<![CDATA[EL PAÍS]]>https://english.elpais.comSun, 31 May 2026 16:41:26 +0000en1hourly1<![CDATA[Four intractable crises facing Colombia’s next president]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-05-29/four-intractable-crises-facing-colombias-next-president.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-05-29/four-intractable-crises-facing-colombias-next-president.htmlFri, 29 May 2026 09:39:50 +0000In Catatumbo, a region on the border with Venezuela, women have been giving birth at home for months. It is not for lack of hospitals but because they are afraid to take the roads and get caught in the crossfire between two guerrilla groups. Babies take months to be registered, farmers fear stepping on mines, and children hide when they see drones flying overhead laden with explosives. Those who stayed do not venture out and live locked up as if during a pandemic. Those who could leave fled, and the region has lost nearly 100,000 residents over the past year. “We are not part of this war, but we are in it,” a community leader told EL PAÍS, fearing he could be killed. This Sunday, Colombia holds the first round of its presidential elections. It does so with that war in the background, and with three other deep wounds that no candidate has fully explained how they intend to heal.

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]]>Santiago Saldarriaga<![CDATA[Chavista leadership throws Maduro’s strongman Alex Saab to the lions]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-05-20/chavista-leadership-throws-maduros-strongman-alex-saab-to-the-lions.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-05-20/chavista-leadership-throws-maduros-strongman-alex-saab-to-the-lions.htmlWed, 20 May 2026 09:57:48 +0000Three days of controversy were enough for Jorge Rodríguez to deliver the final thrust. The president of Venezuela’s National Assembly dealt Alex Saab — Nicolás Maduro’s front man — a coup de grâce on Tuesday. Saab was deported to Miami on Saturday, where he faces charges of money laundering and bribing senior officials. “Since 2019, Alex Saab’s case has been his business with U.S. agencies [...] Soon all of you will find out what kind of relationship he had and has with those agencies,” Rodríguez said. It was the final nail in the coffin for one of the major symbols of Maduro’s era of power, a figure once defended and praised by many, including Rodríguez himself, who led the negotiation to bring him back from a U.S. prison. Saab’s case is perhaps the episode that best illustrates, so far, the new strategy of power in Caracas.

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]]>Jesus Vargas<![CDATA[‘I hope our comrade Cepeda wins’: Armed groups are poisoning Colombia’s elections]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-05-15/i-hope-our-comrade-cepeda-wins-armed-groups-are-poisoning-colombias-elections.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-05-15/i-hope-our-comrade-cepeda-wins-armed-groups-are-poisoning-colombias-elections.htmlFri, 15 May 2026 18:14:30 +0000A high-pitched voice, recorded somewhere in Guaviare, at the gateway to the Amazon in southern Colombia, echoed across the country on Thursday.

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]]>Santiago Saldarriaga<![CDATA[The soap opera of the Chavista influencers: a search for likes or an internal schism?]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-05-14/the-soap-opera-of-the-chavista-influencers-a-search-for-likes-or-an-internal-schism.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-05-14/the-soap-opera-of-the-chavista-influencers-a-search-for-likes-or-an-internal-schism.htmlThu, 14 May 2026 10:16:53 +0000Much has been written about the capture of Nicolás Maduro, the U.S. intervention, and the rise of Delcy Rodríguez, but a veil of caution has silenced the internal indignation within Chavismo—especially among its more radical sectors—as they find themselves without a president and subjected to U.S. imperialism. This silence has projected an image of unity during the worst crisis the Bolivarian Revolution has ever faced, but tjat was until some of its loudest voices unleashed an online war in recent days, breaking the taboo surrounding the betrayal and the role of the Rodríguez siblings in this new era. While the opposition watches this soap opera with glee, the lingering question is whether this friendly fire is merely a fleeting social media spat or the expression of a serious schism within the Chavista ranks.

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]]><![CDATA[Venezuela through the polls: Venezuelans trust Chevron more than their own president]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-05-11/venezuela-through-the-polls-venezuelans-trust-chevron-more-than-their-own-president.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-05-11/venezuela-through-the-polls-venezuelans-trust-chevron-more-than-their-own-president.htmlMon, 11 May 2026 12:02:01 +0000For years, it’s been difficult to gauge opinions in Venezuela. Not because there’s any shortage of them, but because expressing one has carried a very high cost. During Nicolás Maduro’s final years in power, polling stopped altogether. Some pollsters had to go into hiding, and people began responding to any political question with “don’t know” or “no answer.”

