Bolivia Cuts Diplomatic Ties with Israel Over Strikes in Gaza

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Chile and Colombia said they were recalling their ambassadors to Israel in light of the strikes.

Bolivia has severed relations with Israel over its strikes on Gaza, a diplomatic decision that Israel condemned as a “surrender to terrorism” even as its own ties with other countries in Latin America began to fray.

Bolivia announced the decision on Tuesday. Two other Latin American governments — in Chile and Colombia — said the same day that they were recalling their ambassadors to Israel in light of the strikes on Gaza, which have come in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, which killed about 1,400 people and left more than 200 others as hostages.

In a statement, Chile accused Israel of refusing to respect international laws and said its airstrikes were a “collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza.”

On Wednesday, Israel responded, saying that Colombian and Chilean citizens were among the victims on Oct. 7. “Israel expects Colombia and Chile to support the right of a democratic country to protect its citizens,” Lior Haiat, a spokesman for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Bolivia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had cut diplomatic ties “in protest and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip, which threatens international peace and security.” » | Cassandra Vinograd and Emma Bubola | Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Colombia Plane Crash: Four Children Found Alive in Amazon after 40 Days - BBC News

Jun 10, 2023 | Four children have been found alive after surviving a plane crash and spending weeks fending for themselves in Colombia's Amazon jungle. Colombia's president said the rescue of the siblings was "a joy for the whole country". The children's mother and two pilots were killed when their light aircraft crashed in the jungle on 1 May.

As Latin America Shifts Left, Leaders Face a Short Honeymoon

THE NEW YORK TIMES: All six of the region’s largest economies could soon be run by presidents elected on leftist platforms. Their challenge? Inflation, war in Europe and growing poverty at home.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — In Chile, a tattooed former student activist won the presidency with a pledge to oversee the most profound transformation of Chilean society in decades, widening the social safety net and shifting the tax burden to the wealthy.

In Peru, the son of poor farmers was propelled to victory on a vow to prioritize struggling families, feed the hungry and correct longstanding disparities in access to health care and education.

In Colombia, a former rebel and longtime legislator was elected the country’s first leftist president, promising to champion the rights of Indigenous, Black and poor Colombians, while building an economy that works for everyone.

“A new story for Colombia, for Latin America, for the world,” he said in his victory speech, to thunderous applause.

After years of tilting rightward, Latin America is hurtling to the left, a watershed moment that began in 2018 with the election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico and could culminate with a victory later this year by a leftist candidate in Brazil, leaving the region’s six largest economies run by leaders elected on leftist platforms.

A combination of forces have thrust this new group into power, including an anti-incumbent fervor driven by anger over chronic poverty and inequality, which have only been exacerbated by the pandemic and have deepened frustration among voters who have taken out their indignation on establishment candidates. » | Julie Turkewitz, Mitra Taj and John Bartlett | Sunday, July 31, 2022

More Than One Million Dead in Latin America as Variants Spread | Covid-19 Special

Aug 2, 2021 • Experts say Latin America is fast becoming the new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than one million people there have died.

The only exception is Chile, where 80 percent of the population are fully vaccinated. Otherwise, health systems are struggling to cope. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of nearly 200,000 people in Peru, where the vaccination campaign is only slowly getting underway. Just 16 percent of the population are completely inoculated. The country is battling several coronavirus variants.

Colombia is experiencing one of the longest peaks of infection since the coronavirus arrived in the country. This third spike has put the national medical system to the test. Quarantine measures have been struggling to strengthen an already strained system. ICUs in the country's second largest city Medellín are over 95 percent occupied. Doctors insist the national model of pandemic care has failed.

The World This Week - Storm of the Century, Pope Francis in Colombia, Rohingyas, Syria

Colombian Prostitute Thought Obama Bodyguards Were 'Fools'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A US Congressman is demanding that government investigators interview the prostitute at the centre of the Secret Service's Colombia sex scandal after she described the bodyguards as 'fools'.

