siyasetçi, İspanya
Race to free trapped survivors offers some hope in Colombia
PEREIRA: Rescuers raced in Colombia on Friday to free four people from a collapsed hotel, a rare sign of hope nearly four days after one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the Andean nation in decades left hundreds dead or missing. The operation in the coffee-region city of Pereira had become the main focus of a disaster response increasingly shifting from the search for survivors to the grim work of clearing debris and accounting for the missing. “My son is getting married on Sunday,” said Hernan Giraldo, the father of 24-year-old Juan Felipe, one of the people rescuers hope to save. “I’m waiting here to hug my son, alive. He was in that hotel room. I’ve been here since Monday night in case something happens, to find him.” Venezuelan rescue workers, who arrived in Pereira after searching for survivors from the devastating twin quakes that hit their country’s Caribbean coast just seven weeks ago, were helping at the site with thermal imaging cameras. “We’ll always have high hopes; we’ve found people alive even 10 days later. The goal is to search and find people alive,” said Cristian Acevedo, one of the Venezuelan rescue workers. Aid workers warn of more people homeless, displaced in quake-hit country Colombia’s 7.4-magnitude quake struck shortly after 7:30am on Monday, with its epicentre in San Jose del Palmar in the province of Choco. It toppled apartment blocks and damaged homes, schools and hospitals across western Colombia, from the Pacific port of Buenaventura to the inland cities of Cali and Pereira. 400 people missing Authorities said on Friday 287 people had been killed and nearly 4,000 injured. Nearly 400 others were still missing. Cali and Pereira accounted for over two-thirds of those killed, and more than half the injured were in major cities. Tens of thousands of homes were damaged and many destroyed, according to government figures, underlining the scale of a disaster that has left many Colombians sleeping in shelters or outside unsafe buildings. As of Friday morning, operations had resumed in all but one airport. The UN refugee agency warned the earthquake could trigger fresh displacement in a country already grappling with conflict, migration and other humanitarian pressures. “For internally displaced people and refugees who are already trying to rebuild their lives, this earthquake risks becoming another displacement on top of displacement,” United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokesperson Eujin Byun told reporters in Geneva. Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2026
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorRace to reach trapped Colombia quake survivors offers hope
PEREIRA/BOGOTA, Colombia, Aug 14 - Rescuers in Colombia raced to free survivors still trapped under the rubble on Friday, four days after one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the Andean nation in decades left hundreds of people dead or missing.
Kolombiya'daki depremde en çok can kaybının yaşandığı Pereira'da halk yaşadıklarını anlattı
Kolombiya'da 265 kişinin hayatını kaybettiği 7,4 büyüklüğündeki deprem, ülkenin Pereira kentinin özellikle merkezinde büyük yıkıma neden oldu; halk hem yakınlarını hem de sahip olduğu birçok şeyi kaybetti.
Kolombiya depreminde can kaybı 265'e yükseldi
Kolombiya'da 10 Ağustos'ta meydana gelen 7.4 büyüklüğündeki depremde hayatını kaybedenlerin sayısı 265'e yükseldi. 465 kişi ise kayıp. Güney Amerika ülkesi Kolombiya'da 10 Ağustos'ta meydana gelen 7.4 büyüklüğündeki depremin bilançosu ağırlaşıyor. Cumhurbaşkanı Abelardo de la Espriella, depremde hayatını kaybedenlerin sayısı 265'e yükseldiğini, 465 kişinin ise kayıp olduğunu duyurdu. Espriella, depremde en çok can kaybının yaşandığı Pereira kentinde yaptığı açıklamada, ülkenin çeşitli bölgelerini etkileyen depremde evlerini kaybeden ailelere kira desteği sağlanacağını söyledi. Başkentteki Bogota Gıda Bankası, felaketten etkilenen mağdurlara yardım etmek amacıyla bu hafta yaklaşık 50 ton gıda ve bozulmayan ürün gönderecek. Kolombiya'nın Pereira kentindeki Matecana Uluslararası Havalimanı, depremin altyapıda ciddi hasara yol açması nedeniyle ticari uçuşlara ara verirken, havalimanının ne zaman yeniden hizmete açılacağı belirsizliğini koruyor.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorSearch for Colombia earthquake survivors enters critical window
CALI/PEREIRA, Colombia, Aug 12 - Colombian rescue teams raced on Wednesday to find survivors still trapped beneath collapsed buildings two days after a powerful earthquake killed close to 250 people across the nation's western valleys and coffee-growing region.
What makes earthquakes so deadly?
As Colombia reels from one of the strongest earthquakes in its recorded history that killed at least 250, just weeks after more than 6,000 deaths in twin quakes in neighbouring Venezuela, many turned to scientists to learn why this series of tremors was so deadly. Moving plates Colombia and Venezuela sit on the boundaries of several moving tectonic plates, whose slow, constant friction creates a build-up of energy that is periodically released, causing an earthquake. German Prieto, a geologist at the National University of Colombia (UNAL), told Reuters that Colombia’s quake involved the Nazca plate sliding beneath the South American plate far beneath under the earth’s crust, which is just about 40 kilometres deep in the Andean region. The US Geological Survey estimated the magnitude of Monday’s quake at 7.4, striking at a depth of 100 km, versus the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitudes of Venezuela’s late June quakes, at a shallower depth of less than 20 km. A woman walks past the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Pereira, Colombia on August 11, 2026. —AFP/File The depth of the epicenter in Colombia’s quake sent tremors as far as Panama, but gave energy more room to dissipate, averting a far worse disaster. “Colombia is a seismic country and we have to be prepared for these natural disasters,” Prieto said. “You can’t predict or prevent them, but their effects can be mitigated.” Motion and magnitude An earthquake’s magnitude is measured by a logarithmic scale that gets bigger with every unit, so that a quake of magnitude 7 is more than 30 times stronger than one of magnitude 6. Colombia’s strongest earthquake, one of magnitude 8.8 that struck some 50 km off the northern Ecuadorean coast in 1906, unleashing a powerful tsunami that killed hundreds, released 126 times more energy than Colombia’s latest quake. Another factor is motion. The events in Colombia and Venezuela were strike-slip earthquakes, set off by the horizontal movements of Earth’s crust, leading to a type of shaking that is far more dangerous for buildings. A drone view of members of a Slovakian rescue team taking part in rescue efforts at the site of a collapsed building in the Mision Vivienda government residential complex, in the aftermath of the June 24 earthquakes, in Los Cocos, in La Guaira state, Venezuela on July 1, 2026. —Reuters/File Major earthquakes can often also cause aftershocks, a grave risk for those returning to structures damaged by the first impact. Colombia had registered more than 100 aftershocks by Tuesday afternoon. Both of Venezuela’s June earthquakes occurred along a separate fault, initial data shows. The second was larger, leading the US Geological Survey to classify the initial 7.2 quake as a “foreshock”. Terrain and infrastructure Countries particularly prone to earthquakes, such as Chile and Japan, enforce regulations to ensure buildings can withstand fierce shaking, with use of strong yet flexible designs that let them sway without snapping. Informal housing or poor investment in engineering, however, can be devastating when quakes hit densely-populated cities. The 2010 Haiti earthquake is estimated to have killed more than 300,000 at a cost equivalent to 120 per cent of the prior year’s GDP. Volunteers ask for silence with their fist up as they search for survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Cali, Colombia on August 11, 2026. —AFP/File Colombia began designing earthquake-resistant construction in the 1970s and adopted its first building code in 1984 after a destructive quake in Popayan. Its current code was established in 2010. Prieto said location, materials and building code compliance are key to making earthquake-resistant cities, adding he believed this week’s destruction should be studied to improve existing building regulations. Another key factor is soft terrain. Mexico City, built on a dried-up lake bed, is vulnerable even to faraway earthquakes because of the amplifying effect of the soil structure. Venezuela’s coastal area of La Guaira, built on soft, loose soil, was hard hit in June, as were Colombia’s western valleys this week. Forward planning Imposing costly and hard-to-implement building codes in areas rarely hit by serious quakes can be difficult, while region-specific risks are also tough to guard against, said Suzan van der Lee, a seismologist at Northwestern University. “Our earthquake record is long but not so long that we’ve seen every possible type of shaking,” she told Reuters. “We’re often surprised when earthquakes happen in ways we haven’t seen before.” Building networks of seismic stations and sharing data across borders is key to help lower risks, van der Lee added. “Global sharing of data is very, very important because most earthquakes occur on tectonic plate boundaries that are always near political and continental boundaries.” Header image: A man sits near debris at the Torres de Limonar building in the aftermath of an earthquake, in Cali, Colombia on August 11, 2026. —Reuters/File
Kolombiya ve Venezuela'yı Sarsan Ölümcül Depremlerin Ardındaki Bilim‘Orada kimse var mı?’
