Pope authorized Colombian letter of support over pedophile cover up

Pope John Paul II authorized a letter of support sent by Colombian cardinal Dario Castrillon to a French bishop who had decided not to report a sexually abusive priest to the police, the cardinal says.

The cardinal had come under fire after the letter wherein he praises bishop Pierre Pican for his response to the rape charges and had called him an example for other members of the church.

"I congratulate you for not denouncing a priest to the civil administration," the now-Medellin cardinal wrote in the letter. "You have acted well and I am pleased

Army seizes two tons of FARC explosives

The Colombian army claims it seized two tons of explosives in the north of the Antioquia department. The explosives allegedly belong to the FARC.

According to the army, the explosives were found near the town of San Francisco and later detonated to be destroyed.

Aside from the explosives, the Army, together with investigators of the Prosecutor General's Office, found "other elements" belonging to the FARC.

"The material was to be used to carry out attacks against the security forces, the civilian population and to produce more than 3,000 anti personel mines."

The army says that it seized nine

Colombia replaces Venezuela trade with new markets

The president of Colombia's National Business Association, Luis Carlos Villegas, announced Friday that the country has found new markets for almost $2 billion worth of products previously exported to Venezuela, El Espectador reported Friday.

A program was established by the association earlier this year to find alternative destinations for products previously exported to Venezuela, after the socialist nation cut trade agreements with Colombia due to escalating diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

Now, according to Villegas, the program is close to recovering the $2 billion-worth of lost sales by seeking new markets. The lost revenue should be recovered by June this year.

Colombia's oil production to hit record high in 2010

Ronald Pantin, president of Canadian oil firm Pacific Rubiales, expects Colombia's oil production to hit 800,000 bpd this year, and even surpass its record high of 825,000 bpd, reached in 1999, La Republica reported Thursday.

"Later this year it should break the historic production. In fact, Colombia is aimed at one million barrels," Pantin said.

Director of the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), Armando Zamora, backed this prediction, saying that "sometime in 2010 or 2011 we will reach record levels of oil production in the country."

By 2015, Colombia's oil output could hit 1.3 million bpd, including 1.1

Olimpica boss denies Walmart deal

Alejandro Char, mayor of the Colombian coastal city Barranquilla, dismissed rumors that the Colombian Olimpica supermarket chain was in negotiations with U.S. retail giant Walmart.

Contradicting earlier reports, Char issued a statement Monday denying any kind of agreement.

"As we have on previous occasions made clear to the public securities market, Olimpica has not reported any negotiations with the U.S. network," he said.

Rumors of a deal between the two companies have been flying around since 2008, mainly based on statements issued by other members of the Char family, according to Deal Watch.

Char said that an analysis had been carried out by

Dancing with death: A bullfight in Bogota

Bullfighting in Colombia is popular but highly controversial; watched by the country's upper classes, it is opposed by many people as a vicious, cowardly sport. Fights take place at arenas across the country during the season, which runs from January to February, and a law passed in 2004 protects the sport, declaring bullfighting to be "an artistic expression of human beings." This was challenged recently by protesters who stripped naked in front of Bogota's Congress building in March this year, to campaign against what they see as the law's protection of an elitist bloodfest.

Anything with this combination of controversy, alcohol and gore is strangely intriguing to me. Hiding behind the "try anything once" mantra of the well-intentioned tourist, I decided I could leave my morals behind and

Avianca opens new Medellin-Madrid flight route

Colombian airline Avianca announced that it will open up a new connection between the central Colombian city of Medellin and Spain's capital Madrid, as well as increasing flights between Bogota and the Cordoba and Santander departments.

The new direct route between Medellin and Madrid will run twice weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays from Colombia to Spain, and Thursdays and Sundays for the return trip.

The new service means that Avianca will now run 19 direct flights between Colombia and Europe each week.

In an attempt to promote domestic tourism in Colombia, Avianca will also open up ten flights every weekday from

Uribe: FARC will return to Colombia under new govt

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Friday accused members of the FARC of hiding out abroad, awaiting until the end of his presidential term to return to Colombia, reports Caracol Radio.

According to Uribe, rebels from the Colombian guerilla organization have holed up outside Colombia to escape his anti-terrorist measures. The Colombian head of state warned that FARC members would try to return to Colombia to build up their organization, when a new administration takes power.

He also indicated that there are still tough terrorist skirmishes ahead and that the FARC hope to recover after finding refuge abroad.

Colombian presidential elections are

Preview: Liga Postobon Week 13

Independiente Medellin will attempt to reconquer the sole lead in the Colombian Liga Postobon in a home match with Once Caldas on Sunday.

The action starts on Saturday however when Junior travel to face Atletico Huila in Neiva. Junior are currently in third place but the competition is fierce in that region of the table, forcing the coastal team to win this game if they want to avoid the risk of dropping out of the top four.

