International

Colombian Peace Tribunal identifies 2,000 “false positive” victims in major step for justice

Ecuador prosecutor's office investigates SNAI for crime of Colombian inmates

The Peace Tribunal in Colombia identified nearly 2,000 victims of “false positives” on Thursday, a term used to describe extrajudicial killings of civilians who were falsely presented as guerrilla fighters killed in combat with the military. This is a way to confirm their existence and combat sectors that question the scale of these crimes.

“Today, we are called by a civic, ethical, and moral duty: the need to honor the memory of those who were murdered and disappeared by those who were supposed to protect them,” said Alejandro Ramelli, president of the tribunal, in front of the victims’ mothers.

This symbolic act was held in memory of the 6,402 “false positive” victims identified in the tribunal’s investigations into Colombia’s internal conflict, the majority of whom were killed between 2002 and 2008.

For Ramelli, the symbolic act was necessary to “combat the relentless and shameless denialism of those who are still concerned with the numbers, not the events.”

The tribunal has received requests from some right-wing politicians to reveal exact details, such as names, identity documents, and the specifics of the murders of the 6,402 “false positive” victims, a new figure that the tribunal established through its investigations, which is three times the numbers previously known.

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However, the tribunal stated on Thursday that the full list of names would be disclosed once the verification process is completed, to protect the judicial investigation and out of “respect and dignity for their families.”

More than 800 former military personnel have provided their accounts of these crimes before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, the tribunal established after the peace agreement signed eight years ago between the state and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Dozens of ex-soldiers have accepted responsibility for the extrajudicial executions.

The reading of the victims’ names was part of the exhibit “Women with Boots On,” presented by the mothers and relatives who have dedicated themselves to denouncing these cases and seeking justice.

International

FBI Warns of Possible Iranian Drone Attack on U.S. West Coast

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned police departments in California about a possible Iranian plan to carry out a drone attack against the west coast of the United States, according to a report published Wednesday by ABC News.

The warning was issued through a memorandum sent to agencies participating in a Joint Terrorism Task Force, outlining the possibility of a surprise attack involving unmanned aerial vehicles launched from a vessel off the U.S. coastline.

According to the document, intelligence suggested that in early February 2026 Iran may have considered an attack against unspecified targets in California if the United States carried out airstrikes on Iranian territory.

However, the memo also noted that authorities lack additional details about the timing, method, specific targets, or individuals responsible for the alleged plan.

Reports cited by U.S. media indicate that the alert coincided with the start of a military offensive by the administration of Donald Trump against the Iran, a development that has heightened tensions across the Middle East.

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Law enforcement sources with counterterrorism experience told the Los Angeles Times that the warning is part of a routine precautionary advisory based on information from the U.S. Coast Guard.

The sources emphasized that there is no credible indication of an imminent attack and no evidence that Iran currently has the capability to successfully carry out such an operation.

California is home to the largest Iranian community in the United States. According to the Migration Policy Institute, more than half of Iranian immigrants in the country lived in the state in 2019, including around 140,000 people in Los Angeles County alone.

The city also hosts a neighborhood widely known as “Tehrangeles,” where a large Iranian community began settling in the 1960s and continued to grow following the Iranian Revolution.

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International

Trump Says Iran Is Welcome at 2026 World Cup but Warns of Security Concerns

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said Thursday that the national football team of Iran is “welcome” to participate in the 2026 World Cup, although he suggested it might be safer for the team not to take part in the tournament.

“The Iranian national soccer team is welcome at the World Cup, but I really don’t think it’s appropriate for them to be there, for their own safety,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

His comments came a day after Iran’s sports minister, Ahman Donyamali, said that there are currently no conditions for the country to participate in the tournament following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, during a military offensive launched on February 28 by Israel and the United States.

“After the corrupt government killed our leader, there are no conditions that allow us to take part in the World Cup,” the Iranian official said. He added that the country has faced two wars in the past eight or nine months, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths, making participation in the tournament unlikely.

On Tuesday, the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, met with Trump at the White House.

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Following the meeting, Infantino said that Trump reiterated that Iran’s national team would be allowed to compete in the FIFA World Cup 2026.

“We discussed the current situation in Iran and the fact that the Iranian team has qualified to participate in the FIFA World Cup 2026. During the conversation, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” Infantino wrote on Instagram.

International

Iran issues threat to Trump as conflict escalates over Strait of Hormuz

The head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, threatened U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday, warning him to “beware of being eliminated.”

The Republican president had warned on Monday that he would strike Iran “very hard” if the Islamic Republic blocked oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively been closed since the war began eleven days ago.

“Iran is not afraid of your empty threats. Others more powerful than you tried to destroy the Iranian nation and failed. Beware that you are not eliminated,” Larijani wrote on X.

Earlier, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards — the ideological military force of the Islamic Republic — also said their forces would move to block oil exports from the Gulf.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s military offensive against Iran is far from over.

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“Our aspiration is that the Iranian people free themselves from the yoke of tyranny; ultimately, that depends on them. But there is no doubt that with the measures taken so far we are breaking their bones, and we are not finished yet,” Netanyahu said in a statement.