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.

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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

Bolsonaro diagnosed with skin cancer amid coup conviction

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been diagnosed with skin cancer while serving a historic sentence for attempting a coup d’état. His medical team confirmed that the lesions have been removed and that, for now, he does not require further procedures, though he will need regular monitoring.

On Wednesday, September 17, Bolsonaro’s doctors confirmed the diagnosis. The announcement comes shortly after the former leader was convicted of orchestrating an attempted coup.

According to his physician, Claudio Birolini, Bolsonaro has “squamous cell carcinoma, which is neither the most benign nor the most aggressive form — it is intermediate.” Birolini warned, however, that this type of skin cancer “can carry more serious consequences.”

International

Milei praises Paraguay’s growth, calls Argentina’s last 20 years a ‘decline’

Argentine President Javier Milei praised Paraguay’s economic growth over the past two decades during a speech before the Paraguayan Congress on Wednesday (Sept. 17, 2025), crediting it to incentives that favored capitalism. At the same time, he contrasted that progress with what he described as Argentina’s deepening “decline” during the same period.

“If we compare the last 20 years of Paraguay with those of the Argentine Republic, we will find almost diametrically opposite results,” Milei told lawmakers during a special session of Parliament on the second and final day of his official visit to Asunción.

“While you have not stopped growing, we have deepened our decline. If we understand incentives as the engine of capitalism, Paraguay focused on preserving and strengthening them, while Argentina dedicated itself to chaining, directing, and suffocating them,” the right-wing leader stated.

International

Trump administration launches large-scale immigration operation in Chicago

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump intensified a large-scale immigration operation in the Chicago area with the arrival of additional Border Patrol agents on Tuesday and the presence of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem during a raid.

Noem posted a video on her X account showing the immigration operation, in which DHS reportedly removed “violent criminals” from the streets. The footage shows Noem observing the arrest of a man taken into custody at his home early Tuesday morning at an undisclosed location.

“I was in Chicago today to make it clear that we will not back down,” the secretary wrote. “Our work is just beginning,” she added.

The warning from Noem was echoed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chief Gregory Bovino, who posted a video on X Tuesday showing multiple Border Patrol vehicles arriving in the city with the caption: “Chicago, we are here!”

Bovino, who led the immigration crackdown in Los Angeles implemented since last June, said the team will remain in Chicago to continue the mission they started in California.

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Operation “Midway Blitz” is currently focused on the Chicago metropolitan area and its suburbs. Activists and residents have reported sightings of masked agents and unmarked vehicles in predominantly Latino neighborhoods.