Güney Amerika ülkesi Kolombiya’da son 10 yılın en güçlü depremlerinden biri pazartesi sabahı meydana geldi. 7.4 büyüklüğündeki deprem Kolombiya’nın batı bölgesindeki şehirleri vurdu ve paniğe kapılan bölge halkını sokaklara döktü. Depremde en az 234 kişinin öldüğü, 1310’dan fazla kişinin yaralandığı ve 165 binanın yıkıldığı bildirildi. 2 bin 700 kişi için ise kayıp başvurusunda bulunuldu. Can kayıpları ağırlıklı olarak Cali, Pereira, Manizales ve Quibdo kentlerinde yoğunlaştı. Göreve başlamasının üzerinden henüz üç gün geçen Kolombiya Cumhurbaşkanı Abelardo de la Espriella, ülkede olağanüstü hal (OHAL) ilan ederek kapsamlı bir kurtarma operasyonu sözü verdi. Zamana karşı yarışan Kolombiyalı gönüllüler ve kurtarma ekipleri, enkazları elleriyle kazıyarak ve “Orada kimse var mı?” diye seslenerek kayıpları, hayatta kalanları aramaya başladı. Fenere ihtiyaç var Kolombiya’nın üçüncü büyük şehri Cali’de gönüllüler; kazma, temel aletler ve elleriyle enkaz altındakilere ulaşmak için hızla işe koyuldu. Gönüllü kurtarma işçisi Nelson Moreno, “Buraya ulaşmak inanılmazdı. Kıyamet günü gibiydi; arabalar ve motosikletler ters yönde ilerliyor, herkes sevdiklerini arıyordu. Şu an gece de çalışmaya devam edebilmek için en çok fenere ve koruyucu gözlüğe ihtiyacımız var” dedi. Kurtarma ekipleri tuğla ve molozları taşımak için insan zincirleri oluştururken, enkaz altından gelebilecek bir yaşam sesini duyabilmek için her birkaç dakikada bir çalışmalara ara verip sessizlik sağlandı. Bir diğer gönüllü Andres Felipe Mejia ise “Herkesi canlı çıkarmaya çalışıyoruz. İtfaiyecilere ve halka yardım etmek için malzeme ve yiyecekle gelen çok sayıda insan var” diye konuştu. ‘Zombi şehri gibi’ Depremden en ağır etkilenen kentlerden biri olan Pereira, pazartesi gecesi elektrik kesintileri nedeniyle karanlığa gömüldü. Gönüllüler, yıkılan binaların altında bir yaşam belirtisi bulabilmek için arama çalışmalarını sürdürüyor. Bölge sakinleri, “Burası bir zombi şehrini andırıyor” derken ağır hasar görmüş, yıkılmanın eşiğindeki binalar da paniğe neden oluyor. 7.4 büyüklüğündeki deprem, başkent Bogota dahil olmak üzere Kolombiya genelinde hissedildi. Başkentte çok sayıda kişi sokaklara pijamalarıyla çıktı. 110 kilometre derinlikte meydana gelen sarsıntı, komşu ülkeler Ekvador ve Panama’da da hissedildi. ABD Jeolojik Araştırmalar Merkezi (USGS) uzmanları, depremin muhtemelen Nazca tektonik plakası içindeki derin bir fay hattının hareketiyle tetiklendiğini açıkladı. Depremden sonra Kolombiya’nın beş şehrindeki hastanelerde kırmızı alarm durumuna geçilirken Cali kentinde gece sokağa çıkma yasağı ilan edildi. Sivil havacılık ajansı, altı havalimanında operasyonların askıya alındığını duyurdu. Bu yıkım, komşu Venezuela’da 6 bin 300’den fazla kişinin ölümüne ve binlerce kişinin evsiz kalmasına neden olan ikiz depremlerden iki ay sonra gerçekleşti.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorKolombiya’da bilanço ağırlaşıyor! Can kaybı 200'ü aştı; kentlerde sokağa çıkma yasağı ilan edildi
Güney Amerika ülkesi Kolombiya'da dün meydana gelen 7,4 büyüklüğündeki depremde hayatını kaybedenlerin sayısı 234'e çıktı. Kolombiya Başkentler Birliğinden (Asocapitales) ülkeyi vuran 7,4 büyüklüğündeki depremin ardından son duruma ilişkin açıklama yapıldı. Açıklamaya göre, depremde hayatını kaybedenlerin sayısı 234'e yükseldi, 1310'dan fazla kişi yaralandı. Ulusal basına göre, depremde en fazla can ve mal kaybının olduğu Pereira, Cali, Quibdo, Manizales ve Armenia kentlerinde kırmızı alarm ilan edildi ve güvenlik gerekçesiyle sokağa çıkma yasağı uygulamaya konuldu. 2 bin 700 kişi için kayıp başvurusunda bulunulurken, can kaybının daha da artmasından endişe ediliyor. Ülkenin üçüncü büyük kenti Cali'de deprem nedeniyle bazı yolların çöktüğü ve 10 hastanenin hizmet veremediği bildirilirken, başkent Bogota ile Medellin'den arama kurtarma ekipleri bölgeye destek için sevk edildi. Quibdo ve Manizales'te ise deprem, su, elektrik, telekomünikasyon ve ulaşım hizmetlerinde kesintilere neden oldu. 70'TEN FAZLA ARTÇI KAYDEDİLDİ Kolombiya Jeoloji Hizmetleri de büyük depremin ardından 70'ten fazla artçının kaydedildiğini bildirdi. Artçıların en büyüğünün 4,8 şiddetinde olduğu aktarıldı. CALİ'DE SOKAĞA ÇIKMA YASAĞI İLAN EDİLDİ Cali Belediye Başkanı Alejandro Eder, basına yaptığı açıklamada, güvenlik ve yağma olaylarını önlemek amacıyla sokağa çıkma yasağı ilan edildiğini, kararın acil durum ve kurtarma ekiplerinin çalışmalarını daha güvenli ve hızlı yürütmesini sağlamak için alındığını söyledi. ABD Jeolojik Araştırmalar Merkezi (USGS), depremin merkez üssünün Kolombiya'nın batısındaki San Jose del Palmar kasabasının yaklaşık 5 kilometre doğusu olduğunu ve depremin 7,4 büyüklüğünde meydana geldiğini açıklamıştı. VENEZUELA, EKVADOR VE PANAMA'DA DA HİSSEDİLMİŞTİ Deprem, Kolombiya'nın yanı sıra Venezuela, Ekvador ve Panama'nın çeşitli bölgelerinde de hissedilmişti. Merkezi Venezuela'da bulunan Telesur internet sitesinin haberine göre, Kolombiya'daki deprem nedeniyle Venezuela'da bazı binaların dış cepheleri kısmen yıkılmış, bir katedral ve bir havalimanı hasar görmüştü. UltrAslan tribün lideri 'Sebahattin' Şirin hakkında karar verildi Anadolu Medya Ödülleri sahiplerini buldu! Yılın Gazete Genel Yayın Yönetmeni Ödülü Özay Şendir'e
Bajaur'da baraj yakınında patlama: İki kişi hayatını kaybettiColombia earthquake death toll surges to 224 as search for survivors continues
The death toll from a devastating earthquake that flattened dozens of buildings in western Colombia jumped to 224, local authorities said on Tuesday as emergency workers dug through the wreckage for survivors. Rescue efforts carried into a second day as emergency workers dug through collapsed buildings and flattened homes, amid expectations that the death toll from the country’s most powerful earthquake in decades could rise. The 7.4 magnitude earthquake, the most powerful to strike the South American country in decades, tore through Colombia’s coffee-growing heartland early on Monday, reduced multi-story buildings to rubble in cities such as Pereira and Cali, and caused one of the spires of a cathedral in the city of Manizales to collapse. Emergency teams aided by police, soldiers and volunteers worked through the night with excavators and, at times, their bare hands, hunting for survivors beneath debris. Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed building following an earthquake, in Cali, Colombia, August 10, 2026. — Reuters Jose Fernando Usma, head of search and rescue for the Quindio branch of the Colombian Red Cross, said rescuers had detected sounds and some signs that could indicate survivors beneath the rubble, and were assessing damaged structures and removing debris to reach people trapped deeper inside. “We still have a big window of time. We have approximately 24 more hours to have hope of life,” he said. In Cali, home to about 2.2 million people, at least 95 people were killed. Dozens of buildings were left leaning precariously or destroyed outright, forcing residents into the streets. Several of the top floors of one of the city’s hospitals — some dedicated to pediatric care — collapsed upon themselves, leaving some patients trapped and forcing some 600 others to be tended to on a street strewn with rubble, hospital director Irne Torres Castro told Caracol television. Carmen Yasmin Garcia, 43, a Cali resident volunteering with rescue teams, said on Monday afternoon that her group had freed seven people from a collapsed building, but four others and a dog remained trapped. “A moment ago there was scratching, but now we can’t hear anything; we still have faith that the dog is alive and we can get these people out,” Garcia said. “We need people with sticks and spades, the more people lending a hand the better.” In Pereira, the capital of the hard-hit Risaralda region, authorities reported 72 deaths, while officials in neighbouring Valle del Cauca, which includes Cali, reported 38 fatalities. Pereira also bore some of the most visible destruction, with entire residential blocks reduced to piles of concrete and twisted steel. Video posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed the city’s airport violently swaying during the quake, with large chunks of the ceiling collapsing as people took shelter. Another 13 people died in Choco, the rural province closest to the quake’s epicenter. Security forces headed to Cali President Abelardo De La Espriella, who assumed power just days ago, said 1,000 members of the security forces would be deployed to the city by dawn, following reports of looting. Cali, as well as Pereira, implemented curfews on Monday night. “Our intention is to cooperate in any way necessary. Here, there are no distinctions or ideological divisions when it comes to defending our people or showing solidarity,” De La Espriella told journalists on Monday evening. The disaster has drawn comparisons to a deadly 1999 earthquake that devastated the same coffee-growing region, killing more than 1,000 people, as well as to catastrophic quakes that killed more than 6,300 in neighboring Venezuela in June. EU providing support: Kallas European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday the EU was providing funding to support the rescue efforts. “The EU has mobilised Copernicus, our satellite service, to support rescue and relief operations. We are providing funding to support the response, including through the Red Cross,” Kallas posted on X. “We have also activated the EU’s crisis consular assistance mechanism to support EU citizens caught in the disaster,” she said. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed deep grief over the loss of lives and widespread devastation in Colombia. “Deeply saddened by the tragic loss of lives and widespread devastation caused by the powerful earthquake in Colombia. On behalf of the people and government of Pakistan, I extend my heartfelt condolences to President Abelardo De La Espriella, the people of Colombia, and all the families who have lost their loved ones. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and all those affected by this tragedy. Pakistan stands in solidarity with the people of Colombia in this difficult hour,” he wrote on X.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorColombia reels after major earthquake kills at least 130 | First Thing
Buildings collapse and more than 470 people hurt in 7.4-magnitude quake. Plus, in such a vast universe why is there no sign of aliens? Good morning. More than 130 people died after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia, collapsing and severely damaging scores of buildings in main cities, including Cali and Pereira. The US and Colombian geological surveys reported that a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck at 7.34am local time on Monday, with its epicentre in the western department of Chocó. It was felt in neighbouring Venezuela, still reeling from a deadly double earthquake on 24 June. The quake killed at least 132 people and more than 570 were injured as of Monday afternoon, according to the Colombian Association of Capital Cities, which coordinates cities across the country. How has the government responded? In a national address, Colombia’s president, Abelardo de la Espriella, said: “The national government has all of its capabilities deployed to protect lives, assist affected communities and deliver aid wherever it is needed. The first priority is rescuing the people trapped under the rubble. Colombia has a president whose heart aches for his people and who will do everything in his power to help them in the most difficult moments.” Continue reading...
