Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Colombia
Newsline: US Embassy in Madrid interviewed Colombia prostitute
Nearly four weeks after the Secret Service prostitution scandal erupted, U.S. government investigators on Thursday interviewed the Colombia prostitute at the center of the affair, which cost eight officers and supervisors their jobs and became an election-year embarrassment for the Obama administration. Dania Londono Suarez voluntarily met with investigators at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, agency spokesman Edwin Donovan said. He said the Secret Service investigation was nearly complete. More than 200 people, including most of the women involved, have been interviewed in the United States and Colombia. Londono mysteriously disappeared days after the incident and couldn’t be reached by investigators. In a radio and television interview from Madrid on May 4, Londono said she works as a prostitute in Colombia, catering to foreigners. She said after leaving Colombia, she spent some time in Dubai before going to Madrid. Londono said she met a Secret Service employee at a club in Cartagena, Colombia, last month and escorted him back to his hotel after a night of heavy drinking. “I told him it would be $800 and he said that was fine and not a problem,” Londono said in Spanish. But the next morning the officer refused to pay, offering her only about $30 for a taxi. Londono said she was insulted and tried for several hours to get paid, eventually asking a local police officer at the hotel for help. She said the argument ended when other Secret Service officers at the Hotel Caribe paid her about $250. The officers were in Colombia in advance of President Barack Obama’s arrival for a South American summit. Prostitution is legal in Colombia. A dozen employees have been implicated since the April 12 argument became public. Eight people, including two supervisors, have lost their jobs. The agency is moving to permanently revoke the security clearance for one other employee, and three others have been cleared of serious wrongdoing. Twelve military personnel have also been implicated. Londono left Colombia a few days after the incident and she said last week she said he had not been contacted by the Secret Service or anyone from the U.S. government. She described the officers involved as “fools” and said the whole situation could have been avoided if the man she spent the night with had just paid her.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/colombia-prostitute-at-center-of-secret-service-scandal-interviewed-at-us-embassy-in-madrid/2012/05/10/gIQAEDgLGU_story.html
Newsline: Two bombs explode near US embassy in Colombia
Four explosive devices went off in Colombia late on Friday ahead of an Americas summit, without causing any casualties or damage to the building, police said. The first two crude low-power bombs exploded near the US Embassy in Bogota shortly after the arrival in Colombia of US President Barack Obama, who is due to take part at the Americas summit in the resort city of Cartagena. “Nobody was killed, nobody was injured, and there was no damage,” a police official told Agence France Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity, and without giving any word on the suspects. That incident occurred at around 7.30 pm local time (0030 GMT Saturday), prompting police units to swarm into the area and begin an investigation. These explosions were followed by two similar ones in Cartagena, which is hosting the summit. “They occurred near a bus terminal and near a supermarket,” General Rodolfo Palomino of the Colombian police told reporter. “There were no injuries and no damage.” In addition to the US Embassy, the area in Bogota where the devices exploded is home to some important Colombian government buildings. The Colombian capital and other major cities have been a favored site of urban guerrilla attacks for decades.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/two-bombs-explode-near-us-embassy-in-colombia-shortly-after-obama-s-arrival-197425
Newsline: Colombia orders arrest of ambassador to Peru
Colombia’s Prosecutor General has ordered the arrest of the country’s Ambassador to Peru due to his alleged paramilitary links. Jorge Visbal Martelo is accused of having close ties with the head of the AUC’s Northern Bloc while he was president of the Colombian Federation of Cattle-Ranchers between 1998 and 2004, and seeking paramilitary support during the 2006 elections. The former congressman is said to be listed on a seized computer that belonged to the extradited paramilitary leader Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, alias “Jorge 40,” in documents that have led the Colombia’s Supreme Court to conclude the two men had a close working relationship. Ex-AUC commander Salvatore Mancuso and other paramilitaries have also implicated Visbal, the former senator and ambassador to Canada under the government of Alvaro Uribe, in the “parapolitics” scandal. They allege he was one of the “principal cattle-ranchers who paid the paramilitaries in Sucre,” reported newspaper El Tiempo. Responding to the allegations, Visbal said that his contact with the paramilitaries was limited to his work with an agricultural entrepreneurs group which contacted the paramilitaries on several occasions to propose a “humanization” of the war and seek a possible peace process.
