Colombia: Oh just the six election candidates murdered this week is it?

Top EngLang source on the country, Colombia Reports, brings us the chilling news. Here below is a small extract, read it all right here:

Six candidates in Colombia's upcoming local elections have been murdered in the last week alone, the Polo Democratico’s Camilo Romero told the senate on Tuesday.
According to Colombian media, Romero painted a bleak picture of the coming elections. According to the senator, 27 candidates have now been assassinated, while at least 66 more have received threats and been pressured to drop out of the race.

CONTINUES HERE

What US mining companies do in Colombia

Top EngLang source for all things Colombia, Colombia Reports, brings us the news of how US mining companies congratulate far right wing paramilitary terrorists when they go around assassinating people. Here's an excerpt:

U.S. coal giant Drummond congratulated members of paramilitary organization AUC on the murder of two labor rights activists working for the Colombian branch of the company, a paramilitary testified Wednesday.

Drummond is involved in a lawsuit filed by victims of paramilitary violence that accuse the coal company of having given money to paramilitary organization AUC between 1999 and 2005, during which 116 civilians were killed in the region where the firm operates.

According to Spanish press agency EFE, the lawyer of one of the bosses of the demobilized AUC, extradited Rodrigo "Jorge 40" Tuvar Pupo, told press that his client admits responsibility for the murder of the unionists in 2001.

A second paramilitary, "Samario," said in the hearing that two Drummond executives congratulated Jorge 40 and Oscar Jose Ospino, alias "Tolemaida" on the crime in a meeting that took place after the double homicide, Caracol Radio reported.

The two victims, Valmore Locarno Rodriguez and Victor Hugo Orcasita Amaya, were murdered in CONTINUES HERE

Colombia votes

This weekend sees the first round of voting in Colombia's Presidential elections (and also 'ley seca' starts today, which means no alcoholic drinks can be sold until the polls close Sunday), with the most likely result being frontrunners Santos and Mockus going to Ballotage in three weeks' time. IKN thoroughly recommends that you follow any and all developments this weekend via the best English language coverage of the country bar none, the excellent online news medium Colombia Reports.

An interesting read

Here's the link to the 191 page from the CIA Office of Inspector General entitled "Counterterrorism, Detention and Interrogation Activities, September 2001 to October 2003", written in May 2004 with 191 pages ready to read. A real pageturner, guaranteed to keep you enthralled right to the end.

Hey, why not download a copy? It's 17 mega big and so takes a while, but maybe it's one to keep for reading in your own time. H/T Miguel Olivera and his great blog

You should be reading 'Colombia Reports'

Colombia Reports is an English language online daily that popped up on my screen about a year ago. I've been drawn back to it more and more often, and nowadays it's part of my normal day-to-day reading.

For the wide coverage of Colombian affairs they cover, their team of what looks like 17 people (including editor, reporters, photographers, office and sales) is remarkably small. The best compliment I can offer them is to say I sometimes forget I'm not reading in Spanish over at the site, it's that good. These guys actually do real, genuine reporting, too. It's not just a whole page of newswire re-hashes that you can read in other places. It's the real deal, unafraid of reporting Colombia the way it is in English.

So now you know; there's a top quality news service out there on Colombia in the English language available to you for free (they survive on advertising and donations). Go see for yourself on this link and from today you'll find the link to Colombia Reports on the IKN right-hand linksbar.

Snippets and rumours and different countries and things

Think about it

The silly lamenting over the imminent demise of Venezuela's economy (pointed out this morning by your humble correspondent) has become so obvious that even a numbers zero such as borev has noticed a pattern. Luckily he's better at writing and things than Otto, so it's well worth clicking this link.

Meanwhile, guess what The USA's greatest friend and regional ally Alvaro Uribe said about Hugo's victory? Ready for a diatribe of criticism and fears for the future of Venezuela? Here's English language daily Colombia Reports with the quote: "I will respond positively with a feeling of brotherhood with the Venezuelan people and I want to publicly congratulate President Chávez for the democratic victory and the Venezuelan people for participating in a referendum." Explain that to Andres Oppenheimer, confusedgringoperson.

Now, what would a tiny, smelly (and recurring) little piece of horrid rumour about Kinross (KGC) and Russia heard by yours truly last week have to do with this note by Mish today? Something to do with the country running out of money? I dunno how all this fits together.........

I like it when someone tells the Wall St. Journal to go kiss their collective asses. It's even better when the teller can point out the factual errors made by the WSJ on its front page. Alex Dalmady has had a productive day one as a blogger, glad to say.

Chile's copper export revenues dropped 58% (fifty-eight percent!) YoY in January, which is a main ingredient in Chilean suits saying the country will grow by just 1.4% in FY09. But this drop in copper prices apparently won't affect world's number two producer Peru, as President Twobreakfasts today said it would grow 5.5% GDP in 2009. Peru's December growth was 4.9%. Nuff said.