Protesters regroup in Colombian capital for protest against police brutality

Demonstrators took to the streets for a second night in Colombia’s capital Bogota on Thursday to press ahead with protests against police brutality that have erupted in violence and taken nine lives so far.

Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

The demonstrators were protesting the death this week of law student Javier Ordonez, 46. A widely-shared video filmed by Ordonez’s friend showed the father of two being repeatedly shocked with a stun gun by police. He died later in a hospital.

Some 300 protesters gathered once again Thursday afternoon outside the police station in Villa Luz, where Ordonez was taken before his death and which was heavily damaged on Wednesday.

“How many are you going to kill today,” screamed barista Alejandra Pulido, 25. “The authorities that should protect us are killing us!”

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Arrest of Colombia's Uribe will not curb his power but has focused party on reform

The house arrest of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in a witness tampering case is unlikely to dim his influence, but has focused his party on justice reform proposals they say will bring more consistency to the judicial process, according to politicians and analysts.

Uribe, perhaps the country’s most divisive politician, was placed under detention by the Supreme Court in a unanimous Tuesday decision that cited potential for obstruction of justice.

The ex-president, who now serves as a senator, has repeatedly declared his innocence amid accusations his allies undertook witness tampering in an attempt to discredit allegations that Uribe had ties to right-wing paramilitaries.

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Colombia Supreme Court places former President Uribe under house arrest

Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

Colombia’s Supreme Court placed former President Alvaro Uribe under house arrest in a unanimous decision on Tuesday while a fraud and witness tampering case continues.

Uribe, a mentor of President Ivan Duque who now serves as a senator, has repeatedly declared his innocence in the case and questioned the court’s independence.

The court reached the decision after concluding there was potential for obstruction of justice to take place, it said in a statement.

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Venezuela is a health 'time bomb,' Colombian president says

Colombian President Ivan Duque on Friday called Venezuela a public health “time bomb,” and said the lack of reliable information about the status of its neighbor’s coronavirus outbreak was a worry as his administration tries to control its own infections.

Colombia has long been the top destination for Venezuelans fleeing years of social and economic upheaval in their home country.

Asked if he was worried about Colombia’s lengthy borders with Venezuela and Brazil as a conduit for the virus, even though they are officially closed, Duque told Reuters he was, and said the issue with Venezuela was a lack of information.

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As quarantine wanes, Bogota's medics brace for a spike in COVID cases

A COVID patient lies shirtless on a gurney in a chill corridor of a hospital in Colombia’s capital Bogota, oxygen tubes coiled on his chest. It takes five staff - in scrubs, masks and face shields - to wheel him into the intensive care unit.

His intubation takes time. To protect themselves from coronavirus-infected saliva during the complicated procedure, the medics place a large orb-like shield over the man’s head.

Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

ICU nursing head Fernanda Castaneda said her staff are used to tending to ventilated patients but they are finding that COVID cases often occupy beds for weeks, instead of the three to five day turnaround for other lung conditions.

Her 14-bed unit - one of three ICUs reserved for COVID patients at El Tunal hospital in Bogota’s sprawling southern suburbs - is already filling up.

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