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]]>Gaby Oraa<![CDATA[Internal purges and external tutelage: Venezuela’s Chavista regime rebuilds its faith on Maduro’s ruins ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-05-03/internal-purges-and-external-tutelage-venezuelas-chavista-regime-rebuilds-its-faith-on-maduros-ruins.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-05-03/internal-purges-and-external-tutelage-venezuelas-chavista-regime-rebuilds-its-faith-on-maduros-ruins.htmlSun, 03 May 2026 04:00:00 +0000For months, Venezuela’s Chavista regime prepared to die, but not to emerge badly wounded. Of all the scenarios considered during Donald Trump’s offensive against Nicolás Maduro, the president being captured alive wasn’t on anyone’s radar. “I had never held a pistol or a rifle in my life... and I prepared myself [for] months to face any situation that might arise. But [I didn’t expect] this one,” says a prominent member of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), founded by former president Hugo Chávez, who governed from 1999 until his death in 2013.

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]]>Andrea Hernández Briceño<![CDATA[‘Have you been to Caracas yet?’: the question investors are asking about Venezuela]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-04-29/have-you-been-to-caracas-yet-the-question-investors-are-asking-about-venezuela.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-04-29/have-you-been-to-caracas-yet-the-question-investors-are-asking-about-venezuela.htmlWed, 29 Apr 2026 09:34:37 +0000At an elite club in northern Bogotá, some fifty Colombian investors listened last Tuesday to a statement that sums up Venezuela’s current economic situation better than any report. It was uttered by Ángel Cárdenas, infrastructure manager at CAF, the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean: “Among investors in the region, the debate is no longer whether the country represents an opportunity or a risk. The question is whether or not you’ve already been to Caracas.” After years of freefall, the country with the world’s largest oil reserves has returned to the global radar.

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]]>Carlos Becerra<![CDATA[Brutal terrorist attack in Colombia exposes the standoff between armed groups and the state]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-28/brutal-terrorist-attack-in-colombia-exposes-the-standoff-between-armed-groups-and-the-state.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-28/brutal-terrorist-attack-in-colombia-exposes-the-standoff-between-armed-groups-and-the-state.htmlTue, 28 Apr 2026 13:34:14 +0000An explosion rocked a road in the department of Cauca, in southwestern Colombia, last weekend, leaving at least 20 dead in one of the deadliest attacks against civilians in Colombia’s violent history. The attack, attributed to the front commanded by alias Iván Mordisco — leader of the main dissident group of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) — is not an isolated incident: it is the latest chapter in an ongoing power struggle between armed groups and the Colombian state, and a direct blow to the “total peace” platform on which President Gustavo Petro came to power.

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]]>Sebastian Marmolejo / Zuma Press<![CDATA[Why the thaw between Colombia and Venezuela works in Trump’s favor]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-27/why-the-thaw-between-colombia-and-venezuela-works-in-trumps-favor.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-27/why-the-thaw-between-colombia-and-venezuela-works-in-trumps-favor.htmlMon, 27 Apr 2026 14:10:03 +0000It was a bilateral meeting, but a third country had a major interest in what was being discussed. The encounter on Friday April 24, in Caracas between the acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, and the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, wrapped with an important statement: the two countries will draw up joint military plans and open mechanisms to share intelligence “immediately.”

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]]>GABY ORAA<![CDATA[Venezuela, a provisional country]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-27/venezuela-a-provisional-country.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-27/venezuela-a-provisional-country.htmlMon, 27 Apr 2026 01:31:27 +0000There are two pairs of eyes that have shaped the lives of Venezuelans for more than two decades. Symbolic eyes, once adorning building facades, t-shirts, and the city’s staircases. They were the eyes of Hugo Chávez: a gaze designed to suggest authority, surveillance, omnipresence. A gaze that, even after his death in 2013, remained, as if power no longer needed a body, only presence.

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]]>Sr. García<![CDATA[In a Caracas without Maduro, ‘everything is a priority right now’ ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-25/in-a-caracas-without-maduro-everything-is-a-priority-right-now.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-25/in-a-caracas-without-maduro-everything-is-a-priority-right-now.htmlSat, 25 Apr 2026 04:00:00 +0000On a Saturday evening, in an upscale Caracas neighborhood, a bar fills up. Well-dressed men, smelling of cologne, recount their week. Women with sleek hair and long eyelashes take selfies in the bathroom. People on the street talk on their cell phones, engaging in heated discussions about current events, while a DJ spins vinyl records. There are signature cocktails being served. Everything is in its usual place.

