Ecuadorian police arrested three Colombians and one Ecuadorian in connection with alleged plans to kill Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, Attorney General Washington Pesantez said on Friday.
Initial reports said the Colombians had links to extreme-right paramilitary groups in their own country. However, Colombian authorities said they were drug traffickers with ties to the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The suspects had allegedly taken photographs from their hotel, very close to the Ecuadorian presidential palace in Quito, and had gathered information about the building’s security. The authorities did not say whether they were armed at the time of the arrest.
Ecuador and Colombia have no diplomatic ties since Colombian forces conducted a cross-border rain onto Ecuadorian territory on March 1 to attack a FARC camp.
The two countries recently agreed to restore ties at the level of charges d’affaires.
Colombia has accused Correa’s government of having given support to FARC rebels. Correa has denied this and has accused Colombia of violating international law.
The Colombian government has offered its help to investigate the alleged plot to kill Correa.
“We are at their disposal. Should Ecuadorian authorities require any kind of cooperation, we will provide it to the full,” Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo told Colombian radio station Caracol.
However, he said that “there are no more paramilitary groups in Colombia,” after the United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia demobilized over the past years.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
MIGRATION: The Supreme Court justices said they were not deciding whether Trump could legally use the Alien Enemies Act to deport undocumented migrants US President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at the US Supreme Court after it blocked his bid to resume deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members, saying the justices are “not allowing me to do what I was elected to do.” Trump’s berating of the high court, in a post on Truth Social, came after it dealt another setback to his attempt to swiftly expel alleged Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members using an obscure wartime law, the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA). Trump has been at loggerheads with the judiciary ever since he returned to the White House, venting
RSS