Colombia

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This Jungle Is Notoriously Dangerous. Why People Enter It Anyway

Welcome to the Darien Gap, lure to migrants bound for US

(Newser) - The Pan-American Highway runs about 19,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina and manages to connect the Americas in remarkable fashion through a network of roads. Well, almost: Even this highway can't penetrate the Darien Gap, a dangerous stretch of rainforest on the border of Panama and Colombia. As...

Hit Man Who Killed Hundreds Has New Career on YouTube

'Remorseful Popeye' killed hundreds in Colombia

(Newser) - A Colombian hit man who has admitted murdering around 300 people and playing a role in the killings of thousands more is now making what he calls "clean money from honest work"—as a YouTube star. Jhon Jairo Velasquez, former chief enforcer for Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel,...

US Firm Plans Expedition to Disputed Shipwreck

Even though Colombia says the San Jose galleon is all theirs

(Newser) - An American company isn't backing down on its claim that it's entitled to half the haul from the San Jose galleon, a treasure-laden Spanish ship sunk by the British in 1708 off the coast of Colombia. Sea Search Armada, which is based in Washington state, plans to head...

8 Tons of Coke Seized in Colombia's Biggest Bust Ever

'A hit against criminals,' country's president triumphantly tweets

(Newser) - Colombia's Defense Ministry has announced what it says is the country's biggest cocaine bust ever, with 17,500 pounds of coke seized from the nation's most notorious trafficking gang, CNN reports. The multiday operation targeted Clan Usuga, which has been described by the US Justice Department as...

Country Confirms Zika Crisis, Denies Birth Defects

Colombia's president speaks on the issue

(Newser) - Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday that there's no evidence Zika has caused any cases of the birth defect known as microcephaly in his country , though it has diagnosed 3,177 pregnant women with the virus. Santos also announced that a US medical-scientific team will arrive in...

2.1K Pregnant Colombians Infected With Zika

Country now has 21K cases, as virus spreads wildly

(Newser) - Just days after American scientists warned that the Zika virus was poised to become an "explosive pandemic," the CBC reports that the number of cases in Latin America are soaring into the thousands, with 2,100 pregnant women diagnosed among the 20,000-plus cases reported in Colombia alone....

Answer to a Whole Nation's Poverty? Its Richest Person

Top billionaire could end poverty in 3 countries, make inroads in others

(Newser) - As the world's richest and most powerful people leave the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, there was growing discussion about the impact the world's wealthiest could have, single-handedly, on the poverty rates of entire nations. One analyst at the Brookings Institution crunched some numbers and found that,...

Is This Mystery Woman the DEA's New El Chapo?

Well, maybe...

(Newser) - With El Chapo currently in custody (thanks, Sean Penn!), the DEA has a new most wanted fugitive. Maybe. The Houston Chronicle —citing a BBC Mundo story —claims a "mysterious" Colombian woman named Maria Teresa Osorio de Serna now tops the DEA's list of wanted fugitives....

Battle Brews Over Who Owns 'Holy Grail of Shipwrecks'

US company says it's owed 50%; Spain may want it all

(Newser) - The " holy grail of shipwrecks " has been found, but the rightful owner of its treasure—including gold, silver, and jewels worth up to $17 billion—has yet to be determined. US company Sea Search Armada claims to have discovered the area of the San Jose wreck back in...

Colombia Finds 'Holy Grail of Shipwrecks'

The sunken treasure could be worth up to $17B

(Newser) - "The holy grail of shipwrecks" has finally been found off the coast of Colombia, Mashable reports. "Great news! We have found the San Jose galleon," Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos tweeted Friday. The gold, silver, gems, and jewelry carried by the Spanish galleon—which was sunk by...

This Handshake Could End 50 Years of Bloodshed

Colombia's president, rebel group set deadline for peace agreement

(Newser) - President Juan Manuel Santos and leaders of Colombia's largest rebel group vowed to end Latin America's longest-running armed conflict in the coming months after a breakthrough in talks put the country closer to peace that it has been in half a century. Speaking in Havana, the site of...

Tom Cruise Film Pilot Killed in Plane Crash

Actor wasn't on board during accident in Colombia

(Newser) - A small plane assigned to the crew of a movie starring Tom Cruise crashed in the Colombian Andes yesterday, killing two people, including a Los Angeles-based film pilot. An official with the nation's aviation agency says Cruise was not aboard the aircraft. The official said an American, Alan Purwin,...

Dig May Reveal Biggest Urban Mass Grave

Colombia begins work near slum later this month

(Newser) - Some families of people who've gone missing in Colombia's decades-long civil may soon get some closure: Authorities plan to begin digging up what might be the "biggest urban mass grave" in in the world, reports Reuters . It's located inside a Medellin slum called Comuna 13. Over...

Guess Which Country Has 2nd-Most Spanish Speakers

Mexico has the most, with 121 million

(Newser) - Not speaking or studying Spanish yet? Then this might inspire you: The US now has the second-largest Spanish-speaking population outside of Mexico, according to a new study reported in the Guardian . According to Instituto Cervantes , a non-profit that promotes Spanish language and culture, the US now has 41 million native...

Mom, Baby Survive Crash, 4 Days in Jungle

'It's a miracle,' says Colombian Air Force officer

(Newser) - To call it a miracle might be a bit of an understatement: A teen mom and her infant managed to survive a plane crash in Colombia last week—and a subsequent four days in the jungle. Maria Nelly Murillo, 18, was flying from Nuqui to Quibdo with her nearly 1-year-old...

Cops: Woman Smuggled Cocaine in Breast Implants

She is arrested at airport in Colombia

(Newser) - She might have gotten away with it if she weren't acting so nervous. Airport authorities in Colombia detained a suspicious-acting woman for questioning and soon learned that she was trying to smuggle liquid cocaine in her breast implants, reports Reuters . The 22-year-old confessed when an X-ray revealed recent surgery....

Landslide Devours Town, Killing 52

Tragedy strikes Salgar, 60 miles from Colombia's Medellin

(Newser) - An avalanche of mud and debris roared over an alpine town in western Colombia before dawn today, killing at least 52 people in a flash flood and mudslide triggered by heavy rains. Residents were stirred from bed in the dead of the night by a loud rumble and neighbors' shouts...

Journalist Admits Sending Death Threat to Himself

Colombian didn't want his state protection to expire

(Newser) - Being a crime reporter in Colombia is a dangerous occupation, for sure, but a journalist there went a little too far in trying to protect himself. Yesid Toro went public with a death threat made against him, only to admit later that he had sent the threat to himself, reports...

Feds: DEA Agents Went to Colombia Sex Parties

Report slams handling of sexual misconduct at multiple agencies

(Newser) - The DEA was pretty relaxed about allegations that its agents attended sex parties funded by drug cartels, according to a Justice Department report on sexual harassment and misconduct at federal agencies. The report says the parties—which an official tells the AP took place in Colombia—allegedly happened in government-leased...

104 Cocaine Capsules Removed From Girl, 11

Father dumped her at a hospital

(Newser) - An 11-year-old girl is in critical condition after doctors removed from her stomach 104 cocaine-filled capsules her father made her swallow to smuggle drugs to Europe, police in Colombia say. Officers are hunting for the girl's father, who was seen on closed-circuit TV rushing into an emergency room in...

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