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]]>Andrea Hernández Briceño<![CDATA[The Caracas Marriott, the hotel where the future of Venezuela is being decided ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-24/the-caracas-marriott-the-hotel-where-the-future-of-venezuela-is-being-decided.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-24/the-caracas-marriott-the-hotel-where-the-future-of-venezuela-is-being-decided.htmlFri, 24 Apr 2026 23:48:11 +0000At 8 a.m., the 20 Marines staying at the JW Marriott in Caracas go down for breakfast. It is a unique spectacle. They are between 30 and 40 years old and almost all of them sport a chevron mustache, Freddie-Mercury-style. The tattoos reach the elbow, sometimes the knees. Caps, shorts and T-shirts are emblazoned with slogans that sit oddly in Donald Trump’s war-mongering era. “No war team,” read one of them last week.

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]]><![CDATA[Gustavo Petro, the first head of state to meet Delcy Rodríguez in post-Maduro Venezuela ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-24/gustavo-petro-the-first-head-of-state-to-meet-delcy-rodriguez-in-post-maduro-venezuela.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-24/gustavo-petro-the-first-head-of-state-to-meet-delcy-rodriguez-in-post-maduro-venezuela.htmlFri, 24 Apr 2026 08:03:21 +0000Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, are preparing for a second attempt at holding a bilateral meeting. Petro announced that the two leaders are scheduled to meet in Caracas at midday on Friday — the first official visit by a head of state to Venezuela since Nicolás Maduro’s removal, and another step in Rodríguez’s consolidation of power.

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]]><![CDATA[The easing of US bank sanctions against Venezuela gives Delcy Rodríguez a lifeline amid social unrest]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-04-15/the-easing-of-us-bank-sanctions-against-venezuela-gives-delcy-rodriguez-a-lifeline-amid-social-unrest.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-04-15/the-easing-of-us-bank-sanctions-against-venezuela-gives-delcy-rodriguez-a-lifeline-amid-social-unrest.htmlWed, 15 Apr 2026 08:48:32 +0000U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday threw a valuable lifeline to Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim president. Bradley T. Smith, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), signed two licenses that significantly ease the sanctions imposed on the Venezuelan financial system, providing a boost to the Caracas government’s efforts to revive the country’s ailing economy.

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]]><![CDATA[Jorge Rodríguez: ‘The most important thing in Venezuela right now is the economy’]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-12/jorge-rodriguez-the-most-important-thing-in-venezuela-right-now-is-the-economy.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-12/jorge-rodriguez-the-most-important-thing-in-venezuela-right-now-is-the-economy.htmlSun, 12 Apr 2026 04:05:00 +0000Since January 3, when the United States military bombed Caracas, forcibly removed Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores — who are now imprisoned in New York — and killed more than 120 people, Venezuela has been facing a situation that would have been hard to imagine just a few months ago. Laws, such as those governing hydrocarbons or mining, are being rapidly reformed to facilitate the inflow of foreign capital; anti-imperialist Chavismo maintains constant contact with Washington; an amnesty law has been passed, freeing thousands of prisoners — though some remain incarcerated or lack full political freedom — and Maduro’s name is beginning to fade amid more immediate crises. Jorge Rodríguez (Barquisimeto, age 60), president of Venezuela’s National Assembly and the country’s second-highest-ranking official after his sister, President Delcy Rodríguez, prefers the term she coined — “a new political moment” — to describe current events rather than speaking of a transition.

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]]>Andrea Hernández Briceño<![CDATA[Spain to end fast-track path to legal status that Venezuelans have enjoyed since 2018]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-01/spain-to-end-fast-track-path-to-legal-status-that-venezuelans-have-enjoyed-since-2018.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-01/spain-to-end-fast-track-path-to-legal-status-that-venezuelans-have-enjoyed-since-2018.htmlWed, 01 Apr 2026 11:50:04 +0000In June, Spain will end a program that has allowed tens of thousands of Venezuelans to regularize their legal status almost automatically since 2018. The Spanish government will stop systematically granting residence permits on humanitarian grounds to this group, thereby terminating one of the most unique—and least debated—mechanisms of the Spanish asylum system.