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorBolivia's Paz tests fragile coalition with reform push, IMF deal
LA PAZ, Aug 11 - Just nine months after taking office as Bolivia's president amid a broader rightward shift in Latin America, Rodrigo Paz faces an uphill battle in winning backing for a package of market-oriented reforms even as his governing coalition fractures.
Kolombiya'da 7.4 şiddetinde deprem: Geniş çaplı yıkım kameralara yansıdı
Kolombiya'da meydana gelen 7,4 büyüklüğündeki depremde 132 kişi hayatını kaybetti. Felaketin ardından acil durum ilan edilirken geniş çaplı yıkım kameralara yansıdı. Kolombiya Başkentler Birliği (Asocapitales), ülkeyi vuran 7,4 büyüklüğündeki depremin ardından son duruma ilişkin açıklamada bulundu. Açıklamada, depremde ölenlerin sayısı 132'ye yükselirken, 700'den fazla kişi ise yaralandığı belirtildi. Ulusal basına göre, depremde en fazla can ve mal kaybının yaşandığı Pereira, Cali, Quibdo, Manizales ve Armenia'da kırmızı alarm ilan edilirken, söz konusu kentlerde güvenlik gerekçesiyle sokağa çıkma yasağı uygulamaya konuldu. Arama-kurtarma çalışmalarının aralıksız sürdüğü kentler arasında en fazla can kaybı, 60 kişinin hayatını kaybettiği Pereira'da yaşandı. Basına göre, 188 kişi için kayıp başvurusunda bulunulurken, can kaybının daha da artmasından endişe ediliyor. Ülkenin üçüncü büyük kenti Cali'de deprem nedeniyle bazı yolların çöktüğü ve 10 hastanenin hizmet veremediği bildirilirken, başkent Bogota ile Medellin'den arama-kurtarma ekipleri bölgeye destek için sevk edildi. Quibdo ve Manizales'te ise deprem, su, elektrik, telekomünikasyon ve ulaşım hizmetlerinde kesintilere neden oldu. SOKAĞA ÇIKMA YASAĞI İLAN EDİL Cali Belediye Başkanı Alejandro Eder, basına yaptığı açıklamada, güvenlik ve yağma olaylarını önlemek amacıyla sokağa çıkma yasağı ilan edildiğini, kararın acil durum ve kurtarma ekiplerinin çalışmalarını daha güvenli ve hızlı yürütmesini sağlamak için alındığını söyledi. ABD Jeolojik Araştırmalar Merkezi (USGS), merkez üssü Kolombiya'nın batısındaki San Jose del Palmar kasabasının yaklaşık 5 kilometre doğusunda 7,4 büyüklüğünde deprem meydana geldiğini açıklamıştı. Deprem, Venezuela, Ekvador ve Panama'da da hissedildi. Merkezi Venezuela'da bulunan Telesur internet sitesinin haberine göre, Kolombiya'daki deprem nedeniyle Venezuela'da bazı binaların dış cepheleri kısmen yıkıldı, bir katedral ve bir havalimanı hasar görmüştü. 10 Ağustos 2026'da Kolombiya'nın Pereira kentini vuran depremin ardından oluşan hasar ve yıkım görülüyor. Depremin ardından tamamen çökmüş bir bina görüntüleniyor.
Bajaur'da baraj yakınında patlama: İki kişi hayatını kaybettiColombia rescue efforts press on after earthquake; death toll stands at 164, expected to rise
Rescue efforts across western Colombia carried into a second day on Tuesday as emergency workers dug through collapsed buildings and flattened homes, amid expectations that the death toll from the country’s most powerful earthquake in decades could rise. The 7.4-magnitude earthquake tore through Colombia’s coffee-growing heartland early on Monday, killing at least 164 people. The quake reduced multi-story buildings to rubble in cities such as Pereira and Cali, and cracked apart one of the towers of a historic cathedral in the city of Manizales. Emergency teams aided by police, soldiers and volunteers worked through the night with excavators and, at times, their bare hands, hunting for survivors beneath debris. Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed building following an earthquake, in Cali, Colombia, August 10, 2026. — Reuters In Cali, home to about 2.2 million people, at least 85 people were killed. Dozens of buildings were left leaning precariously or destroyed outright, forcing residents into the streets. Several of the top floors of one of the city’s hospitals — some dedicated to pediatric care — collapsed upon themselves, leaving some patients trapped and forcing some 600 others to be tended to on a street strewn with rubble, hospital director Irne Torres Castro told Caracol television. Carmen Yasmin Garcia, 43, a Cali resident volunteering with rescue teams, said on Monday afternoon that her group had freed seven people from a collapsed building, but four others and a dog remained trapped. “A moment ago there was scratching, but now we can’t hear anything; we still have faith that the dog is alive and we can get these people out,” Garcia said. “We need people with sticks and spades, the more people lending a hand the better.” In Pereira, capital of the hard-hit state of Risaralda, authorities reported 66 dead. The city also bore some of the most visible destruction, with entire residential blocks reduced to piles of concrete and twisted steel. Video posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed the city’s airport violently swaying during the quake, with large chunks of the ceiling collapsing as people sheltered. Another 13 people died in Choco, the rural province closest to the quake’s epicenter. Security forces headed to Cali President Abelardo De La Espriella, who assumed power just days ago, said 35 people died in Cali alone, while 188 were missing. He said 1,000 members of the security forces would be deployed to the city by dawn, following reports of looting. Cali, as well as Pereira, implemented curfews on Monday night. “Our intention is to cooperate in any way necessary. Here, there are no distinctions or ideological divisions when it comes to defending our people or showing solidarity,” De La Espriella told journalists on Monday evening. The disaster has drawn comparisons to a deadly 1999 earthquake that devastated the same coffee-growing region, killing more than 1,000 people, as well as to catastrophic quakes that killed more than 6,300 in neighboring Venezuela in June. EU providing support: Kallas European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday the EU was providing funding to support the rescue efforts. “The EU has mobilised Copernicus, our satellite service, to support rescue and relief operations. We are providing funding to support the response, including through the Red Cross,” Kallas posted on X. “We have also activated the EU’s crisis consular assistance mechanism to support EU citizens caught in the disaster,” she said. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed deep grief over the loss of lives and widespread devastation in Colombia. “Deeply saddened by the tragic loss of lives and widespread devastation caused by the powerful earthquake in Colombia. On behalf of the people and government of Pakistan, I extend my heartfelt condolences to President Abelardo De La Espriella, the people of Colombia, and all the families who have lost their loved ones. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and all those affected by this tragedy. Pakistan stands in solidarity with the people of Colombia in this difficult hour,” he wrote on X.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorTuesday briefing: To drill or not to drill – Burnham’s first big climate test
In today’s newsletter: As we enter our fifth summer heatwave, Andy Burnham’s government is looking at what the UK should do with its remaining North Sea oil and gas Good morning. What a difference a new job can make. “To have a shot at staying within 1.5C global warming, we can’t have any new oil or gasfields … It’s irresponsible and shortsighted to be funding new #fossilfuels when we need to be getting to #NetZero.” This was the 2022 message from Miatta Fahnbulleh, now the secretary of state for energy security and net zero. It’s a testament to her remarkable rise that Fahnbulleh wasn’t even an MP when she posted it four years ago. Today, she is in the cabinet, facing (or is the face of, at least) one of the most challenging, and potentially controversial questions looming for the new government: to drill or not to drill, baby? Two sites are the focus of fierce debate. Yesterday, a public consultation on whether to greenlight extraction at one of them – Jackdaw – closed. Next Monday, it’ll be the same for the other, Rosebank. Andy Burnham has been silent about the climate crisis since taking office. As we enter yet another heatwave, what his government does next will be a defining signal of intent on the issue. Colombia | More than 100 people have died after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia, collapsing and severely damaging scores of buildings in major cities including Cali and Pereira. UK weather | Almost three-quarters of England is now in drought, with four more regions officially declared, and as much of Europe braces for its fifth climate crisis-driven heatwave this summer. Crime | Police are investigating whether Joshua Kerry, the man charged with the murder of the former Reform UK and Conservative politician Ann Widdecombe, had any role in an attempted burglary last year at the then London home of Nigel Farage. China | More than a million people were moved to safety across eastern China by Sunday evening as powerful Typhoon Dolphin made landfall amid fears torrential rain would cause flooding and landslides. Ukraine | Russia has banned voting against the war in September’s elections, after the supreme court upheld a suit brought by a small pro-Kremlin nationalist party, and stripped voters of their last option on the ballot: Yabloko, the country’s only remaining anti-war party. Continue reading...
