Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Colombia
Newsline: Colombian intelligence reportedly spied on Russian and Cuban diplomats
Colombian intelligence carried out OUT surveillance operations against Russian and Cuban diplomats stationed in Colombia between 2016 and 2019, according to media reports that surfaced earlier this week. The reports claim that Colombia’s National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) was behind the operations, which involved physical, as well as electronic, surveillance. (https://intelnews.org/tag/russian-embassy-in-colombia/) One of the operations was reportedly codenamed CATEDRA, and targeted three senior staff members of the Russian embassy in the Colombian capital Bogota. In addition to the diplomats themselves, DNI agents allegedly spied on the diplomats’ spouses and their children. In some cases, DNI agents disguised themselves as “street vendors” in order to spy on the homes of the diplomats. The DNI also spied on at least 10 Cuban diplomats and other members of the embassy of Cuba in Bogota, according to the same reports. The operation, codenamed MATIAS, investigated alleged “Cuban interference” in Colombia, and took place while the Cuban government was hosting peace talks between the Colombian government of then-president Juan Manuel Santos and leaders of the country’s largest militant groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). According to the reports, the DNI recruited a Cuban embassy worker, instructing her to “install [surveillance] devices and extract information from the building where control targets [were] located”. This eventually enabled the DNI to gain “access to security cameras and rooms throughout the building” of the Cuban embassy, the reports claim. Operations MATIAS and CATEDRA were reportedly concluded in 2019.
Newsline: Diplomatic spat between Guatemala, Colombia intensifies
A diplomatic row between Guatemala and Colombia deepened on Tuesday as Guatemala’s government accused Colombia’s defense chief of crimes related to a high-stakes graft probe he once led as a special prosecutor in Guatemala. On Tuesday, the minister at the center of the storm – Colombian defense chief Ivan Velasquez – took to Twitter to thank those who have rallied to his side, including President Gustavo Petro, while also touting the need to fight graft. “We know the monster, we’ve seen it up close,” wrote Velasquez, who was the head from 2013-2019 of a U.N.-backed anti-corruption body that operated in Guatemala. “The fight against corruption has to be a goal, a collective action,” he added. Over the past year, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei has faced a growing chorus of critics claiming he has slammed the brakes on anti-corruption efforts, as well as forcing some judges and prosecutors to flee the country. On Monday, Guatemala insinuated that Velasquez had committed crimes. A Guatemalan prosecutor later clarified that Velasquez is being investigated for “illegal, arbitrary and abusive acts” stemming from his investigation into an alleged bribery scheme involving Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Petro defended Velasquez, saying he would not accept any arrest warrant for him. (https://neuters.de/world/americas/guatemala-summons-ambassador-colombia-consultations-defense-minister-tussle-2023-01-17/) The spat led both nations to summon their ambassadors for consultations.
Newsline: Ruined consulate reflects years of conflict between Colombia and Venezuela
Without doors or windows, its walls covered with graffiti, the Venezuelan Consulate in the Colombian capital is in ruins. The vandalized structure with a trash-strewn lawn sticks out like a sore thumb in the upscale north Bogota neighborhood. The lone police officer standing guard is in no position to keep out intruders or even to stop passers-by from dumping garbage, including – on the occasion of Efe’s visit – a used tire. (https://www.laprensalatina.com/derelict-consulate-reflects-years-of-strain-between-colombia-and-venezuela/) Links between Caracas and Bogota have been troubled for years and the relationship broke down entirely in 2019. Colombia’s consulate in Caracas remained intact during the rupture, newly appointed Colombian Ambassador Armando Benedetti said after arriving in the Venezuelan capital. In April, the Venezuelan government submitted a formal complaint about a fire at the consulate in Bogota as a result of “permanent vandalization” and demanded that Colombia’s then-president, Ivan Duque, render “due respect and protection” to Venezuela’s diplomatic missions. The ceilings of the building still bear traces of the fire and the graffiti on the internal walls are accompanied by clothing and mattresses apparently belonging to homeless people. All of the furniture was stolen within months of the diplomatic breach, to be followed by the windows, doors and other fixtures. The new Venezuelan envoy to Colombia, Felix Plasencia, said this week that restoring the consulate and other diplomatic outposts would be a priority.
Newsline: Colombia rejects Venezuelan proposal to resume diplomatic relations
Colombia rejected a proposal to resume diplomatic relations with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government on Thursday, amid a dispute over a fugitive former Colombian congresswoman who was captured in Venezuela. Maduro abruptly cut diplomatic relations with neighboring Colombia last February after Colombian President Ivan Duque helped Venezuelan opposition politicians deliver humanitarian aid to their crisis-stricken country. Colombia, like the majority of Western democracies, recognizes Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s legitimate president. “We see little possibility to provide consular and other services in Venezuela, plainly and simply because of the constant aggressions doled out by the dictatorship against many countries that have rejected it,” Duque told journalists Thursday. (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-venezuela/colombia-rejects-venezuelan-proposal-to-resume-diplomatic-relations-idUSKBN1ZT30R) Maduro proposed the resumption of consular relations between the countries on Wednesday, as Colombia seeks the extradition of former Colombian congresswoman Aida Merlano. Merlano was detained in January in Venezuela’s Zulia state, which borders Colombia, four months after she escaped custody in Venezuela.
