Colombian dissident rebel leader issues new call to arms three years after peace deal

A group of former rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said in a video posted overnight that they will embark on a new offensive, threatening to resume five decades of armed conflict against the government.

Two former commanders from the group, known by their aliases Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich, appear in the 32-minute YouTube announcement, which Marquez said was filmed in Colombia’s Amazon jungle.

A peace accord signed by FARC and the Colombian government three years ago has come under pressure on various fronts, including the murder of hundreds of former rebels and human rights activists, delays in funding for economic efforts by former combatants, and deep political polarization.

Read the rest here.

How Brazil and Vietnam are tightening their grip on the world's coffee - Reuters

A towering machine rumbles through the fields of Julio Rinco’s farm in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, engulfing whole coffee trees and shaking free beans that are collected by conveyor belts in its depths.

Luisa Gonzalez - Reuters

This automatic harvester is one of several innovations that have cut Rinco’s production costs to a level that few who use traditional, labor-intensive methods can match.

With increasing use of mechanization and other new technologies, the world’s top two coffee producers, Brazil and Vietnam, are achieving productivity growth that outstrips rivals in places such as Colombia, Central America and Africa.

They are set to tighten their grip.

Read the rest here.

Despite killings, Continental Gold still on track with flagship Colombia mine - Reuters

Last September, Continental Gold Inc’s painstaking efforts to build community support for its gold and silver mine beneath the green skirts of Colombia’s Andes suddenly looked vulnerable when gunmen killed four of its employees in two separate attacks.

Julia Symmes Cobb - Reuters

Now, nine months later, and with upgraded security, the Buritica project is still on track to kick off production next May, with managers acknowledging last year’s setback but also confident the venture will prosper.

“Even if it’s terrorism you have to accept that you failed. You lost a life you failed, period,” Chief Executive Ari Sussman told Reuters last week on the sidelines of a tour of the mine for journalists and investors. “We couldn’t have seen this coming but it happened so we’ve rebuilt our system and brought in new people.”

Read the rest here.

Colombia tribunal begins hearing evidence on use of fracking - Reuters

Colombia’s top administrative court on Friday began hearings that could be long and contentious about proposals to drill for oil using the technique known as fracking, hailed for sharply boosting supplies but criticized for causing environmental damage.

The public hearings in the Council of State, which is tasked with ruling on administrative matters, stem from a decision made late last year to temporarily suspend regulations for development of non-conventional oil deposits.

Read the rest here.

In push to raise coffee output, Colombia's south may hold key

Reuters/Julia Symmes Cobb

Colombia’s isolated south could be crucial to the country’s push to expand coffee production by nearly 30 percent despite low global prices, its growers federation says, as farmers seek to ramp up productivity amid security improvements.

Output in Colombia, the world’s top grower of washed arabica, has hovered around 14 million 60-kg bags for four years as farmers battled extreme weather and low international prices, but the federation and the government have kept a medium-term 18 million bag goal.

To reach the target, the federation is preaching a gospel of productivity: touting tree renovation - which helped boost yields 30 percent in the last decade - and fertilization as a way to raise incomes without more land.

Read the rest here.