Colombian authorities arrested two nationals accused of the illegal trafficking of migrants to the United States and of endangering lives due to the disappearance of a boat with 40 people aboard, U.S. Department of Justice officials reported on Tuesday.

Hernando Manuel de la Cruz Rivera Orjuela, 52, and Luis Enrique Linero Pinto, 40, both Colombian citizens, were arrested on December 13 in Colombia at the request of the United States for their alleged involvement in a “transnational human trafficking operation,” the department said in a statement.

According to the charges, the detainees were transporting migrants to San Andrés Island in the Caribbean, where they would then be taken by boat to Nicaragua. The goal was to reach the United States through Central America and Mexico.

The accused are said to have advised the migrants on how to reach San Andrés Island, where they personally received them, arranged accommodations, and “took them to the boats that transported them to Nicaragua so they could enter the United States illegally,” the statement reads.

Advertisement

20241211_mh_noexigencia_dui_728x90

20240813_lechematerna_728x91

20240701_vacunacion_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

domfuturo_netview-728x90

20240604_dom_728x90

20230816_dgs_728x90

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

CEL

“These defendants put several migrants on the boat that disappeared off the coast of Nicaragua in 2023,” said Deputy Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as cited in the statement.

Both men are “directly and personally responsible for the illicit trafficking of migrants on that vessel,” according to the indictment dated October 23.

Two soldiers were killed and five others were injured by the explosion of homemade landmines planted by a criminal group in a mountainous area of the Mexican state of Michoacán (west), the Secretary of Defense reported on Tuesday.

The attack occurred on Monday morning in the municipality of Cotija, a border area between Michoacán and the state of Jalisco, when the military was conducting a reconnaissance mission after receiving information about an armed camp in the area, explained Secretary General Ricardo Trevilla.

“At that moment, an improvised explosive device detonated. Unfortunately, two soldiers lost their lives, and five others were injured,” the military leader detailed. The affected soldiers were airlifted to hospitals in the region by a military helicopter, while the rest of the team continued with the reconnaissance of the area.

Trevilla stated that before the explosion, the military unit had located the dismembered bodies of three people, and upon continuing the mission, they confirmed the camp was abandoned.

Asked about the individuals responsible for placing the explosives, the general suggested they could be criminals linked to the local group Cárteles Unidos, which operates in Michoacán and uses these tactics in their territorial dispute with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country.

Advertisement

20241211_mh_noexigencia_dui_728x90

20240813_lechematerna_728x91

20240701_vacunacion_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

domfuturo_netview-728x90

20240604_dom_728x90

20230816_dgs_728x90

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

CEL

On Tuesday, Ecuador announced the exchange of $1.527 billion of its external debt, which will reduce its liabilities and free up $460 million to protect the Amazon rainforest. This money will benefit from the largest fund created through this mechanism.

“We have managed to exchange $1.527 billion of global bonds, which means debt, for a new impact loan of $1 billion with better payment conditions,” said Ecuador’s Minister of Economy, Juan Carlos Vega, during an event attended by President Daniel Noboa in Quito. “With this operation, we have generated more than $460 million, which will be exclusively allocated to the protection of our Amazon,” he added.

Debt-for-nature swaps are designed to help countries refinance their obligations under better conditions and allocate the savings to environmental or social goals.