New York Republican Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, acted after Dania Londono Suarez [Dania Londoño Suárez] appeared on television to reveal her side of the story.

She said that it would have been easy for her to steal any of the documents or plans that President Barack Obama's bodyguards had with them in a hotel room on a presidential trip to Cartagena, Columbia, last month.

Miss Suarez said: "They were a bunch of fools. They are responsible for Obama's security and they still let this happen.

"I could have done a thousand other things. If I had wanted to, I could have gone through all his documents, his wallet, his suitcase."

Miss Suarez told Caracol News in Cartegena that she called the police after the Secret Service agent with whom she spent the night refused to pay her the $800 (£500) he had promised.

"Let's go, bitch – I'm not going to pay you," she said that he told her before throwing her out of the room in the early morning. » | William Lowther in Washington | Saturday, May 05, 2012

Chavez affirme avoir déployé des troupes militaires à la frontière avec la Colombie
Hugo Chavez a également annoncé la création d'une nouvelle "région militaire" à la frontière avec la Colombie. Photo : Le Monde
LE MONDE: Après avoir rompu les relations diplomatiques avec son voisin colombien la semaine dernière, le président vénézuélien Hugo Chavez a affirmé, vendredi 30 juillet, que son pays avait déployé des unités d'infanterie et de l'armée de l'air à la frontière avec la Colombie, en prévision d'une éventuelle attaque de cette dernière.

"Nous avons déployé des troupes, de l'armée de l'air (...) de l'infanterie, mais en silence parce que nous ne voulons déranger personne dans la population", a-t-il déclaré par téléphone à la télévision d'Etat VTV, sans donner de détails sur les troupes déployées. "Uribe [président sortant de Colombie] est capable de n'importe quoi dans les jours qui lui restent [au pouvoir] (...) Cela est devenu une menace de guerre et nous ne voulons pas la guerre", a poursuivi M. Chavez. Arrivé au terme de son dernier mandat, Alvaro Uribe transmettra ses pouvoirs le 7 août à son successeur élu Juan Manuel Santos. >>> LEMONDE.FR avec AFP et Reuters | Samedi 31 Juillet 2010

Cinq enfants sauvages découverts en Colombie
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: BOGOTA | Le père, qui souffre apparemment de troubles mentaux, avait contraint sa famille à vivre dans une grotte.

Cinq enfants que leur père avait contraints de vivre dans des grottes depuis leur naissance ont été découverts dans le centre-est de la Colombie. Ces jeunes âgés de huit mois à 11 ans se portent bien.

«Comme ils n'avaient jamais été en contact avec le monde extérieur, il n'a pas été facile de les emmener et de leur faire leur toilette. Quand on a allumé la télévision, ils sont partis en courant», a raconté samedi au journal «El Tiempo» de Bogota, Alirio Garzon, un membre de la Protection civile qui a secouru les enfants. >>> AFP | Samedi 29 Mai 2010

What Lurks Behind Iran's Close Relationship with Venezuela?
[T]he Iranian effort, which has been joined by Venezuela in a joint effort to establish a strong terror base in the region, is especially palpable in countries ruled by anti-American left wing regimes such as Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Bolivia.

Nonetheless, Iran has also increased its presence in Mexico and Colombia, which are considered more U.S. friendly. The rate of the increase of Iranian personnel in Mexican and Colombian embassies were described by the New York sources as "astronomical" and as "not proportional with the embassies' local requirements." Some believe that this increase is in fact in preparation for subversive activity.

In an exclusive report on the Iran-Venezuela cooperation, published by news Website Newsmax, a study conducted by Israel's Foreign Ministry is quoted as saying that 30 Iranian diplomats were dispatched to Nicaragua. A similar number was dispatched to Venezuela and other Latin American countries. >>> Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent | Thursday, January 1, 2009

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