The Colombian army announced that three soldiers were killed and at least 16 others were injured, following a drone attack targeting a military base in northern Colombia.
The authorities did not reveal who carried out the attack in the small town of Santa Rosa del Sur, located at the foothills of the San Lucas Mountains. The area surrounding the town is rich in gold mines, and has long witnessed a struggle for influence between the Clan del Golfo, the National Liberation Army, and smaller groups led by former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Video clips circulated on social media showed plumes of smoke rising from the military base following three explosions, while soldiers took shelter inside shelters fortified with sandbags.
“Those responsible for this attack... will have nowhere to hide,” President Abelardo de la Espriria said in a post on the X platform on Saturday. Every attack targeting our soldiers increases our resolve to defend Colombia.”
Violence has escalated in a number of rural areas in Colombia since de la Esparilla assumed the presidency last August.
The conservative leader canceled peace talks with the country's remaining rebel groups and took a more confrontational approach that includes launching more air strikes, militarizing some cities, and creating joint task forces to defend strategic assets, including a pipeline running from the Caribbean coast to central Colombia.
Some drug cartels and rebel groups responded by intensifying their attacks on the Colombian armed forces. Last week, a military base in Tolima province was targeted with rockets made from gas canisters, in an attack that killed four civilians. In the border city of Cucuta, police were subjected to multiple attacks using remotely detonated bombs.
On Friday, the Paraguayan Senate approved the removal of President Santiago Peña, against the backdrop of a banking crisis that deprived millions of depositors of recovering their money.
Council members voted overwhelmingly in favor of removing Peña, in the wake of the crisis caused by the collapse of Ueno Bank, with which he had previous ties.
Paraguay's public prosecutor ordered the arrest of the ousted president and the former head of the central bank, while Vice President Pedro Aliana was sworn in as President of Paraguay after Peña was removed from office.
Aliana will complete the remainder of the presidential term, which ends in August 2028.
Aliana (52 years old) is a veteran figure in the conservative Colorado Party, which has dominated the political scene in the country for a long time. He previously served as Governor of Nyembuku South Province, and previously served as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, on Thursday, supported an American proposal to declare the presidency vacant in her country and hold elections next year.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate returned from exile late last month, about a year after the United States detained President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a special military operation in Caracas.
Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro's former deputy, assumed the position of acting president under the supervision of Washington.
Calls are growing for democratic elections, which Machado supports.
In a statement addressed to the Ibero-Latin American Summit held in Madrid, Machado expressed her support for a plan drawn up by the US State Department that aims to renew the Supreme Court in Venezuela, before the end of 2026, and to form a new National Electoral Council immediately after that.
The plan requires Rodriguez to later declare the presidency vacant, and to call elections within six months of the announcement.
“Given the reality that our country has been experiencing for a long time, we support this plan as a reasonable way forward toward the full restoration of the constitutional order in Venezuela,” Machado said.
Rodriguez has repeatedly pledged to organize elections, but has not announced a date.