Newsline: US diplomatic staffer in Colombia is missing and presumed dead
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that an American staffer from the US Mission in Colombia is missing and presumed dead after a boating accident over the weekend. The top US diplomat, speaking alongside the Colombian president in Bogota, said the boating accident occurred on Saturday and that other government personnel had been involved. Some were rescued with “modest injuries” and one was airlifted to the US for treatment, Pompeo said. The missing worker’s next of kin had been notified, Pompeo said, but they were withholding the individual’s name for privacy considerations. A spokesperson for the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs told CNN that the employee was “on temporary assignment to the US Embassy in Bogota” and was “engaging in tourist activities in Cartagena” when the boating accident occurred. (https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/20/politics/us-mission-colombia-worker-dead-boating-accident/index.html) Colombian President Ivan Duque expressed his condolences over the accident. He said Navy, Coast Guard and local services were participating in search efforts for the body of the missing worker. According to a press release from the Colombian navy, the accident occurred near the Rosario Islands, off the coast of Cartagena. 11 of the 12 passengers in the boat were rescued, the release said.
Newsline: Colombia Ambassador Criticizes State Department in Recording
Colombia’s ambassador in Washington was embarrassed by publication of a recording in which he trashes the State Department as a feckless institution subjugated to the whims of the White House. The Colombian newspaper Publimetro posted the recording of a 24-minute conversation between Ambassador Francisco Santos and Colombia’s foreign minister-designate, Claudia Blum. The paper said the private conversation took place last week at a Washington cafe and was recorded by a third person it did not identify. In the conversation, Santos complains that the State Department has lost the muscle as a driver of U.S. policy in Latin America that it had a decade ago when he was Colombia’s vice president. He says policy decisions are now primarily made by the National Security Council’s director for the Western Hemisphere, Mauricio Claver-Carone. “I used to come to the U.S. because I was responsible for human rights … So you would arrive to the State Department and you knew how things worked,” said Santos, who then recounts a conversation with an Asian ambassador who seemed similarly concerned. (https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/11/20/world/americas/ap-lt-colombia-us.html) “The State Department, which used to be really important, is destroyed. It’s non-existent, non-existent,” Santos continues. Colombia has long been the United States’ staunchest ally in Latin America and Santos’ reflections about whom he refers to as the “gringos” are bound to irritate some of the country’s backers in Washington. There was no immediate comment from the State Department. The office of Colombian President Ivan Duque said Santos had been summoned back to Bogota for a meeting with the president. The ambassador, a former journalist whose kidnapping decades ago at the hands of drug boss Pablo Escobar was the subject of a book by Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, apologized for his comments. He said the conversation was illegally recorded but offered no details to back the claim.
Newsline: Ireland opens its first Embassy in Colombia
Colombia took the first step when it opened its first Embassy in Dublin last year, and in January, Ireland reciprocated, with its first-ever diplomatic representation in the country. Ireland’s presence in Colombia dates to back to Simón Bolívar and the Independence campaign when 1,000 Irish volunteers left Europe in the 19th century under the command of the Cock-born General Daniel Florence O’Leary (1801- 1854). “We have a very long history with Colombia,” says Ambassador Milton, recalling one of Bolívar’s closest confidants and well-known figure in Colombian history. (https://thecitypaperbogota.com/news/republic-of-ireland-opens-its-first-embassy-in-colombia/21887) The opening of an Irish Embassy in Bogotá was, therefore, the Ambassador explains, “in the offing for some time” and a decision that comes as Ireland expands its missions’ network across Latin America.
Newsline: Venezuelan President Breaks Ties With Colombia Amidst Deadly Aid Crisis
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced on Feb. 23 that his government had broken diplomatic ties with Colombia after the government there aided opposition activists in seeking to bring the aid into Venezuela. “Patience is exhausted, I can’t bear it anymore, we can’t keep putting up with Colombian territory being used for attacks against Venezuela,” Maduro said in a speech. “For that reason, I have decided to break all political and diplomatic relations with Colombia’s fascist government.” Colombian diplomats were given 24 hours to leave Venezuela. Foreign minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said Colombia would blame Venezuela’s president if anything happened to its diplomats, Reuters reported. “Colombia holds the usurper Maduro responsible for any aggression or violation of the rights of Colombian officials in Venezuela,” said the foreign minister (https://www.npr.org/2019/02/23/697289540/venezuelan-military-fires-on-protesters-killing-2-in-confrontation-over-aid). At least four people were killed and hundreds injured as opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro clashed with Venezuelan security forces over the weekend. Anti-Maduro activists were largely unsuccessful in their efforts to bring shipments of food and medicine into the country Saturday, according to reports from the borders with Colombia and Brazil.
Newsline: Colombian ambassador complains about Sun’s ‘GO KANE!’ front page
Colombia’s ambassador to the UK has complained after the Sun published a front page that referenced the country’s links to the cocaine trade in the run-up to Tuesday’s World Cup clash with England. The headline reads: “As 3 Lions face nation that gave world Shakira, great coffee and er, other stuff, we say … GO KANE!” next to a picture of England striker Harry Kane. “It’s rather sad that they use such a festive and friendly environment as the World Cup to target a country and continue to stigmatise it with a completely unrelated issue,” said the ambassador, Néstor Osorio Londoño, who is hosting a party for Colombian fans in a traditional English pub. “Respect, fair play and joy for the game is all that matters tonight. We’ll be cheering for Colombia and hoping we can all enjoy a great match.”
Newsline: New Colombian president open to moving embassy to Jerusalem
The newly elected Colombian president said recently he would be open to moving the country’s embassy to Jerusalem, potentially becoming the fourth country, and third from Latin America, to do so. Conservative Ivan Duque won just over 54 percent of the vote, beating out leftist rival Gustavo Petro’s, who took 41.7% with nearly all the votes counted, electoral authority figures showed. On May 16, Duque said at a campaign event that if elected he would not rule out “the possibility of placing the diplomatic seat in Jerusalem.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-colombian-president-open-to-moving-embassy-to-jerusalem/
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