Burnham'ın İlk Büyük İklim Sınavı: Kuzey Denizi'nde Sondaj KararıKolombiya'yı 7.4'lük deprem vurdu. Can kaybı artıyor
Güney Amerika ülkesi Kolombiya'da meydana gelen 7,4 büyüklüğündeki depremde şimdiye kadar 132 kişi hayatını kaybetti. Hükümet ulusal acil durum ilan etti. ABD Jeolojik Araştırmalar Merkezi (USGS), merkez üssü Kolombiya'nın batısındaki San Jose del Palmar kasabasının yaklaşık 5 kilometre doğusu olan 7,4 büyüklüğünde deprem meydana geldiğini açıkladı. Açıklamada, depremin derinliğinin 107 kilometre olduğu bilgisi paylaşıldı. Choco yönetim bölgesi başta olmak üzere Barranquilla, başkent Bogota, Medellin, Manizales, Pereira ve Bucaramanga gibi ülkenin çeşitli kentlerinde hissedilen deprem büyük paniğe neden oldu. Hasar tespitine yönelik çalışmalar sürüyor. Kolombiya Cumhurbaşkanı Abelardo De La Espriella, sosyal medya platformundaki hesabından yaptığı açıklamada, depremin merkez üssü olan San Jose del Palmar kasabasında acil durum müdahalesini doğrudan yönettiğini ifade etti. De La Espriella, şunları kaydetti: “Hasarın ve etkilenenlerin ihtiyaçlarının belirlenmesi ve müdahalenin koordine edilmesi amacıyla Birleşik Komuta Merkezi kurulması talimatını verdim. UNGRD (Ulusal Afet Risk Yönetimi Birimi) direktöründen mevcut durum ve en acil ihtiyaçlara ilişkin ayrıntılı bir rapor istedim. Ayrıca etkilenenlere destek olmak ve hükümetin müdahalesini yerinde koordine etmek için bizzat Pereira'da olacağım.” 132 KİŞİ HAYATINI KAYBETTİ Kolombiya Cumhurbaşkanı Abelardo de la Espriella, depremde ölü sayısının 132'ye çıktığını açıkladı. De La Espriella, 61 binanın yıkıldığını söyledi. Basına göre, 100'den fazla kişi için kayıp başvurusunda bulunuldu, can kaybının daha da artmasından endişe ediliyor. ULUSAL ACİL DURUM İLAN EDİLDİ Ülkede 7 Ağustos'ta göreve başlayan Cumhurbaşkanı Abelardo de la Espriella hükümeti, deprem nedeniyle Ulusal Afet Durumu ilan edildiğini duyurdu. Bu kararla acil müdahale, arama kurtarma ve iyileştirme çalışmalarında kurumsal koordinasyon güçlendirilirken bütçe ve hukuki mekanizmalar da devreye sokuldu. Kolombiya basınında yer alan haberlere göre, Cali'de üç katlı bir bina tamamen yıkıldı, Manizales'te ise tarihi bir kilise ciddi hasar gördü, Quibdo'da da çok sayıda binada hasar meydana geldi. Yıkımın olduğu bölgelerde arama kurtarma çalışmaları başlatıldı. Kolombiya Jeolojik Araştırmalar Kurumu, yerel saatle 08.18'de Choco yönetim bölgesine Novita kasabasında 4,6 büyüklüğünde bir artçı deprem meydana geldiğini duyurdu. EKVADOR VE PANAMA'DA DA HİSSEDİLDİ Merkezi Venezuela'da bulunan Telesur internet sitesinin haberine göre, Kolombiya'nın Manizales, Cali ve Pereira kentlerinde hasara neden olan depremde bazı binaların dış cepheleri kısmen yıkıldı, bir katedral ve bir havalimanı hasar gördü. Quibdo kentinde bazı binalar çöktü ve yaralananlar oldu. Deprem, Kolombiya'nın yanı sıra Ekvador ve Panama'nın çeşitli bölgelerinde de hissedildi. Panama'da yetkililer, deprem nedeniyle bazı binaları ve sağlık merkezlerini tahliye etti. Sarsıntının ardından geçen ilk bir saatte Panama genelinde can veya mal kaybı bildirilmedi.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorKolombiya'da kırmızı alarm ilan edildi: Can kaybı artıyor
Güney Amerika ülkesi Kolombiya'da meydana gelen 7,4 büyüklüğündeki depremde hayatını kaybedenlerin sayısı 132'ye çıktı. Kolombiya Başkentler Birliği (Asocapitales), ülkeyi vuran 7,4 büyüklüğündeki depremin ardından son duruma ilişkin açıklamada bulundu. Açıklamada, depremde ölenlerin sayısı 132'ye yükselirken, 700'den fazla kişi ise yaralandı. Ulusal basına göre, depremde en fazla can ve mal kaybının yaşandığı Pereira, Cali, Quibdo, Manizales ve Armenia'da kırmızı alarm ilan edilirken, söz konusu kentlerde güvenlik gerekçesiyle sokağa çıkma yasağı uygulamaya konuldu. Arama-kurtarma çalışmalarının aralıksız sürdüğü kentler arasında en fazla can kaybı, 60 kişinin hayatını kaybettiği Pereira'da yaşandı. Basına göre, 188 kişi için kayıp başvurusunda bulunulurken, can kaybının daha da artmasından endişe ediliyor. Ülkenin üçüncü büyük kenti Cali'de deprem nedeniyle bazı yolların çöktüğü ve 10 hastanenin hizmet veremediği bildirilirken, başkent Bogota ile Medellin'den arama-kurtarma ekipleri bölgeye destek için sevk edildi. Quibdo ve Manizales'te ise deprem, su, elektrik, telekomünikasyon ve ulaşım hizmetlerinde kesintilere neden oldu. - Cali'de sokağa çıkma yasağı ilan edildi Cali Belediye Başkanı Alejandro Eder, basına yaptığı açıklamada, güvenlik ve yağma olaylarını önlemek amacıyla sokağa çıkma yasağı ilan edildiğini, kararın acil durum ve kurtarma ekiplerinin çalışmalarını daha güvenli ve hızlı yürütmesini sağlamak için alındığını söyledi. ABD Jeolojik Araştırmalar Merkezi (USGS), merkez üssü Kolombiya'nın batısındaki San Jose del Palmar kasabasının yaklaşık 5 kilometre doğusunda 7,4 büyüklüğünde deprem meydana geldiğini açıklamıştı. - Venezuela, Ekvador ve Panama'da da hissedilmişti Deprem, Kolombiya'nın yanı sıra Venezuela, Ekvador ve Panama'nın çeşitli bölgelerinde de hissedilmişti. Merkezi Venezuela'da bulunan Telesur internet sitesinin haberine göre, Kolombiya'daki deprem nedeniyle Venezuela'da bazı binaların dış cepheleri kısmen yıkıldı, bir katedral ve bir havalimanı hasar görmüştü.
