By Jorge Gil Angel Bogota, Apr 5 (EFE).- Five of the eight people standing for vice president in Colombia’s May 29 election are of African descent, but that milestone for Afro-Colombian inclusion has also brought the issue of racism to the fore. The main target of racist attacks has been Francia Marquez, an internationally recognized …
By Jorge Gil Angel Bogota, Mar 9 (EFE).- Colombians will head to the polls on Sunday to vote in legislative elections that will completely renew the upper and lower houses of Congress and have a major bearing on the next president’s governability. Since the last parliamentary elections in 2018, social unrest and an uptick in …
By Jorge Gil Angel Saravena, Colombia, Mar 3 (EFE).- Radio broadcasters in the northeastern Colombian department of Arauca, the scene of brutal fighting between leftist guerrilla groups, remain committed to keeping the public informed despite frequent death threats. Some of these reporters work for community radio station Sarare Stereo, which is based in this city …
By Jorge Gil Angel Saravena, Colombia, Mar 1 (EFE).- On January 19, a car bomb exploded a few meters from a building in the city of Saravena, in the Colombian municipality of Arauca, where some 60 community leaders had gathered. The activists survived the bombing because hours before the attack, they had erected makeshift barricades …
By Jorge Gil Angel Bogota, Feb 26 (EFE).- With two weeks to go before congressional elections, Colombia is experiencing an increase in violence by leftist guerrillas and by right-wing paramilitaries with ties to organized crime. While the usual targets of the guerrillas are the security forces, the paramilitaries focus on social and community activists and …