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/22830-arrest-warrant-out-for-colombian-ambassador-to-peru.html
Newsline: US embassy warns of terrorism threat in Colombia
The U.S. Department of State renewed its travel advisory for Colombia, saying that although conditions have improved a terrorist threat remains. The advisory recalls two 2011 incidents of bombings in Bogota, neither of which caused fatalities. It goes on to say that “while the Embassy possesses no information concerning specific and credible threats against U.S. citizens in Colombia, we strongly encourage you to exercise caution and remain vigilent.” It warns that although kidnappings have become less frequent, “no one is immune from kidnapping on the basis of occupation, nationality, or other factors.” In 2011, one US citizen was kidnapped and released and another was abducted and murdered. The statement makes it clear that it is US policy not to negotiate with kidnappers saying that “the US government’s ability to assist kidnapping victims is limited.” It concludes by recommending that US citizens travel by air and warns not travel by road outside of urban areas at night.
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/22340-terrorism-threat-in-colombia-remains-us.html
Newsline: US Embassy denies funding illegal wiretaps
The Washington Post has falsely claimed that U.S. security aid was used in illegal wiretapping by Colombia’s intelligence agency DAS, said the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. “[TheUnited Statesgovernment] has not participated in any way in such violations or had information about it,” a U.S. Embassy statement said. According to the embassy, when it learned of the illegal surveillance of journalists, Supreme Court judges, opposition politicians, and members of NGOs, it immediately requested that the Colombian Prosecutor General’s Office investigate. “The U.S. has repeatedly stated that the alleged illegal wiretapping by the Department of Administrative Security (DAS) are unacceptable,” the embassy statement said. “The U.S. government has no knowledge that any equipment provided by theU.S.has been misused in Colombia,” newspaper El Colombiano quoted a U.S. State Department spokesman as saying. Colombian Vice President Angelino Garzon requested that theUnited Statesverify whether or not the claims of The Washington Post were true. The Washington Post reported that United States money, equipment and training were supplied to the Colombian intelligence agency DAS to carry out the illegal wiretapping and smear campaigns against opponents of the administration of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/18490-us-embassy-denies-funding-illegal-wiretaps.html
Newsline: U.S. Embassy employee accused of complicity in gun smuggling
Federal law enforcement are investigating a soldier accused of illegally exporting handguns toColombia, according to court documents. A complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Raleigh seeks a judge’s permission to destroy a Glock handgun that was seized during the investigation of Maj. John Cathell of Raeford. The gun and three magazines of ammunition were seized in late 2008 from an employee of the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, according to the complaint. It was seized during an investigation into the possible illegal export of 23 handguns by Cathell, who was deployed to Colombia at the time of the accusations, according to court documents. Cathell has not been charged with any crime, according to court records, but is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Fayetteville office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to an affidavit by Special Agent Thomas O’Connell with the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE and ATF agents locally and in Colombia have cooperated on the investigation, according to the complaint. Cathell is accused in court documents of giving the weapon as a gift to Edgar Hoyos, a Colombian citizen, while stationed in the country. He did so without acting in an official capacity and without the appropriate licenses, according to O’Connell’s affidavit, in violation of U.S. law. Both ICE and ATF are seeking to destroy the handgun. The order can be challenged if an interested party appears before the court and shows cause as to why it should not be granted.