Bajaur'da baraj yakınında patlama: İki kişi hayatını kaybetti7.4 şiddetinde deprem sarsılan Kolombiya'da can kaybı artıyor! Yollar çöktü, hastaneler hizmet veremiyor
Kolombiya Başkentler Birliği (Asocapitales), ülkeyi vuran 7.4 büyüklüğündeki depremin ardından son duruma ilişkin açıklamada bulundu. CAN KAYBI ARTIYOR Açıklamada, depremde ölenlerin sayısı 132'ye yükselirken, 700'den fazla kişi ise yaralandı. Ulusal basına göre, depremde en fazla can ve mal kaybının yaşandığı Pereira, Cali, Quibdo, Manizales ve Armenia'da kırmızı alarm ilan edilirken, söz konusu kentlerde güvenlik gerekçesiyle sokağa çıkma yasağı uygulamaya konuldu. Arama-kurtarma çalışmalarının aralıksız sürdüğü kentler arasında en fazla can kaybı, 60 kişinin hayatını kaybettiği Pereira'da yaşandı. Basına göre, 188 kişi için kayıp başvurusunda bulunulurken, can kaybının daha da artmasından endişe ediliyor. HASTANELER HİZMET VEREMİYOR Ülkenin üçüncü büyük kenti Cali'de deprem nedeniyle bazı yolların çöktüğü ve 10 hastanenin hizmet veremediği bildirilirken, başkent Bogota ile Medellin'den arama-kurtarma ekipleri bölgeye destek için sevk edildi. Quibdo ve Manizales'te ise deprem, su, elektrik, telekomünikasyon ve ulaşım hizmetlerinde kesintilere neden oldu. SOKAĞA ÇIKMA YASAĞI İLAN EDİLDİ Cali Belediye Başkanı Alejandro Eder, basına yaptığı açıklamada, güvenlik ve yağma olaylarını önlemek amacıyla sokağa çıkma yasağı ilan edildiğini, kararın acil durum ve kurtarma ekiplerinin çalışmalarını daha güvenli ve hızlı yürütmesini sağlamak için alındığını söyledi. ABD Jeolojik Araştırmalar Merkezi (USGS), merkez üssü Kolombiya'nın batısındaki San Jose del Palmar kasabasının yaklaşık 5 kilometre doğusunda 7.4 büyüklüğünde deprem meydana geldiğini açıklamıştı. VENEZUELA, EKVADOR VE PANAMA'DA DA HİSSEDİLMİŞTİ Deprem, Kolombiya'nın yanı sıra Venezuela, Ekvador ve Panama'nın çeşitli bölgelerinde de hissedilmişti. Merkezi Venezuela'da bulunan Telesur internet sitesinin haberine göre, Kolombiya'daki deprem nedeniyle Venezuela'da bazı binaların dış cepheleri kısmen yıkıldı, bir katedral ve bir havalimanı hasar görmüştü. İsrail'de hesapları bozan Türkiye korkusu! Tel Aviv'den 'yeni cephe' itirafı: 'Çatışma ihtimali artıyor' Kolombiya'da 7.4 büyüklüğünde şiddetli deprem! Tsunami uyarısı verildi
Bajaur'da baraj yakınında patlama: İki kişi hayatını kaybettiMajor earthquake claims 111 lives in Colombia
PEREIRA: At least 111 people were killed after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia early on Monday, knocking down buildings across several cities and injuring 87 others, with still more residents trapped in the rubble. The 7.4-magnitude quake, with its epicenter in the coastal Choco region at a depth of 100km, struck at 7:34am, triggering a frantic search for survivors in several cities and thrusting the new administration into its first major crisis as Colombia declared a state of emergency. “The national government is maintaining all its capacities deployed to protect lives, assist affected communities and deliver aid to every area that needs it,” President Abelardo de la Espriella stated from Bogota. The leader appointed just three days ago reported 111 deaths, 87 people injured and over 1,000 buildings were damaged. Govt declares emergency after 7.4-magnitude quake flattens dozens of buildings The city of Pereira was one of the worst-hit areas, with local authorities earlier announcing that at least 40 people had died in the Risaralda region of which it is the provincial capital. The quake crumpled a tower of a beloved cathedral in the city of Manizales. “A great many buildings” in the city sustained damage, said administrative worker Jaime Zuluaga, 50. “Traffic is paralysed and people don’t want to go back to their homes for fear of an aftershock.” ‘Missing people’ At least 20 buildings crumbled in Colombia’s third-largest city, Cali, trapping people beneath the debris, Mayor Alejandro Eder said. Choco’s governor warned of serious damage in the provincial capital Quibdo, where videos showed more buildings reduced to rubble. “We are all devastated,” said Quibdo community leader Luis Gregorio Moreno. “At this moment there are reported deaths, dozens of wounded, but what there is most of is missing people,” he said. Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela also felt the early-morning quake, which prompted building evacuations in the Colombian capital, Bogota. Still wearing their pajamas, crowds of people rushed out into the street upon feeling the tremor. “The quake was very, very strong,” said content creator Valeria Polo, 29, in the capital, where only minimal damage was recorded. Six small airports in western Colombia suspended operations, the civil aeronautics agency said, and the soccer governing body postponed upcoming football matches. Washington is “closely monitoring the large earthquake that struck Colombia and stands ready to support the people of Colombia,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X. European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was “ready to provide more support” to the South American country. “We have already mobilised Copernicus, our satellite service, to help with rescue operations,” she wrote on social media. Israel, Mexico, Ecuador and France also offered assistance. Latin America is already reeling from two disastrous quakes that struck Venezuela in June, killing more than 6,000 people and causing widespread destruction. Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2026
Kolombiya'da 7.4 büyüklüğünde deprem: En az 111 ölü, 87 yaralıColombia in state of emergency as quake kills 111
PEREIRA, Colombia: Colombia declared a state of emergency on Monday after a powerful earthquake killed at least 111 people, damaged more than 1,500 buildings and left an unknown number of people buried under rubble.
At least 100 killed after powerful earthquake hits western Colombia
At least 100 people were killed after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia early on Monday, knocking down buildings across several cities and injuring at least 87 more, with still others trapped in the rubble. The quake struck just days after Abelardo De La Espriella was sworn in as president, thrusting the new administration into its first major crisis, with memories still fresh of devastating twin earthquakes in neighboring Venezuela in June. The Colombian geological service and its American counterpart, the US Geological Survey, put the magnitude at 7.4. Colombia had initially put it at 6.6. The quake, according to USGS, struck at a depth of 107km near San Jose del Palmar, in Choco, a sparsely populated province on Colombia’s Pacific Coast, but was felt in major cities nationwide. “Significant casualties and damage are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread,” the agency warned. The highest reported death toll was in the western province of Risaralda in Colombia’s coffee-growing region, where Governor Juan Diego Patino, speaking by phone to Caracol Television, reported 42 fatalities. In the province’s capital of Pereira, social media images showed a building with a cracked facade crash to the ground, sending up a dark cloud of dust and debris as onlookers on the street darted away. The impact also toppled one of the towers atop a Gothic-style cathedral in Manizales, and forced nurses in Cali to wheel patients outside in hospital beds, social media and television images showed. Residents and emergency personnel dig through the debris of a partially collapsed building after an earthquake, in Pereira, Colombia on August 10, 2026. — Reuters In Pereira, Mayor Mauricio Salazar said 18 people had died. “The situation is critical,” he told Caracol Radio. In nearby Manizales, Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said three people were killed. One person died in Buenaventura, Colombia’s main Pacific port, when a building collapsed, trapping several people, Mayor Ligia del Carmen Cordoba said. Cali, one of Colombia’s biggest cities, was among the worst hit, though authorities have yet to confirm deaths there. Mayor Alejandro Eder told Caracol at least 30 buildings had collapsed and rescue crews were working at 10 of them. “At this point, two people have already been rescued alive, one elderly woman and one young girl. There are more people trapped,” Eder told Blu Radio earlier. “We have at least 12 critical points and 25 collapsed structures that we are responding to.” He added that the city had asked authorities in Bogota and Medellin to send disaster teams to support rescue efforts. Caracol showed firefighters and Colombian Red Cross workers carrying a survivor on a stretcher from one collapsed building. “The building completely collapsed. It sounded like a bomb. It was horrible,” Juan Carlos Osorio told Caracol Television as he helped remove debris from a collapsed structure in Cali. “All of us neighbors are working together, forming human chains. We need heavy equipment. There are many people trapped.” An elderly woman is carried on furniture near a collapsed building after an earthquake in Cali, Colombia on August 10, 2026. — AFP Colombian officials said they did not fear a tsunami after the early-morning quake, which was also felt in Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. It prompted building evacuations in Bogota, AFP reporters saw, while news footage showed collapsed buildings elsewhere in the country. The governor of Colombia’s Choco province wrote on X that there were injuries and serious damage to buildings in the department’s capital Quibdo. News outlets aired footage of buildings also destroyed in cities such as Pereira and Manizales in a tourist region called Eje Cafetero. ‘Strong, really strong’ “There is no electricity or cell phone coverage. It was strong, really strong. Things fell in my house,” Martha Estrada, a 66-year-old resident of Eje Cafetero, which means coffee-growing region, told AFP. Alejandro Eder, the mayor of Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, also reported “major damage” that was being evaluated with drones. At least 20 buildings collapsed in the city, with people trapped inside, the mayor said. The city has requested teams from Bogota and Medellin to aid in rescue efforts, he added. People look for survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Cali, Colombia on August 10, 2026. — AFP “The quake was very, very strong,” said Valeria Polo, a 29-year-old content creator in Bogota. Six small airports in western Colombia suspended operations, the civil aeronautics agency said. These airports serve Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, the agency wrote on X. Bogota Mayor Carlos Galan said on Blu Radio that damage in the national capital appeared to be limited to cracks in the facades of houses and buildings. News outlets aired footage of some buildings with their facades ripped off by the quake. In Bogota some people ran out into the street in their pajamas as emergency sirens rang out, AFP reporters saw. Land of earthquakes and landslides Smaller earthquakes are not uncommon in Colombia, which is crisscrossed by three ranges of the Andean mountains. However, it is landslides which have historically been the deadliest natural disasters in the country, with the Armero disaster in 1985 killing some 25,000 people. Cities in the country’s coffee region, including Armenia and Pereira, suffered a devastating 6.2 magnitude quake in 1999, which killed more than 1,000 people. Colombia’s newly inaugurated President Abelardo de la Espriella on Monday declared a state of emergency. De La Espriella, a right-wing politician who has never before held elected office, earlier said in a video filmed while flying to Bogota that he was suspending his planned activities to lead emergency coordination efforts out of the capital. Twin earthquakes in Venezuela of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 on June 24 killed more than 6,000 people and caused devastating property damage, mostly on the coast near the capital, Caracas.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorAt least 82 killed after powerful earthquake hits western Colombia