Real Cartagena did exactly that after losing all of their last three games, and the magic that kept them in the top

Research group disputes Santos 'false positives' claim

The Research Center for Popular Education and the Program for Peace (CINEP/PP) is disputing claims by presidential candidate Juan Manuel Santos that the "false positives" scandal, over the army's murder of civilians, who were then reported as guerrillas killed in action, has been over for more than a year, according to Colectivo de Abogados.

Santos told media in March that the "issue of false positives was gone,"  and that "there has not been a single false positive case since October 2008."

CINEP/PP said in a report that there were in fact nine known cases of false positives between October 2008 and December 31 2009, seven of

Colombians biggest beer drinkers

Colombia is the most profitable beer market in the world for SABmiller, one of the world's largest brewers.

The Andean nation's beer sales were some of the least affected and fastest to recover from the global economic downturn, which hit the beer industry hard, the company's CEO Graham Mackay told Dow Jones Newswires at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Latin America in Cartagena.

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Source: Colombia news | Colombia Reports

'Venezuela is holding 20 Colombians on spying charges'

Colombia's Ombudsman Volmar Perez announced Wednesday that there are a total of twenty Colombian citizens currently being detained by Venezuela on charges of espionage, reported Colombian media.

Perez said that alongside the eight Colombians arrested for taking photographs of Venezuelan military telecommunications towers and highways at the end of March, the country's authorities also arrested twelve Colombian citizens on March 19, on suspicion of spying.

According to reports, the twelve detained Colombians, who were arrested at a country house in the Venezuelan state of Miranda, were friends and family of the property's owner.

The ombudsman explained that, "Venezuelan authorities found five

Improve your Spanish: Take a Cartagena taxi

English-speaking visitors to Colombia's premier tourist destination Cartagena will no longer have to engage in elaborate games of charades with taxi drivers, thanks to a new initiative to equip 4,000 taxis in the Caribbean port with English-Spanish phrase cards.

The "English Speakers" program, a joint intiative by the Ministry for Trade, Industry and Tourism and the Cartagena Tourism office, introduced the first 100 of the phrase cards into city taxis on Monday.

The introduction of the bilingual phrase-cards, which each contain 25 key phrases in English and Spanish, is part of a larger initiative to make the city more tourist-friendly.

"The

Playing pirates: Sailing from Panama to Colombia

For anyone who harbors a secret desire to play at being "Pirates of the Caribbean", a boat trip between Panama and Colombia may be just the ticket.

Travel between Panama and Colombia has always been notoriously tricky. The Pan-American Highway, which runs from the top of Alaska to the southern tip of South America, stops abruptly in Panama, making land travel virtually impossible. The swampy expanse known as the Darien Gap, which joins Central America to South America, is a drug traffickers' and guerrillas' paradise that few travellers dare to face.

However, enterprising sailors are increasingly running chartered trips between

Cartagena lose again, Once Caldas enter top four

Real Cartagena suffered their second defeat in a row and dropped to third place in the Colombian Liga Postobon, while Once Caldas beat Junior to enter the top four.

La Equidad of Bogota were by far the better side in their away match to former leaders Cartagena, and needed just seven minutes for Carlos Renteria to score the opening goal.

Edwards Jimenez levelled in the 11th minute but David Castro restored the visitors' lead two minutes later.

Renteria got his second from the penalty spot in the 20th minute and Jhony Cano delivered the fourth and final goal

Extreme weather dampens central Colombia Easter celebrations

Hailstorms, gale force winds and heavy rains have dampened Easter celebrations in the central Colombian department of Risaralda.

Belen de Umbria, in the west of Risaralda has been worst hit, with 14 of its neighborhoods and 121 surrounding districts declared "seriously affected" by the adverse weather conditions.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, emergency services and firefighters are providing aid to some 850 residents whose roofs were ripped their houses by the gale forces winds.

Residents' belogings and food stores have been flooded, and at least 80 families have had to find alternate lodging as heavy rains continue to

Bomba Estereo get the party started in Bogota

Colombian electro-folk fusion band Bomba Estereo will be treating fans to a preview of their upcoming performance at Bogota's Estereo Picnic music festival in April with a pre-launch party in the city's Armando Records bar.

The popular band from Bogota, who are recognized for their unique mix of traditional cumbia sounds with the modern tones of electro, will be showcasing some of their new tunes at the intimate gig on April 7.

The concert will serve as a launch party to Bogota's main music event, the Estereo Picnic festival, in which Bomba Estereo will be playing alongside international artists such

Top US official to visit Colombia

Senior U.S. State Department official Arturo Valenzuela will stop off in Colombia to attend a World Economic Forum (WEF) event in Cartagena, during a tour of several South America nations next week.

Valenzuela, the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, will participate in the WEF event, which runs from April 6 - 8, and convenes "400 of the most prominent leaders from Latin America and other parts of the world," according to the event's website.

During his time in Colombia, Valenzuela will also speak at the Universidad de los Andes in the capital city Bogota.

The focus of Valenzuela's