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]]>Foto: Juan Barbosa<![CDATA[The delicate balance of María Corina Machado in Trump’s Washington]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-01/the-delicate-balance-of-maria-corina-machado-in-trumps-washington.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-01/the-delicate-balance-of-maria-corina-machado-in-trumps-washington.htmlWed, 01 Apr 2026 11:49:48 +0000Like something out of one of those experimental films from the 1970s that made excessive use of split-screen techniques, Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, and opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, María Corina Machado, spoke in the United States last week just hours apart. Rodríguez spoke in Miami at an investment forum sponsored by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, while Machado spoke in Houston at an influential global conference on the energy industry.

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]]>Lenin Nolly<![CDATA[Catatumbo: In the heart of the war in Colombia]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-30/catatumbo-in-the-heart-of-the-war-in-colombia.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-30/catatumbo-in-the-heart-of-the-war-in-colombia.htmlMon, 30 Mar 2026 15:52:51 +0000The bus had been bumping along a broken road for almost five hours, bouncing from pothole to pothole. Inside, the heat was building and the dust clung to their skin. Suddenly, the vehicle screeched to a halt at the gates of Tibú, the capital of the Catatumbo region in northern Colombia. Anywhere else it would have been just that: a stop. Not in Catatumbo.

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]]>Santiago Mesa<![CDATA[Colombian Air Force plane crashes with over 100 soldiers on board]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-23/colombian-air-force-plane-crashes-with-over-100-soldiers-on-board.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-23/colombian-air-force-plane-crashes-with-over-100-soldiers-on-board.htmlMon, 23 Mar 2026 19:41:32 +0000A Colombian Air Force plane crashed at 9:50 a.m. on Monday in a rural area near Puerto Leguízamo, in Putumayo, in the southwestern part of the country. According to General Carlos Fernando Silva Rueda, commander of the Colombian Air Force, the aircraft, a C-130 Hercules, was carrying 110 soldiers and 11 crew members. Shortly before 2 p.m., President Gustavo Petro provided the latest update on X: “So far, there have been 77 injured admitted to the hospital, one fatality, and 43 people whose condition is yet to be determined.”

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]]><![CDATA[Venezuela forgets about Maduro and starts down an irreversible path]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-23/venezuela-forgets-about-maduro-and-starts-down-an-irreversible-path.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-23/venezuela-forgets-about-maduro-and-starts-down-an-irreversible-path.htmlMon, 23 Mar 2026 14:41:02 +0000Screenwriter Gaba Agudo Adriani was using GPS to find a friend’s house in Caracas when she ended up on a street blocked off by police and checkpoints. It took her several seconds to realize not only that Delcy Rodríguez lives there, but who Delcy Rodríguez is now. That moment of bewilderment perfectly encapsulates a common feeling about the country’s new reality. After years trapped waiting for change, Venezuela has entered a new phase without its citizens fully understanding where they stand. Reality shifted abruptly, but remains shrouded in a mixture of optimism and uncertainty. Something has changed: the difficult part is defining how much, in what direction, and for how long. Although it does seem irreversible.

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]]>Ronald Peña R<![CDATA[Iván Cepeda: ‘Our fight is not with Paloma or Abelardo, it is with Uribe’]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-20/ivan-cepeda-our-fight-is-not-with-paloma-or-abelardo-it-is-with-uribe.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-20/ivan-cepeda-our-fight-is-not-with-paloma-or-abelardo-it-is-with-uribe.htmlFri, 20 Mar 2026 21:25:31 +0000Iván Cepeda hopes to become president on May 31, without having to face a second round, but he is aware he shouldn’t celebrate before the event. He welcomes EL PAÍS into his bright apartment in an upper-class Bogotá neighborhood where his three chow chow dogs race around, one of them born on June 19, 2022, the same day that Gustavo Petro became president.

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]]>Chelo Camacho<![CDATA[Petro accuses Ecuador of bombing Colombia, sparking a new diplomatic crisis]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-18/petro-accuses-ecuador-of-bombing-colombia-sparking-a-new-diplomatic-crisis.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-18/petro-accuses-ecuador-of-bombing-colombia-sparking-a-new-diplomatic-crisis.htmlWed, 18 Mar 2026 09:49:02 +0000The diplomatic crisis between Ecuador and Colombia, which has been simmering since January, has escalated dramatically following an unprecedented exchange of accusations between the presidents of the two countries. Colombian leader Gustavo Petro denounced on Monday that his country is being bombed from the neighboring country. “They are bombing us from Ecuador, and it’s not illegal armed groups,” he stated during a televised cabinet meeting. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s response was almost immediate. “False. We are attacking narco-terrorist structures in Ecuadorian territory, which Petro’s government allows to operate freely in the area,” he told Semana magazine. Far from toning things down, Petro escalated the accusation, claiming that there were 27 charred bodies on the border, without specifying the location or date. With both leaders launching public attacks against each other, diplomatic channels are not only broken: they have completely collapsed.