http://m.fayobserver.com/articles?path=/articles/2011/06/22/1103334
Newsline: Japanese Embassy staffer in Colombia embezzled Y1.55 mil
A Japanese Embassy staffer in Colombia was found to have embezzled about 1.55 million yen in commissions for issuing passports between January 2007 and May last year, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. The 52-year-old Japanese national, who had been working at the embassy in Bogota since 1987, repaid the amount he had pocketed before being sacked on Jan 5, a ministry official said. The ministry plans to admonish his bosses at the embassy for poor supervision and has been consulting with Japanese police authorities about whether to file a criminal complaint against the man, the official added. The Japanese man, who was mainly responsible for issuing passports, told the ministry that he had illegally taken the money to cover his family’s education costs and loan repayments. The case came to light after the Board of Audit of Japan found last September that the number of passports issued in Colombia and the amount of commission income did not match, triggering an in-house investigation. In a similar scandal, a Paraguayan staff member at the Japanese Embassy in Asuncion was found last year to have embezzled about 1.64 million yen in commissions for issuing passports, visas and a certificate between March 2008 and January 2010.
http://www.japantoday.com/mobile/view/japanese-embassy-staffer-in-colombia-embezzled-y1-55-mil
Newsline: Venezuela breaks ties with US-allied Colombia
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has broken diplomatic relations with neighboring Colombia, accusing the close U.S. ally of fabricating reports that Colombian rebels find safe haven inside Venezuela. Souring already poor relations even more, Chavez said Thursday that he was forced to sever ties because Colombian officials insist he has failed to move against leftist rebels who allegedly have taken shelter on Venezuelan territory. At a meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington, Colombian Ambassador Luis Alfonso Hoyos presented photos, videos, witness testimony and maps of what he said were rebel camps inside Venezuela and challenged Venezuelan officials to let independent observers visit them. Chavez responded within hours, suggesting that his conservative Colombian counterpart, outgoing President Alvaro Uribe, could be attempting to provoke a war. Neither Chavez nor his OAS ambassador directly responded to the Colombian challenge to let people visit the alleged camps. But Chavez insisted Venezuela does everything possible to prevent members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the smaller National Liberation Army from crossing into Venezuelan territory. In Washington, Hoyos said that roughly 1,500 rebels are hiding out in Venezuela and he showed fellow diplomats numerous aerial photographs of what he identified as rebel camps inside Venezuela. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro announced that Chavez’s government had closed its embassy in Bogota and demanded that Colombia’s ambassador in Caracas leave the country within 72 hours.
Newsline: Venezuela recalls Colombia envoy
Venezuela has recalled its ambassador to Colombia, after Colombian officials accused Venezuela of hosting rebels on its territory. Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s foreign minister, said that the ambassador was brought home for “consultations”, in the most recent diplomatic spat between the two neighbours. Colombia announced on Thursday, for the first time, that it had proof of its long-held belief that members of guerrilla armies such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc)and the National Liberation Army (Eln) are based in jungles on Venezuela’s side of the border. Venezuela rejected the charges in a statement released on Friday, calling the Colombian announcement a “pathetic spectacle”. Venezuela also accused the US embassy in Bogota, Colombia’s capital, of “intrigue” for alleged involvement in the Colombian accusations. Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has said he believes Colombia is plotting with the US to ferment unrest in his country. Two years ago, Colombian forces attacked a Farc camp in neighbouring Ecuador, killing a rebel leader and prompting Ecuador and Venezuela to break off ties with Colombia.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/07/2010716153616990995.html
Newsline: US Denies Visa To Colombian Journalist
The U.S. government has denied a visa to a prominent Colombian journalist who specializes in conflict and human rights reporting to attend a prestigious fellowship at Harvard University. Hollman Morris, who produces an independent TV news program called “Contravia,” has been highly critical of ties between illegal far-right militias and allies of outgoing President Alvaro Uribe, Washington’s closest ally in Latin America. The curator of the Nieman Foundation at Harvard, which has offered the mid-career fellowships since 1938, said Thursday that a consular official at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota told him Morris was ruled permanently ineligible for a visa under the “Terrorist activities” section of the USA Patriot Act. U.S. Embassy and State Department officials refused to confirm the visa denial, citing privacy laws. “We were very surprised. This has never happened before,” said the Nieman curator, Bob Giles.
http://wap.cbsnews.com/site?sid=cbsnews&pid=sections.detail&catId=TOP&storyId=6659312