At least 82 people were killed after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia early on Monday, knocking down buildings across several cities and leaving others trapped in the rubble. The quake struck just days after Abelardo De La Espriella was sworn in as president, thrusting the new administration into its first major crisis, with memories still fresh of devastating twin earthquakes in neighboring Venezuela in June. The Colombian geological service and its American counterpart, the US Geological Survey, put the magnitude at 7.4. Colombia had initially put it at 6.6. The quake, according to USGS, struck at a depth of 107km near San Jose del Palmar, in Choco, a sparsely populated province on Colombia’s Pacific Coast, but was felt in major cities nationwide. “Significant casualties and damage are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread,” the agency warned. The highest reported death toll was in the western province of Risaralda in Colombia’s coffee-growing region, where Governor Juan Diego Patino, speaking by phone to Caracol Television, reported 42 fatalities. In the province’s capital of Pereira, social media images showed a building with a cracked facade crash to the ground, sending up a dark cloud of dust and debris as onlookers on the street darted away. The impact also toppled one of the towers atop a Gothic-style cathedral in Manizales, and forced nurses in Cali to wheel patients outside in hospital beds, social media and television images showed. Residents and emergency personnel dig through the debris of a partially collapsed building after an earthquake, in Pereira, Colombia on August 10, 2026. — Reuters In Pereira, Mayor Mauricio Salazar said 18 people had died. “The situation is critical,” he told Caracol Radio. In nearby Manizales, Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said three people were killed. One person died in Buenaventura, Colombia’s main Pacific port, when a building collapsed, trapping several people, Mayor Ligia del Carmen Cordoba said. Cali, one of Colombia’s biggest cities, was among the worst hit, though authorities have yet to confirm deaths there. Mayor Alejandro Eder told Caracol at least 30 buildings had collapsed and rescue crews were working at 10 of them. “At this point, two people have already been rescued alive, one elderly woman and one young girl. There are more people trapped,” Eder told Blu Radio earlier. “We have at least 12 critical points and 25 collapsed structures that we are responding to.” He added that the city had asked authorities in Bogota and Medellin to send disaster teams to support rescue efforts. Caracol showed firefighters and Colombian Red Cross workers carrying a survivor on a stretcher from one collapsed building. “The building completely collapsed. It sounded like a bomb. It was horrible,” Juan Carlos Osorio told Caracol Television as he helped remove debris from a collapsed structure in Cali. “All of us neighbors are working together, forming human chains. We need heavy equipment. There are many people trapped.” An elderly woman is carried on furniture near a collapsed building after an earthquake in Cali, Colombia on August 10, 2026. — AFP Colombian officials said they did not fear a tsunami after the early-morning quake, which was also felt in Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. It prompted building evacuations in Bogota, AFP reporters saw, while news footage showed collapsed buildings elsewhere in the country. The governor of Colombia’s Choco province wrote on X that there were injuries and serious damage to buildings in the department’s capital Quibdo. News outlets aired footage of buildings also destroyed in cities such as Pereira and Manizales in a tourist region called Eje Cafetero. ‘Strong, really strong’ “There is no electricity or cell phone coverage. It was strong, really strong. Things fell in my house,” Martha Estrada, a 66-year-old resident of Eje Cafetero, which means coffee-growing region, told AFP. Alejandro Eder, the mayor of Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, also reported “major damage” that was being evaluated with drones. At least 20 buildings collapsed in the city, with people trapped inside, the mayor said. The city has requested teams from Bogota and Medellin to aid in rescue efforts, he added. People look for survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Cali, Colombia on August 10, 2026. — AFP “The quake was very, very strong,” said Valeria Polo, a 29 year old content creator in Bogota. Six small airports in western Colombia suspended operations, the civil aeronautics agency said. These airports serve Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, the agency wrote on X. Bogota Mayor Carlos Galan said on Blu Radio that damage in the national capital appeared to be limited to cracks in the facades of houses and buildings. News outlets aired footage of some buildings with their facades ripped off by the quake. In Bogota some people ran out into the street in their pajamas as emergency sirens rang out, AFP reporters saw. Land of earthquakes and landslides Smaller earthquakes are not uncommon in Colombia, which is crisscrossed by three ranges of the Andean mountains. However, it is landslides which have historically been the deadliest natural disasters in the country, with the Armero disaster in 1985 killing some 25,000 people. Cities in the country’s coffee region, including Armenia and Pereira, suffered a devastating 6.2 magnitude quake in 1999, which killed more than 1,000 people. De La Espriella, a right-wing politician who has never before held elected office, said in a video filmed while flying to Bogota that he was suspending his planned activities to lead emergency coordination efforts out of the capital. Twin earthquakes in Venezuela of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 on June 24 killed more than 6,000 people and caused devastating property damage, mostly on the coast near the capital, Caracas.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorAt least 77 killed after powerful earthquake hits western Colombia
At least 77 people were killed after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia early on Monday, knocking down buildings across several cities and leaving others trapped in the rubble. The quake struck just days after Abelardo De La Espriella was sworn in as president, thrusting the new administration into its first major crisis, with memories still fresh of devastating twin earthquakes in neighboring Venezuela in June. The Colombian geological service and its American counterpart, the US Geological Survey, put the magnitude at 7.4. Colombia had initially put it at 6.6. The quake, according to USGS, struck at a depth of 107km near San Jose del Palmar, in Choco, a sparsely populated province on Colombia’s Pacific Coast, but was felt in major cities nationwide. “Significant casualties and damage are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread,” the agency warned. The highest reported death toll was in the western province of Risaralda in Colombia’s coffee-growing region, where Governor Juan Diego Patino, speaking by phone to Caracol Television, reported 42 fatalities. In the province’s capital of Pereira, social media images showed a building with a cracked facade crash to the ground, sending up a dark cloud of dust and debris as onlookers on the street darted away. The impact also toppled one of the towers atop a Gothic-style cathedral in Manizales, and forced nurses in Cali to wheel patients outside in hospital beds, social media and television images showed. In Pereira, Mayor Mauricio Salazar said 18 people had died. “The situation is critical,” he told Caracol Radio. In nearby Manizales, Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said three people were killed. One person died in Buenaventura, Colombia’s main Pacific port, when a building collapsed, trapping several people, Mayor Ligia del Carmen Cordoba said. People remained trapped in Cali, one of Colombia’s largest cities, after more than two dozen structures collapsed, Mayor Alejandro Eder said. He added that the city had asked authorities in Bogota and Medellin to send disaster teams to support rescue efforts. “At this point, two people have already been rescued alive, one elderly woman and one young girl. There are more people trapped,” Eder told Blu Radio. “We have at least 12 critical points and 25 collapsed structures that we are responding to.” Colombian officials said they did not fear a tsunami after the early-morning quake, which was also felt in Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. It prompted building evacuations in Bogota, AFP reporters saw, while news footage showed collapsed buildings elsewhere in the country. The governor of Colombia’s Choco province wrote on X that there were injuries and serious damage to buildings in the department’s capital Quibdo. News outlets aired footage of buildings also destroyed in cities such as Pereira and Manizales in a tourist region called Eje Cafetero. ‘Strong, really strong’ “There is no electricity or cell phone coverage. It was strong, really strong. Things fell in my house,” Martha Estrada, a 66-year-old resident of Eje Cafetero, which means coffee-growing region, told AFP. Alejandro Eder, the mayor of Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, also reported “major damage” that was being evaluated with drones. At least 20 buildings collapsed in the city, with people trapped inside, the mayor said. The city has requested teams from Bogota and Medellin to aid in rescue efforts, he added. “The quake was very, very strong,” said Valeria Polo, a 29 year old content creator in Bogota. Six small airports in western Colombia suspended operations, the civil aeronautics agency said. These airports serve Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, the agency wrote on X. Bogota Mayor Carlos Galan said on Blu Radio that damage in the national capital appeared to be limited to cracks in the facades of houses and buildings. News outlets aired footage of some buildings with their facades ripped off by the quake. In Bogota some people ran out into the street in their pajamas as emergency sirens rang out, AFP reporters saw. Land of earthquakes and landslides Smaller earthquakes are not uncommon in Colombia, which is crisscrossed by three ranges of the Andean mountains. However, it is landslides which have historically been the deadliest natural disasters in the country, with the Armero disaster in 1985 killing some 25,000 people. Cities in the country’s coffee region, including Armenia and Pereira, suffered a devastating 6.2 magnitude quake in 1999, which killed more than 1,000 people. De La Espriella, a right-wing politician who has never before held elected office, said in a video filmed while flying to Bogota that he was suspending his planned activities to lead emergency coordination efforts out of the capital. Twin earthquakes in Venezuela of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 on June 24 killed more than 6,000 people and caused devastating property damage, mostly on the coast near the capital, Caracas.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorColombia earthquake kills at least 22 as buildings collapse in several cities
