Colombia's cemeteries may hold answers for families of disappeared

Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

When her 17-year-old son Jose Andres was kidnapped by paramilitaries at the height of Colombia's civil conflict, Gloria Ines Urueña vowed she would not leave the sweltering riverside town of La Dorada until she found him.

She has been true to her word for more than two decades - searching for her son's body despite threats from the group that killed him.

An estimated 120,000 people have gone missing during Colombia's nearly 60 years of conflict. A 2016 peace deal between the government and the Marxist FARC rebels brought some respite, but another left-wing insurgency and armed criminal gangs - many descended from right-wing paramilitaries - persist.

Now a national plan to identify victims buried anonymously in cemeteries has renewed the hope Urueña and thousands like her hold of finding their loved ones' remains.

The Search Unit for Disappeared People, founded under the 2016 deal to fulfill one of its key promises, is investigating cemeteries across Colombia, hoping to untangle years of chaotic record-keeping and neglect, identify remains, and return them to families.

Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

"Back then, I spent a month looking near the river, near the dump, farms, all that, and I was alone," said Urueña, as a forensic team examined human remains at La Dorada's cemetery.

"I've always said I don't just want to find my son: I want to find all of the disappeared."

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Gold diggers: Illegal mining near Colombian town hits Zijin output

When China's Zijin Mining paid $1 billion to buy an extensive gold mine in the Colombian Andes in late 2019, security risks were a top concern, despite an operation by the military which had beat back illegal miners.

The company's pre-deal jitters were warranted: illegal extraction by wildcat miners in tunnels either within or adjoining its concession has shot up since the operation's end.

Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

Thousands of illegal miners are now working in difficult, sometimes-deadly conditions in dozens of tunnels and about 150 clandestine processing locations in Buritica municipality, local government and a specialized anti-illegal mining unit of the police told Reuters.

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Colombia will not rest in fight against killers of activists, Duque says

Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

Colombian President Ivan Duque defended his administration’s handling of the killings of hundreds of human rights activists, saying the government would not rest “a single day” in its fight against the armed groups it blames.

At least 133 activists and community leaders were murdered last year, according to U.N. figures, the latest data to trigger international condemnation - including from the Biden administration - and calls for Duque’s government to do more to protect activists.

His administration has repeatedly said its blows against criminal groups, illegal mining and drug trafficking will help protect activists, but it has often given few details about its efforts, including a recent promised increase in operations.

Most activists who have been killed had not requested government protection, Duque told Reuters in an interview late on Friday.

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Colombia to give temporary protective status to Venezuelan migrants

Colombia will give temporary protective legal status to Venezuelan migrants, President Ivan Duque said on Monday in a joint announcement with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

The status will allow the migrants to work legally in Colombia. Colombia has been the top destination for people fleeing economic and social collapse in neighboring Venezuela. Some 966,000 of the 1.73 million Venezuelan migrants living in Colombia do not currently have legal status.

“We need to take action,” Duque said at a press announcement. “This process marks a milestone in Colombia’s migration policies.”

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As it hits 1 million coronavirus cases, Colombia prepares for vaccine

In a warehouse near Bogota’s airport, behind a heavy cold storage door, sit boxes upon boxes of lifesaving vaccines for everything from yellow fever to polio, awaiting transport to the furthest reaches of Colombia.

The tall shelves, kept at a chill 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit), are half-empty - leaving plenty of room for an eventual COVID-19 vaccine.

Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

Colombia surpassed 1 million infections on Saturday afternoon, becoming the eighth country globally to do so, tallying 1,007,711 confirmed infections and 30,000 deaths.

As scientists around the world race to find a coronavirus inoculation, Colombia says it is ready to distribute any vaccine which proves effective.

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