Colombia, Latin America: Week in Review
Colombia: Warrant Out For Ex-Peace Commissioner
February 10, 2012 By Staff
Today in Latin America
Top Story — A warrant was issued Thursday for the arrest of Luis Carlos Restrepo, Colombia’s peace commissioner from 2002-2009, for allegedly organizing a fake guerrilla demobilization in 2006. Restrepo is the third official from the government of former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe to face charges for wrongdoing, and the third to leave the country. The alleged FARC rebels handed themselves over to authorities in 2006, but in 2010 a number of those who had demobilized said they were actually never part of the guerrilla group. Former president Uribe defended Restrepo and said the accusations were part of a persecution by the judiciary against his cabinet.
Read more from the BBC.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- Mexican soldiers found 73 Central American migrants hidden in homes on the border with the U.S., but it was not clear if they were there against their will.
- The Mexican army seized 50 tons of methamphetamine at a ranch in Jalisco state as production of the drug rises with its popularity.
- The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals halted the deportation of seven undocumented immigrants, citing the need for more clarification of the Obama Administration’s new policy of “prosecutorial discretion”.
- Lawyers for former “Survivor” producer Bruce Beresford-Redman said Thursday that they were seeking their client’s release as he faces charges of murdering his wife in Cancún.
Caribbean
- The number of Dominican migrants killed in a capsized boat has risen to 51.
- A former director of Haiti’s state-owned telecommunications company pleaded guilty Wednesday in a Miami federal court to laundering money.
- A report released by Republican on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee said that 27 percent of detainees released from the Guantanamo Bay prison have re-engaged in terrorist activities.
Central America
- Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was released from the hospital and returned to jail on Thursday after fainting in his cell Sunday.
- Guatemala’s Mutual Support Group (GAM) helped reunite an indigenous family after they were separated in 1987 when army troops occupied their village.
- Honduras is slowly making economic recovery after its June 2009 coup.
Andes
- Venezuela extradited two former members of Colombian paramilitary organization AUC on Thursday after they were arrested Monday.
- Peruvian Shining Path leader Florindo Eleuterio Flores, known as “Artemio”, was reportedly wounded in a clash with soldiers early Thursday.
- Spanish human rights judge Baltasar Garzón was forced to cancel a trip to Colombia after he was suspended from the bench for involvement in a wiretapping scandal.
Southern Cone
- British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday that he would defend Falkland Islander’s wishes for “self-determination” after Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s threatened to go to the U.N. over the disputed islands.
- Paraguay’s vice president and his wife were hospitalized with symptoms of dengue fever, as 700 cases of dengue have been reported in Paraguay so far this year.
- Brazilian state oil company Petrobras named its first female CEO, Maria das Gracas Foster.
- The world’s largest virtual telescope is now operation in Chile, combining images from four different telescopes, according to astronomers.
Image:World Economic Forum @ Flickr.
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