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]]><![CDATA[In Colombia primaries, Paloma Valencia’s strong performance complicates presidential race]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-09/in-colombia-primaries-paloma-valencias-strong-performance-complicates-presidential-race.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-09/in-colombia-primaries-paloma-valencias-strong-performance-complicates-presidential-race.htmlMon, 09 Mar 2026 09:06:50 +0000The party primaries held this Sunday in Colombia have propelled Senator Paloma Valencia, the candidate supported by former president Álvaro Uribe, into the presidential race. Her victory within the center-right bloc, with more than three million votes, threatens the leadership of far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella in his bid to oust the left from power. While Valencia counted ballots by the thousands, the left-wing and center party primaries — in which Roy Barreras and Claudia López emerged victorious — were lackluster, with a meager turnout that barely exceeded one million votes.

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]]>Ivan Valencia<![CDATA[One of the two survivors of Trump’s Caribbean bombings: ‘Dad, I would have been better off dead’ ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-07/one-of-the-two-survivors-of-trumps-caribbean-bombings-dad-i-would-have-been-better-off-dead.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-07/one-of-the-two-survivors-of-trumps-caribbean-bombings-dad-i-would-have-been-better-off-dead.htmlSat, 07 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000Rosendo Obando rarely answers the phone, because he usually doesn’t get reception. But the night he answered his former daughter-in-law’s call, he was in for a shock.

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]]>Santiago Mesa<![CDATA[The Venezuelan opposition moves past the 2024 elections and prepares for the next ones ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-06/the-venezuelan-opposition-moves-past-the-2024-elections-and-prepares-for-the-next-ones.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-03-06/the-venezuelan-opposition-moves-past-the-2024-elections-and-prepares-for-the-next-ones.htmlFri, 06 Mar 2026 10:05:03 +0000Many things have changed in Venezuela since January 3, when U.S. elite troops captured Nicolás Maduro. Throughout this time, however, the regime’s most hardline opposition maintained the same slogan: “Venezuelans have already voted.” This was a reference to the presidential elections of July 28, 2024, when Edmundo González, the candidate backed by María Corina Machado, achieved a landslide victory against Maduro.

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]]>Maxwell Briceno<![CDATA[Kidnappings and conservatives who defend minimum wage rises: Unpredictability defines the campaign in Colombia]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-16/kidnappings-and-conservatives-who-defend-minimum-wage-rises-unpredictability-defines-the-campaign-in-colombia.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-16/kidnappings-and-conservatives-who-defend-minimum-wage-rises-unpredictability-defines-the-campaign-in-colombia.htmlMon, 16 Feb 2026 11:36:46 +0000A kidnapping on a mountainous road in southwestern Colombia on Tuesday served as a stark reminder that in this country, no one is truly safe. The victims were the Indigenous Senator Aida Quilcué and her security detail. A group of armed men intercepted their vehicle and made them disappear for hours. All levels of law enforcement were sent out to find them, and they re-emerged alive. But the message had been delivered. If a senator with bodyguards can be erased from the map, even for just a few hours, what hope is there for those without a well-known name or protection?

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]]>@Ejercito_Div3<![CDATA[Juan Manuel Santos, former president of Colombia: ‘The world is on the wrong track’ ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-14/juan-manuel-santos-former-president-of-colombia-the-world-is-on-the-wrong-track.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-14/juan-manuel-santos-former-president-of-colombia-the-world-is-on-the-wrong-track.htmlSat, 14 Feb 2026 04:00:00 +0000Former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, 74, is received like a rock star wherever he goes. A couple of weeks ago, in Panama City, three bodyguards cleared a path among the dozens of people who wanted to take a selfie with him. The Bogotá-born Santos – who governed his country from 2010 to 2018 – doesn’t shy away from anyone: he stops, smiles, listens, poses. And he asks questions, a lot of questions. In January, he was invited to the International Economic Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean. The event was organized by the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), with the support of Grupo Prisa (the publisher of EL PAÍS) through the World in Progress (WIP) forum. Santos was one of the most sought-after figures at the event. Amid greetings and expressions of admiration, it became clear that, far from retiring from the international stage, Santos is still playing the game.

