announced this week that he would redouble efforts against “terrorism” by armed groups after an attack on President Ivan Duque’s helicopter Friday in Cucuta, near the border with Venezuela.
The government blamed the ELN for the attack, as well as for a car bomb that exploded at a military facility in the same city 10 days earlier.
The ELN is the largest holdout rebel group in the country, having carried on fighting when the main guerrilla faction, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, signed a peace deal with the government to end half a century of conflict.
International
Six killed, including baby, in armed attack near tourist beach in Ecuador
Six people, including a baby girl about two years old, were killed on Sunday in an armed attack near a tourist beach in southwestern Ecuador, police said. The shooting, carried out with rifles, also left three people wounded.
The incident took place in the coastal town of Puerto López, in the province of Manabí, a popular tourist destination known for whale watching. The attack occurred amid a surge of violence over the weekend that left at least nine people dead nationwide, according to local media reports.
“There are six fatalities and three injured,” Colonel William Acurio, the local police commander, told reporters on Sunday. He confirmed that one of the victims was a baby “approximately two years old.”
Authorities have not released further details about the motive behind the attack or whether arrests have been made.
International
Man accused of killing nine in Paramaribo dies by suicide in police custody
The man who killed nine people, including five children, on Saturday night in Paramaribo died by suicide while in custody, Suriname police confirmed in a statement on Monday.
The suspect, identified by the initials D.A., 43, “hanged himself inside a holding cell at the Keizerstraat police station” in the capital, Paramaribo, according to the official report.
Police said the man sustained leg injuries during his arrest and was taken to a hospital before being transferred to the detention facility on Sunday night. Authorities did not provide further details on the circumstances surrounding his death.
International
Winter storm disrupts holiday travel, forcing 1,500 flight cancellations in the U.S.
Airlines canceled around 1,500 flights across the United States during the peak Christmas travel season after warnings of a severe winter storm and forecasts of heavy snowfall in the Midwest and Northeast. An additional 5,900 flights were delayed due to adverse weather conditions.
More than 40 million Americans were under snowstorm warnings or weather advisories one day after Christmas. Meanwhile, another 30 million people faced flood or storm alerts in California, where an atmospheric river triggered intense rainfall.
New York City was bracing for up to 25 centimeters (10 inches) of snow overnight, which would mark its heaviest snowfall in four years. Cold weather was expected to persist through the weekend in the nation’s largest city. According to flight-tracking website FlightAware, airports in the New York area recorded about 850 flight cancellations.
Six killed, including baby, in armed attack near tourist beach in Ecuador
Man accused of killing nine in Paramaribo dies by suicide in police custody
Winter storm disrupts holiday travel, forcing 1,500 flight cancellations in the U.S.
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
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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