Colombia

An estimated 2,000 Colombian soldiers, like 32-year-old Deivis, have signed up to defend Ukraine against Russia, for life-changing pay. He tells WLRN why he joined the fight, how he lost his leg on the battlefield and his new life playing soccer in Ukraine's "League of the Mighty."

Over the decades, the U.S. government has sent billions of dollars in aid to Colombia to help the country stamp out its cocaine industry. Now President Donald Trump is threatening to cut off aid to Colombia, jeopardizing the longtime antidrug cooperation and other security arrangements, including what analysts say is a covert CIA presence in the country.

An estimated 2,000 Colombian mercenaries serve on Ukraine's front lines, defending against Russia's aggression. They face death or serious injury on the conflict's brutal battlefields, for pay that could change their lives on the return home. It's also a chance to "defend freedom" and be on the side of the "good guys," they tell WLRN.

The strikes were launched Monday and announced on social media Tuesday. This is the first time multiple strikes have been announced in a single day. They mark a continued escalation in the pace of the strikes, which began in early September and had been spaced weeks apart.

The Treasury Department announced the penalties Friday, escalating tensions with Colombia, a key U.S. ally in South America. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused Petro of allowing drug cartels to flourish. Petro has denied the allegations and plans to defend himself in U.S. courts.

He was sentenced to 12 years in house arrest in August following a nearly six-month trial in which prosecutors presented evidence that he attempted to influence witnesses who accused the law-and-order leader of having links to a paramilitary group in the 1990s. In the appeal, his lawyers questioned the validity of the evidence and argued that the former president's responsibility was not "unequivocally" proven.

Colombia's leftist President Gustavo Petro is decidedly unpopular in the country and its South Florida diaspora — but President Trump also risks backlash there and here if he carries out his aid and tariff threats.

The U.S. will slash assistance to Colombia and enact tariffs on its exports because the country's leader, Gustavo Petro, "does nothing to stop" drug production, President Donald Trump said Sunday.

The two men were among an exodus of political opposition and civil society leaders to flee Venezuela after Maduro was widely accused of stealing last year's election and the government detained more than 2,000 people.

COMMENTARY Across the Americas, the "terrorism" charge is being leveled so recklessly by both the right and left that everyone is now considered a terrorist — which creates an atmosphere for terrorism.

Petro said the boat passengers were not gang members as claimed by the Trump administration. He argued they were poor young people from Latin America. The U.S. military justified the strikes as necessary to stop drug trafficking.

A report by Global Witness reveals that at least 146 land and environmental defenders have been killed or gone missing worldwide in 2024.