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]]>Andrés Zea<![CDATA[Cocaine in Petro’s car: A new sabotage allegation reignites Colombia’s shadow war]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-12/cocaine-in-petros-car-a-new-sabotage-allegation-reignites-colombias-shadow-war.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-12/cocaine-in-petros-car-a-new-sabotage-allegation-reignites-colombias-shadow-war.htmlThu, 12 Feb 2026 10:10:38 +0000A new episode has once again stirred the shadows of power in Colombia. On Tuesday, during an extended Cabinet meeting, Colombian President Gustavo Petro denounced two plots that initially drew little attention but would have halted the political agenda in almost any other country. As if downplaying it, Petro claimed that earlier this week someone tried to kill him while he was traveling by helicopter. According to his account, the aircraft had to change course and fly over the ocean for four hours before it could land. He offered no details about the specific threat or those responsible.

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]]><![CDATA[Petro emerges reinforced from his meeting with Trump at the White House]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-04/petro-emerges-reinforced-from-his-meeting-with-trump-at-the-white-house.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-04/petro-emerges-reinforced-from-his-meeting-with-trump-at-the-white-house.htmlWed, 04 Feb 2026 10:35:51 +0000For weeks, in Colombia, there was more talk about what could go wrong than what could go right. The meeting between Donald Trump and Gustavo Petro this Tuesday was a trial by fire. Two unpredictable leaders with a history of excesses could easily turn it into a train wreck, one in which Colombia stood to lose. The fear wasn’t just of a direct confrontation. There were also other concerns: that Petro would go off on tangents, that he would monopolize the conversation, or that, as some of those who saw him the day before the meeting warned, he would end up “focusing on the cosmic.” In some sectors, there even seemed to be an expectation — almost a desire — that everything would derail in the middle of the Colombian election campaign. It didn’t happen. Against many predictions, the meeting went well. “I thought he was terrific,” said the Republican. “I like frank Americans,” praised the Colombian leader.

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]]><![CDATA[Trump and Petro conclude White House meeting aimed at repairing bilateral ties ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-03/trump-and-petro-conclude-white-house-meeting-aimed-at-repairing-bilateral-ties.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-03/trump-and-petro-conclude-white-house-meeting-aimed-at-repairing-bilateral-ties.htmlTue, 03 Feb 2026 18:58:34 +0000After a meeting that lasted more than two hours — which included a walk by U.S. President Donald Trump and Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro through the controversial presidential gallery of the White House — the encounter between the two leaders ended in Washington on Tuesday, shortly after 1 p.m. local time.

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]]><![CDATA[Trump and Petro will try to relaunch bilateral ties at a high-voltage meeting]]>https://english.elpais.com/usa/2026-02-03/trump-and-petro-will-try-to-relaunch-bilateral-ties-at-a-high-voltage-meeting.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/usa/2026-02-03/trump-and-petro-will-try-to-relaunch-bilateral-ties-at-a-high-voltage-meeting.htmlTue, 03 Feb 2026 11:20:39 +0000Zohran Mamdani or Volodymyr Zelenskiy? When U.S. President Donald Trump receives his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, in the Oval Office on Tuesday, will he heap reproaches upon him, as he did with the Ukrainian leader last year? Or will he shower him with praise, as he did with the New York mayor in December after months of mutual insults and criticism?

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]]><![CDATA[The month that changed Venezuela: From the US attack and Maduro’s capture to amnesty for political prisoners]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-03/the-month-that-changed-venezuela-from-the-us-attack-and-maduros-capture-to-amnesty-for-political-prisoners.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-03/the-month-that-changed-venezuela-from-the-us-attack-and-maduros-capture-to-amnesty-for-political-prisoners.htmlTue, 03 Feb 2026 10:04:55 +0000A dizzying month is coming to a close in Venezuela. Since the early hours of January 3, events have unfolded at an unprecedented speed: a surgical military attack by U.S. special forces, Chavismo stripped of its leader, a regime that cooperates with the enemy, some signs of openness, the redefinition of the oil market, and finally, an unexpected gesture: a general amnesty for all political prisoners, the first explicit acknowledgment that the cycle of political violence must end to open another possible horizon.

