Andes, Colombia, Latin America: Week in Review
Colombia: FARC Plans To Release French Journalist
May 14, 2012 By Staff
Top Story — Red Cross officials said Sunday that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas have agreed to release French journalist Romeo Langlois, who was captured by the rebels while he was embedded with Colombian troops on April 28. The soldiers were in the process of destroying cocaine laboratories in southern Colombia when they were confronted by the rebels, who reportedly killed four members of the Colombian security forces. The head of the ICRC in Colombia said the Red Cross had received a message directly from the FARC saying the group was willing to let Langlois go and requested the involvement of mediator Piedad Córdoba to receive Langlois. The rebels have said that Langlois is a “prisoner of war” because he was captured wearing a flak jacket and helmet as he accompanied the Colombian soldiers.
Read more from AFP.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- Mexican authorities found 49 headless bodies dumped on a highway near the desert town of San Juan in northern Mexico. Graffiti saying “100% Zeta” was found nearby.
- Employees of El Mañana newspaper in Nuevo Laredo returned to work Saturday after their building was hit with gunfire and a grenade. No injuries were reported.
- Some of Alabama’s farmers are planting less due to a shortage of immigrant workers who have left due to the state’s strict immigration law.
Caribbean
- Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro, led a gay rights parade in Havana and said that she hoped gay marriage would be legalized in Cuba.
- Haitian President Michel Martelly marked his first year in office after being sworn in on May 14, 2011.
- A U.S. court ruled that Jehovah’s Witnesses must be permitted to enter gated communities in Puerto Rico, where at least 587 communities have barred them from proselytizing.
Central America
- El Salvador’s three main parties are preparing for the 2014 presidential elections, as the ruling FMLN looks to defend itself against ARENA’s strong position following the March municipal elections.
- The founder of anti-whaling organization Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will be extradited to Costa Rica to face attempted murder charges for a 2002 encounter with an illegal shark finning operation.
Andes
- Venezuelan intelligence agents questioned the author of a crossword puzzle after a TV host pointed out that a puzzle he’d created spelled out the words “asesinen” (“kill”) and “Adan”, the name of President Hugo Chávez’s older brother.
- U.S. citizen Jacob Ostreicher, jailed in Bolivia for 11 months without formal charges, has completed his first month of a hunger strike.
- A bus plunged in a ravine on Thursday night in Peru, killing 19 people and injuring seven.
Southern Cone
- Uruguayan authorities have two months to decide whether to put six Uruguayan marines on trial after a 19 year-old Haitian man accused them of sexually assaulting him when they served as UN peacekeepers.
- Chile’s Supreme Court on Friday halted construction on a hydroelectric dam project to be built in Patagonia.
- U.S. FBI agents have been training police in Brazil to respond to terrorist attacks in preparation for the 2014 World Cup.
- Seven people are missing after a Paraguayan tugboat collided with an Argentine ship on the Paraná River.
Image: Agencia Prensa Rural @ Flickr.
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