The United States has no timeline for a change in government in Venezuela, a U.S. top official said, but is certain embattled President Nicolas Maduro will not remain in power.
“There’s no timeline on a return to democracy but it is coming, of that I’m certain,” James Story, the U.S. charge d’affaires for Venezuela, said in an interview. “This was never going to be something that was quite easy.”
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A proposal by Colombian coffee growers’ federation that producer countries sell their high-quality harvests untethered from the New York market price could encourage buyers to look for alternative providers, importers and exporters said.
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The 36,000 solar panels gleam in the tropical heat of a valley outside the city of Yumbo in western Colombia, feeding dozens of megawatts to a nearby soft drinks factory as well as the national grid.
The solar farm, built on the site of a former coal plant, is one of two mounted by electricity generator Celsia - the first such commercial farms in the South American country.
Julia Symmes Cobb
Colombia offers dream conditions for producers of solar and wind energy, due to the equatorial nation’s high radiation sunlight, three high-altitude Andean mountain ranges and long stretches of windy coastline.
President Ivan Duque’s right-wing government wants solar and wind to provide 9 percent of Colombia’s energy by the end of its term in mid-2022 - amounting to some 1,500 mega-watts, and up from 2 percent today.
But Colombia’s first attempt to auction solar and wind energy contracts ended without a result last month after the government said that because many bidding companies failed to meet requirements the projects would have ended up in the hands of too few applicants.
Renewable projects in Colombia also require major infrastructure construction and support from often-tetchy communities can be in short supply, companies and experts told Reuters.
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COSCUEZ, Colombia/TORONTO - A tiny company is trying to breathe new life into a fabled, four-century-old Colombian emerald mine without triggering unrest among wary locals who fear being shut out of the tunnels where they hunt for gems and make a meager living.
Luisa Gonzalez
Luisa Gonzalez
Fura Gems, the first listed emerald miner to operate in Colombia, has $10 million invested to date. The company, based in Dubai and listed in Canada, faces a community relations test as it tries to rehabilitate Coscuez, the country’s top producer until sometime after 1998, as declining investment and outdated mining methods eroded output.
For decades, residents have scoured the dozens of tunnels crisscrossing Coscuez for stones to buy their next meal. Locals say there are hundreds of people digging daily.
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ABOARD THE USNS COMFORT - Three-year-old Emily is curled in the corner of a bunk bed, under anesthesia. Her Venezuelan mother watches over her, swaying as the hospital ship pitches back and forth off the coast of northern Colombia.
Luisa Gonzalez
Emily’s parents spent years in Venezuela trying to get a mass removed from her right eyelid, but shortages of food and medicine forced them to migrate across the border to Colombia to seek treatment, as their nation’s healthcare system collapsed.
U.S. Navy surgeons completed the procedure in just 30 minutes, suturing the small wound with miniscule stitches aboard the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship making its penultimate stop on a Latin American tour of four countries including Peru, Ecuador and Honduras.
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