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]]>Ronald Peña R<![CDATA[Henrique Capriles: ‘Venezuelans will not settle for just a reshuffling of power’]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-01/henrique-capriles-venezuelans-will-not-settle-for-just-a-reshuffling-of-power.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-01/henrique-capriles-venezuelans-will-not-settle-for-just-a-reshuffling-of-power.htmlSun, 01 Feb 2026 04:00:00 +0000Henrique Capriles Radonski, 53, has regained prominence on the Venezuelan political scene. A member of the National Assembly in a Venezuela without Nicolás Maduro, Capriles is eager to speak. He pauses for several minutes before answering each question, and sometimes returns to and elaborates on his previous responses. Although conciliatory, he reveals a persistent unease with a segment of the opposition that, he says, has judged him harshly. Capriles, an opposition leader, former mayor, former governor, and former presidential candidate, is concerned that the “new political moment” spoken of by interim president Delcy Rodríguez results in nothing more than an oil deal. He insists that without trustworthy institutions and freedoms, elections will change nothing.

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]]>GABY ORAA<![CDATA[Venezuela announces first oil revenues from US]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-01-21/venezuela-announces-first-oil-revenues-from-us.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-01-21/venezuela-announces-first-oil-revenues-from-us.htmlWed, 21 Jan 2026 14:29:34 +0000The Venezuelan government has confirmed that revenue from oil sales has begun to flow in. The announcement was made Tuesday by interim president Delcy Rodríguez during a social outreach event in the La Vega neighborhood of Caracas. Rodríguez reported that $300 million of the initial $500 million expected from these sales has already been received. She explained that these funds will be used to cover and finance the income of the country’s workers.

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]]>Antranik Tavitian<![CDATA[Diosdado Cabello, the unpredictable go-between in Venezuela ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-19/diosdado-cabello-the-unpredictable-go-between-in-venezuela.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-19/diosdado-cabello-the-unpredictable-go-between-in-venezuela.htmlMon, 19 Jan 2026 15:05:36 +0000A shadow has been cast over the offices, barracks, embassies and cafés of Caracas and also of Washington since January 3. It is the shadow of a man many fear. The future of the new Venezuela is in his hands; whether or not the country descends into chaos rests on his shoulders.

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]]>Ariana Cubillos<![CDATA[Venezuela opens up to the world]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-15/venezuela-opens-up-to-the-world.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-15/venezuela-opens-up-to-the-world.htmlThu, 15 Jan 2026 09:40:42 +0000Just a few weeks ago, the scene would have been unthinkable. The German ambassador, Völker Pellet, shook hands with Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello at the Miraflores presidential palace. A month earlier, Cabello, one of Chavismo’s strongmen, had dedicated part of his television program, where he usually ridicules and threatens those he considers adversaries, to the German diplomat. He said he had seen him “taking it easy” in Caracas and showed photos from his social media accounts of him walking around Waraira Repano, the Ávila mountain that dominates the city, to mock Berlin’s warning about the risks of traveling to Venezuela in the midst of escalating tensions with Washington. Today, that same ambassador is being officially received in the heart of Chavista power.

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]]>Leonardo Fernandez Viloria<![CDATA[Gustavo Petro: ‘Trump told me he was thinking of doing bad things in Colombia, a military operation’]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-09/gustavo-petro-trump-told-me-he-was-thinking-of-doing-bad-things-in-colombia-a-military-operation.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-09/gustavo-petro-trump-told-me-he-was-thinking-of-doing-bad-things-in-colombia-a-military-operation.htmlFri, 09 Jan 2026 09:07:57 +0000Gustavo Petro thought this past week that at any moment an assault force could land on the roof of the Casa de Nariño, the Colombian presidential residence, and burst into his office. He doesn’t have a bunker to run to, as Nicolás Maduro tried to do a week ago before he was captured and placed on a helicopter bound for the United States. The 65-year-old Colombian president felt threatened by Donald Trump’s insinuations that something similar could happen to him. The U.S. president has variously called Petro a drug addict, a thug, a drug trafficker, and a front man for Maduro. He has added him to the Clinton List — a redlist of individuals and companies linked by Washington to drug trafficking — and revoked his visa. Petro, meanwhile, says he clung to “the people” as a shield against the army with the greatest firepower in history, and to Simón Bolívar’s sword, kept as a relic close to him.