At least 22 people were killed after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia and neighbouring Latin American countries on Monday, bringing down buildings across several cities and leaving others trapped in the rubble, local authorities said. The Colombian geological service and its American counterpart USGS put the magnitude at 7.4, with an epicentre 100km underground in the west of the country. Colombia had initially put it at 6.6. The highest reported death toll was in Pereira, a city in Colombia’s coffee-growing region, where Mayor Mauricio Salazar said 18 people had died. In nearby Manizales, Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said three people were killed. “The situation is critical,” Salazar said after the quake centered in neighbouring Choco province. One person died in Buenaventura, Colombia’s main Pacific port, when a building collapsed, trapping several people, Mayor Ligia del Carmen Cordoba said. People remained trapped in Cali, one of Colombia’s largest cities, after more than two dozen structures collapsed, Mayor Alejandro Eder said. He added that the city had asked authorities in Bogota and Medellin to send disaster teams to support rescue efforts. “At this point, two people have already been rescued alive, one elderly woman and one young girl. There are more people trapped,” Eder told Blu Radio. “We have at least 12 critical points and 25 collapsed structures that we are responding to.” Colombian officials said they did not fear a tsunami after the early-morning quake, which was also felt in Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. It prompted building evacuations in Bogota, AFP reporters saw, while news footage showed collapsed buildings elsewhere in the country. The governor of Colombia’s Choco province wrote on X that there were injuries and serious damage to buildings in the department’s capital Quibdo. News outlets aired footage of buildings also destroyed in cities such as Pereira and Manizales in a tourist region called Eje Cafetero. ‘Strong, really strong’ “There is no electricity or cell phone coverage. It was strong, really strong. Things fell in my house,” Martha Estrada, a 66-year-old resident of Eje Cafetero, which means coffee-growing region, told AFP. Alejandro Eder, the mayor of Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, also reported “major damage” that was being evaluated with drones. At least 20 buildings collapsed in the city, with people trapped inside, the mayor said. The city has requested teams from Bogota and Medellin to aid in rescue efforts, he added. “The quake was very, very strong,” said Valeria Polo, a 29 year old content creator in Bogota. Six small airports in western Colombia suspended operations, the civil aeronautics agency said. These airports serve Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, the agency wrote on X. Bogota Mayor Carlos Galan said on Blu Radio that damage in the national capital appeared to be limited to cracks in the facades of houses and buildings. President Abelardo de la Espriella announced he would travel to the quake-hit region. News outlets aired footage of some buildings with their facades ripped off by the quake. In Bogota some people ran out into the street in their pajamas as emergency sirens rang out, AFP reporters saw. Twin earthquakes in Venezuela of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 on June 24 killed more than 6,000 people and caused devastating property damage.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorKolombiya'yı 7.4'lük deprem vurdu. 22 kişi hayatını kaybetti
Güney Amerika ülkesi Kolombiya'da meydana gelen 7,4 büyüklüğündeki depremde ilk belirlemelere göre 22 kişi hayatını kaybetti. ABD Jeolojik Araştırmalar Merkezi (USGS), merkez üssü Kolombiya'nın batısındaki San Jose del Palmar kasabasının yaklaşık 5 kilometre doğusu olan 7,4 büyüklüğünde deprem meydana geldiğini açıkladı. Açıklamada, depremin derinliğinin 107 kilometre olduğu bilgisi paylaşıldı. Choco yönetim bölgesi başta olmak üzere Barranquilla, başkent Bogota, Medellin, Manizales, Pereira ve Bucaramanga gibi ülkenin çeşitli kentlerinde hissedilen deprem büyük paniğe neden oldu. Hasar tespitine yönelik çalışmalar sürüyor. Kolombiya Cumhurbaşkanı Abelardo De La Espriella, sosyal medya platformundaki hesabından yaptığı açıklamada, depremin merkez üssü olan San Jose del Palmar kasabasında acil durum müdahalesini doğrudan yönettiğini ifade etti. De La Espriella, şunları kaydetti: “Hasarın ve etkilenenlerin ihtiyaçlarının belirlenmesi ve müdahalenin koordine edilmesi amacıyla Birleşik Komuta Merkezi kurulması talimatını verdim. UNGRD (Ulusal Afet Risk Yönetimi Birimi) direktöründen mevcut durum ve en acil ihtiyaçlara ilişkin ayrıntılı bir rapor istedim. Ayrıca etkilenenlere destek olmak ve hükümetin müdahalesini yerinde koordine etmek için bizzat Pereira'da olacağım.” 22 KİŞİ HAYATINI KAYBETTİ Caldas eyaletine bağlı Manizales kentinin Belediye Başkanı Jorge Eduardo Rojas Giraldo, şiddetli depremin ardından kentin kritik bir durumla karşı karşıya olduğunu ve şu ana kadar 4 kişinin hayatını kaybettiğini açıkladı. Giraldo, kentte 10'dan fazla binanın tamamen yıkıldığını, çok sayıda yapının kısmi hasar gördüğünü belirtti. 20'den fazla evin yıkıldığını aktaran Giraldo, arama kurtarma çalışmalarının sürmesi nedeniyle bu sayının artabileceğine işaret etti. Depremin ardından başlatılan arama kurtarma çalışmaları için itfaiye, sivil savunma, Kızılhaç, gönüllü itfaiyeciler, ordu, polis, uzman kurtarma ekipleri ve belediye ekipleri seferber edildi. Pereira Belediye Başkanı Mauricio Salazar Pelaez de basına yaptığı açıklamada, kentte 18 kişinin hayatını kaybettiğini ifade etti. Çok sayıda kişinin halen enkaz altında olduğunu tahmin ettiklerini vurgulayan Salazar, hayatını kaybedenlerin sayısının artmasından endişe ettiklerini belirtti. Bu arada kentteki, Matecana Uluslararası Havalimanı ile altyapı zarar gördü. Havalimanında, insanların bulunduğu bir bölümde çatının bir kısmı çökerken, yetkililer şu ana kadar herhangi bir can kaybı veya yaralanma bildirmedi. Kolombiya basınında yer alan haberlere göre, Cali'de üç katlı bir bina tamamen yıkıldı, Manizales'te ise tarihi bir kilise ciddi hasar gördü, Quibdo'da da çok sayıda binada hasar meydana geldi. Yıkımın olduğu bölgelerde arama kurtarma çalışmaları başlatıldı. Kolombiya Jeolojik Araştırmalar Kurumu, yerel saatle 08.18'de Choco yönetim bölgesine Novita kasabasında 4,6 büyüklüğünde bir artçı deprem meydana geldiğini duyurdu. EKVADOR VE PANAMA'DA DA HİSSEDİLDİ Merkezi Venezuela'da bulunan Telesur internet sitesinin haberine göre, Kolombiya'nın Manizales, Cali ve Pereira kentlerinde hasara neden olan depremde bazı binaların dış cepheleri kısmen yıkıldı, bir katedral ve bir havalimanı hasar gördü. Quibdo kentinde bazı binalar çöktü ve yaralananlar oldu. Deprem, Kolombiya'nın yanı sıra Ekvador ve Panama'nın çeşitli bölgelerinde de hissedildi. Panama'da yetkililer, deprem nedeniyle bazı binaları ve sağlık merkezlerini tahliye etti. Sarsıntının ardından geçen ilk bir saatte Panama genelinde can veya mal kaybı bildirilmedi.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorAt least 20 dead after 7.4 magnitude earthquake shakes Colombia – latest news
More than a dozen buildings collapsed in aftermath of earthquake, which has also prompted evacuations The death toll after a strong earthquake that rocked western Colombia has risen to at least 20, authorities said. In the town of Pereira, 18 people were killed and others were trapped in buildings that collapsed, mayor Mauricio Salazar told Caracol Radio. Continue reading...
At least 20 dead as major quake rocks Colombia and neighbours
A powerful earthquake rocked Colombia and neighbouring Latin American countries on Monday, with medical teams rushing to help victims after buildings were damaged or collapsed in several cities. The death toll after the earthquake has risen to at least 20, authorities said. In the town of Pereira, 18 people were killed and others were trapped in buildings that collapsed, Mayor Mauricio Salazar told Caracol Radio. In Manizales, two people were killed, Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said in an interview with Blu Radio. The Colombian geological service and its American counterpart USGS put the magnitude at 7.4, with an epicentre 100km underground in the west of the country. Colombia had initially put it at 6.6. Colombian officials said they did not fear a tsunami after the early-morning quake, which was also felt in Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. It prompted building evacuations in Bogota, AFP reporters saw, while news footage showed collapsed buildings elsewhere in the country. The governor of Colombia’s Choco province wrote on X that there were injuries and serious damage to buildings in the department’s capital Quibdo. News outlets aired footage of buildings also destroyed in cities such as Pereira and Manizales in a tourist region called Eje Cafetero. ‘Strong, really strong’ “There is no electricity or cell phone coverage. It was strong, really strong. Things fell in my house,” Martha Estrada, a 66-year-old resident of Eje Cafetero, which means coffee-growing region, told AFP. Alejandro Eder, the mayor of Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, also reported “major damage” that was being evaluated with drones. At least 20 buildings collapsed in the city, with people trapped inside, the mayor said. The city has requested teams from Bogota and Medellin to aid in rescue efforts, he added. “The quake was very, very strong,” said Valeria Polo, a 29 year old content creator in Bogota. Six small airports in western Colombia suspended operations, the civil aeronautics agency said. These airports serve Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, the agency wrote on X. Bogota Mayor Carlos Galan said on Blu Radio that damage in the national capital appeared to be limited to cracks in the facades of houses and buildings. President Abelardo de la Espriella announced he would travel to the quake-hit region. News outlets aired footage of some buildings with their facades ripped off by the quake. In Bogota some people ran out into the street in their pajamas as emergency sirens rang out, AFP reporters saw. Twin earthquakes in Venezuela of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 on June 24 killed more than 6,000 people and caused devastating property damage.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorSeveral killed as powerful quake rocks Colombia, causing 'major damage'
At least 18 people have been killed in the Colombian town of Pereira in a major earthquake that struck on Monday, causing injuries and damage to buildings and prompting evacuations in the capital, Bogota. Colombia’s geological service measured the quake at magnitude 6.6, while the US Geological Survey put it at 7.4. The tremor was felt across parts of Latin America, including Ecuador and Panama.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorBuildings collapse as major quake rocks Colombia and neighbours
A powerful earthquake rocked Colombia and neighboring Latin American countries on Monday, with medical teams rushing to help victims after buildings were damaged or collapsed in several cities. The Colombian geological service and its American counterpart USGS put the magnitude at 7.4, with an epicentre 100 km underground in the west of the country. Colombia had initially put it at 6.6. Colombian officials said they did not fear a tsunami after the early-morning quake, which was also felt in Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. It prompted building evacuations in Bogota, AFP reporters saw, while news footage showed collapsed buildings elsewhere in the country. The governor of Colombia’s Choco province wrote on X that there were injuries and serious damage to buildings in the department’s capital Quibdo. News outlets aired footage of buildings also destroyed in cities such as Pereira and Manizales in a tourist region called Eje Cafetero. ‘Strong, really strong’ “There is no electricity or cell phone coverage. It was strong, really strong. Things fell in my house,” Martha Estrada, a 66-year-old resident of Eje Cafetero, which means coffee-growing region, told AFP. Alejandro Eder, the mayor of Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, also reported “major damage” that was being evaluated with drones. At least 20 buildings collapsed in the city, with people trapped inside, the mayor said. The city has requested teams from Bogota and Medellin to aid in rescue efforts, he added. “The quake was very, very strong,” said Valeria Polo, a 29 year old content creator in Bogota. Six small airports in western Colombia suspended operations, the civil aeronautics agency said. These airports serve Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, the agency wrote on X. Bogota Mayor Carlos Galan said on Blu Radio that damage in the national capital appeared to be limited to cracks in the facades of houses and buildings. President Abelardo de la Espriella announced he would travel to the quake-hit region. News outlets aired footage of some buildings with their facades ripped off by the quake. In Bogota some people ran out into the street in their pajamas as emergency sirens rang out, AFP reporters saw. Twin earthquakes in Venezuela of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 on June 24 killed more than 6,000 people and caused devastating property damage.
