International

Colombian State offers public apology for false positives in Bogota and Soacha

Photo: @infopresidencia

October 4 |

The act of public apology for the extrajudicial executions of which young residents of Bogota, capital of Colombia, and the municipality of Soacha, in Cundinamarca, were victims, took place this Tuesday in Bogota’s Plaza de Bolivar.

The Minister of National Defense Iván Velásquez indicated that after a meeting held in the afternoon with the mothers of the victims, each one of them referred to what happened to their children.

On behalf of the State, Velásquez appeared before the international community to apologize for the crimes that have been called false positives, true extrajudicial executions, and stressed the need for truth.

“Today, committed to truth and justice, we present ourselves before the victims, before the Colombian society, we present ourselves before the community to say sorry, this should never have happened and it cannot happen again”, he assured.

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The Minister of National Defense also emphasized that despite tonight’s public act, “we still need to know the truth of what has been happening in the country for so many decades, in order to achieve guarantees of non-repetition. Only the truth can restore to achieve the forgiveness we need”.

For his part, Colombian President Gustavo Petro acknowledged that it is not an easy journey, because it is paradoxical that after making accusations for years, in the name of the State, he has to ask for forgiveness.

In this sense, he stressed that the flow of history makes that societies are built from their own mistakes to learn to be human.

“In what is specifically human and not animal, we have learned to kill the other, for power, for greed. We have developed a history of power, profoundly more barbaric than that developed by certain animal species”, he said.

The head of state alluded to the history of genocides in the world, and acknowledged that Colombian history began with the genocides of the Spaniards, then those that were evident in the republican life of the nineteenth century and later, those that were carried out in the name of the homeland or ideas that ended up defending greed.

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In this sense, he stressed the need to retake the historical memory, to avoid that extrajudicial executions such as those of the young people whose mothers the State asked for forgiveness from happening again.

“You are the mothers of the homeland. The mothers they wanted to silence. The mothers whom greed wanted to see silenced, who were a joke, who were mocked. That is why they transformed the words, so that people would think they were crazy,” he stressed.

In this regard, the dignitary pointed out that this greed and desire for power killed those 6,402 young people, it was not the bullets, but it is an act that remains in the history of the Army.

“Here they killed to concentrate wealth, to keep the land. Here they killed to keep the oil. Here they killed to keep the cocaine profits, for greed, and they are willing to kill more,” he denounced.

The president urged to take a space for reflection, which passes first of all because the truth is known and to take up the initiatives of other peoples of the world to prevent the continuation of the killings within societies.

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“Colombians are us, a collective. We have to rebuild ourselves on the basis of the truth, that is why I thank the Special Justice for Peace that they wanted to conclude their work in such a way. We have to tell those magistrates to work more, because more and more truth is needed, without fear”, he emphasized.

In this sense, the president asked them to discover the truth, because they have the support of both the soldiers and the current government, so that life may flow after so much death in the South American country, for the sake of reconciliation.

He explained that the concept of social forgiveness, which he issued during his campaign, can help to rebuild the country, as has happened in Spain, Germany, France and even the United States.

Likewise, he indicated that the truth also needs the Prosecutor’s Office to carry out investigations in the context of the current corruption regime, as a legacy of five decades of drug trafficking that propitiated the arrival to power of criminals in Colombia who, out of greed, have become genocidal.

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International

Paraguay summons Brazilian ambassador over Itaipú espionage scandal

Paraguay summoned the Brazilian ambassador in Asunción on Tuesday to demand “explanations” and called its own representative in Brasília for consultations following Brazil’s acknowledgment of an espionage operation. The Brazilian government, led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, attributed the operation to the previous administration.

The surveillance effort aimed to uncover Paraguay’s position in now-suspended negotiations with Brazil regarding the pricing of electricity from the binational Itaipú hydroelectric plant, according to reports in the Brazilian press.

The Brazilian government “categorically denied any involvement in the intelligence operation,” stating in a Foreign Ministry communiqué on Monday that the espionage was carried out under former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration (2019-2023).

“The operation was authorized by the previous government in June 2022 and was annulled by the interim director of the (state intelligence agency) ABIN on March 27, 2023, as soon as the current administration became aware of it,” Brazil’s government asserted.

Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez announced that Brazilian Ambassador José Antonio Marcondes de Carvalho was summoned “to provide detailed explanations” regarding the operation. Additionally, Paraguay recalled its diplomatic representative in Brasília “to report on aspects related to the intelligence activity conducted by Brazil regarding Paraguay’s government affairs.”

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International

Elon Musk to step down as government advisor, per Trump insiders

President Donald Trump has informed his inner circle that Elon Musk will be stepping down from his role as a government advisor, according to a report by Politico today.

Citing three individuals close to Trump, Politico states that the president is pleased with Musk’s leadership at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he has implemented significant budget cuts. However, both have agreed that it is time for Musk to return to his businesses and support Trump from a different position outside the government.

A senior administration official told Politico that Musk will likely maintain an informal advisory role and continue to be an occasional visitor to the White House. Another source warned that anyone thinking Musk will completely disappear from Trump’s circle is “deluding themselves.”

According to the sources, this transition is expected to coincide with the end of Musk’s tenure as a “special government employee,” a temporary status that exempts him from certain ethics and conflict-of-interest regulations. This 130-day period is set to expire in late May or early June.

International

Milei vows to make Argentina so strong that Falkland Islanders “choose” to join

Argentine President Javier Milei reaffirmed his country’s claim over the Falkland Islands (known as the Islas Malvinas in Argentina) and praised the role of the nation’s armed forces during a ceremony marking the “Veterans and Fallen Soldiers of the Malvinas War Day,” commemorating 43 years since the 1982 conflict with the United Kingdom.

Argentina continues to assert sovereignty over the islands, arguing that Britain unlawfully seized them in 1833.

“If sovereignty over the Malvinas is the issue, we have always made it clear that the most important vote is the one cast with one’s feet. We hope that one day, the Malvinas residents will choose to vote with their feet and join us,” Milei stated.

“That is why we aim to become a global power—so much so that they would prefer to be Argentine, making deterrence or persuasion unnecessary. This is why we have embarked on a path of liberation, working to make Argentina the freest country in the world and once again the nation with the highest GDP per capita on the planet,” he added.