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorMajor earthquake rocks Colombia and other countries, causing damage and injuries
A powerful earthquake rocked Colombia and other Latin American countries on Monday, causing unspecified damage and injuries and building evacuations in Bogota. The Colombian geological service put the magnitude of the quake at 6.6 while its American counterpart USGS put it at 7.4, with an epicentre 100km underground in the west of Colombia. It was felt in Ecuador and as far away as Panama to the north, and prompted building evacuations in Bogota, AFP reporters saw. The governor of Colombia’s Choco province wrote on X that there were injuries and serious damage to buildings in the department’s capital Quibdo. The mayor of Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, also reported “major damage”. At least 20 buildings collapsed in the city, with people trapped inside, Mayor Alejandro Eder said. The city has requested teams from Bogota and Medellin to aid in rescue efforts, he added. Six airports damaged in the earthquake have suspended operations, the civil aeronautics agency said. These airports serve Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, the agency wrote on X. News outlets aired footage of some buildings with their facades ripped off by the quake. In Bogota some people ran out into the street in their pajamas as emergency sirens rang out, AFP reporters saw. Twin earthquakes in Venezuela of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 on June 24 killed more than 6,000 people and caused devastating property damage. More to follow
Kolombiya depreminde ölü sayısı 300'ü aştı, arama çalışmaları sürüyorGuinea-Bissau's imprisoned opposition leader allowed to travel for medical treatment
DAKAR, July 24 - Guinea-Bissau's military government has allowed opposition leader Domingos Simoes Pereira to leave prison and travel to Portugal for medical treatment, his family told Reuters.
State violence in Bolivia is ramping up. The US is helping.
In May and June, Bolivian police violently dispersed massive demonstrations in La Paz, detaining hundreds of protesters and injuring many more. The crackdown, capping over 50 days of protests demanding President Rodrigo Paz’s resignation, marked the sharpest escalation yet in a standoff between the government that took office late last year and the mostly Indigenous social movements that have long shaped Bolivian politics. The crisis convulsing Bolivia did not begin with the 2025 election, or with the 2019 coup to deny Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, a fourth term after a disputed election. Its roots go back to at least 2016 when Morales, who came to prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the coca-growers’ union and later founder of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, lost a referendum that would have removed presidential term limits. Backed by a friendly constitutional court, however, Morales ran anyway three years later and claimed a razor-thin first-round victory. The opposition, encouraged by a flawed initial report by the Organization of American States, claimed fraud. Weeks of violent unrest ensued, followed by the military’s “suggestion” that Morales resign as president, and his exile to Mexico. A repressive, right-wing interim government under Jeanine Áñez subsequently oversaw extrajudicial killings of unarmed Indigenous protesters at Sacaba and Senkata, massacres that still cast a shadow over Bolivian politics. Morales’s ouster, which was supported by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, was the latest turn in a centuries-old struggle between Bolivia’s Indigenous and peasant majority and its predominantly white European elite, which has controlled the country’s resources and government since the Spanish conquest. Morales’s rise in the 1990s and 2000s was the high-water mark of a decades-long push to force that elite to share power. His fall in 2019, and Áñez’s talk of restoring “Christian civilization” to government – a phrase used by U.S.-backed dictator Hugo Banzer during the Cold War – was widely understood as a restoration of the old order. Since then the pendulum has swung again, though unevenly. MAS regained the presidency in 2020 under Luis Arce, but his term ended in economic crisis, fuel shortages, and an open rupture with Morales, splitting the party’s base. Barred from the 2025 election by a court-ordered term-limit ruling, Morales urged his followers to spoil their ballots, and the election became a contest among a badly weakened left, a market-friendly Christian Democrat in Rodrigo Paz, and Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, Banzer’s former vice-president and a right-wing hardliner. Facing that choice, much of the MAS backed Paz as the least-bad option. Since he took office, however, much of his Indigenous voter base feel, as protesters in La Paz put it, “betrayed” by the government’s inability to solve longstanding economic problems, its right-wing policies inconsistent with Paz’s campaign as a moderate, and his sidelining of his populist vice-president. In early June, Paz called on citizens to confront blockaders themselves, setting off clashes between anti-riot police and protesters. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has denounced the police’s excessive use of force, in some cases coordinated with right-wing vigilante groups. After seven weeks of paralyzing protests and road blockades that worsened an already ongoing economic and energy crisis, Paz declared a 90-day state of exception, granting security forces broad new powers, though the blockades had already begun to fade before the declaration. The last time a Bolivian president invoked emergency powers, in 2019, soldiers killed at least 23 people and injured over 230 with impunity, incidents the IACHR called “massacres.” Thomas Becker, the Legal and Policy Director at the University Network for Human Rights who led a successful prosecution against a former Bolivian president for human rights abuses, calls the pattern familiar and alarming: rising violent clashes, arbitrary detentions, and abuse by police alongside illegal paramilitaries, compounded by branding demonstrators as “narco-terrorists,” a term echoed by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other Trump officials. New U.S. Chief of Mission Erik Martini has also called for more counter-narcotics work, echoing Reagan-era policy by saying “the U.S. is worried, coca comes from cocaine.” For Becker, the atmosphere recalls the volatile months before 2019 and the killings that followed under Áñez. Violeta Tamayo was injured in May while covering the protests for the leftist news site La Izquierda Diario. Tamayo says police, without warning, “fired tear gas point-blank, aiming right at waist-height into the crowd.” She was hit at short range in the arm by what she believes was a tear gas canister, leaving a wound that exposed bone. Underlying the crackdown is the rapid militarization of Bolivia’s drug war. Earlier this month, the U.S. and Bolivia signed a $20 million agreement to train and arm Bolivian security forces, following Paz’s decision to restore cooperation with the DEA, which Morales had expelled two decades ago. “The return of the DEA in Bolivia marks the resurrection of a security paradigm that has led to gross violations of human rights, and filled prisons and cemeteries in Bolivia and across Latin America, while leaving the international drug trade largely intact,” said Guillame Long, a former Ecuadorian foreign minister and senior fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Long lamented that this approach will replace a less violent strategy “starting to show clear signs of success.” Since Paz took office, the DEA returned officially to Bolivia, with a new La Paz office announced in May. In March, Uruguayan drug kingpin Sebastián Marset was captured in Bolivia and extradited to the U.S. in a DEA-backed operation, and in April Bolivian police took part in U.S.-sponsored training run by Colombian instructors, the region’s most experienced in counterinsurgency. During the blockades, right-wing allies including Argentina’s Javier Milei and Chile’s José Antonio Kast sent what they called “humanitarian aid” to Bolivia, deliveries Bolivian and Argentine lawmakers are now investigating for allegedly including “repressive material” like tear gas. At the height of the protests, which led to 583 arrests, Hegseth described the demonstrators as “narcoterrorists” whose aim was to “overthrow democratically elected leaders.” For Becker, this evokes past U.S. interference in Bolivia that criminalized coca growing and caused the disappearances of political dissidents, the same violence that helped the MAS and Morales rise in the first place. In June, the Trump administration designated Brazil’s largest criminal organizations, which are also active in Bolivia, as narcoterrorist groups, unlocking new legal authority near the Brazilian and Paraguayan borders, where DEA activity is expected to concentrate. Across the region, U.S. operations against “narcoterrorist” cartels have already killed more than 200 civilians, through strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific and on what turned out to be an Ecuadorian dairy farm. The Bolivian government’s rhetoric mirrors this broader shift, folding protest movements, criminal organizations, and political opposition into a single, elastic category of threat, one now shaping Bolivia’s use of emergency powers, too. Even with blockades largely lifted, the government says it won’t lift the state of exception until it is “no longer needed.” Bolivia is hardly alone in this pattern of executive overreach, which spans the region’s left and right alike, from Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa to Colombia’s Gustavo Petro. Meanwhile, Morales and Paz now publicly call each other “narcos,” and Paz officials have suggested Morales’s days “are numbered.” Morales remains protected by armed loyalists in his Chapare bunker. Officials in Paz’s government and in Santa Cruz say they already have grounds to prosecute him, and Morales claims a parallel U.S. process is underway for his capture or extradition, feeding speculation he could face a fate resembling Nicolás Maduro’s. Still, he retains far more political backing than Maduro did, and would be much harder to remove without serious bloodshed. It remains to be seen how far this war on drugs, and on political dissidents, will go, and whether Bolivia’s fragile democratic institutions can withstand the pressure. But for Long, one thing is certain: “history has already shown that a return, now under Rodrigo Paz, to a militarized approach of fighting drugs while criminalizing coca-growing communities does not defeat organized crime.”
Bolivya'da Polis Şiddeti Tırmanırken ABD'den Yardım