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]]>Chelo Camacho<![CDATA[Trump and Petro bury the hatchet with an hour-long call]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-08/trump-and-petro-bury-the-hatchet-with-an-hour-long-call.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-08/trump-and-petro-bury-the-hatchet-with-an-hour-long-call.htmlThu, 08 Jan 2026 10:39:21 +0000Gustavo Petro and Donald Trump ended their mutual attacks on Wednesday after a phone call lasting more than an hour. Upon hanging up, the U.S. president said it had been “a great honor” to speak with his Colombian counterpart and that he looked forward to welcoming him at the White House, a meeting his advisors are already arranging. Petro responded that Colombia can now “sleep peacefully.” The standoff between the two leaders, which had taken on a pre-war tone, has been resolved, at least for now.

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]]>MARIANO VIMOS<![CDATA[Venezuelans live in fear and silence in a new country without Maduro]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-07/venezuelans-live-in-fear-and-silence-in-a-new-country-without-maduro.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-07/venezuelans-live-in-fear-and-silence-in-a-new-country-without-maduro.htmlWed, 07 Jan 2026 15:15:51 +0000The morning after the January 3 attack, Venezuela awoke in silence. There were no shouts, no flags, no celebrations in the streets. Phones and social media were buzzing, but the curtains were drawn, and the few who ventured outdoors exchanged stunned glances without saying a word. The country awoke holding its breath: waiting, as it had so many times before. In supermarkets and gas stations, people spoke little and shopped quickly. Some secretly celebrated the arrest of Nicolás Maduro by the United States, toasting in hushed tones, sending audio messages that they promptly deleted. But the euphoria was short-lived. A few hours were enough to realize that perhaps there was nothing to celebrate. And the fear returned. Perhaps with even greater force. A thick silence filled the homes, cutting off conversations and leaving calls unanswered. People are afraid to talk on the phone, even in the privacy of their own homes—“we’re all tapped”—and even across the border. “It’s very difficult. You say something and they arrest you,” warns a Venezuelan who crosses into the Colombian city of Cúcuta every day for work.

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]]>Gaby Oraa<![CDATA[Delcy Rodríguez calls for cooperation with US while Trump demands ‘total access’ in Venezuela]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-05/delcy-rodriguez-calls-for-cooperation-with-us-while-trump-demands-total-access-in-venezuela.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-05/delcy-rodriguez-calls-for-cooperation-with-us-while-trump-demands-total-access-in-venezuela.htmlMon, 05 Jan 2026 09:47:18 +0000In her first statement as the new “acting president of Venezuela,” Delcy Rodríguez sent a conciliatory message to the United States that contrasted with the usual belligerent tone used by Chavismo against Washington. Meanwhile, Donald Trump kept up the threats, demanding “total access” to the country’s “oil and to other things” while maintaining that “we’re in charge.”

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]]>@delcyrodriguezv<![CDATA[Delcy Rodríguez, caught between regime survival and transition in Venezuela]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-04/delcy-rodriguez-caught-between-regime-survival-and-transition-in-venezuela.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-01-04/delcy-rodriguez-caught-between-regime-survival-and-transition-in-venezuela.htmlSun, 04 Jan 2026 07:54:43 +0000In the hours following Nicolás Maduro’s capture, one woman has captured all eyes and speculation, and it is not María Corina Machado. Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s powerful vice president, has emerged more than ever as a central player in the reconfiguration of Chavista power during these critical hours in which U.S. President Donald Trump has succeeded in removing Maduro.

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]]>Prensa Presidencial<![CDATA[Pablo Escobar’s hippos: A serious environmental problem, 40 years on]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-27/pablo-escobars-hippos-a-serious-environmental-problem-40-years-on.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-27/pablo-escobars-hippos-a-serious-environmental-problem-40-years-on.htmlSat, 27 Dec 2025 04:00:00 +0000In the 1980s, four hippopotamuses landed in Colombia, part of an exotic whim of the feared drug trafficker Pablo Escobar. Later on, Pepe — a wayward descendant — became the herd’s most famous member when he was captured. Since then, the country has changed its Constitution, its presidents, and its wars, but four decades — and various reporters — later, the headline remains the same: Colombia doesn’t know what to do with Pablo Escobar’s hippos. It doesn’t matter when you read this, it will probably still be the case.

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]]>Juancho Torres<![CDATA[From ‘Nazi’ to ‘moment for reflection’: Latin America’s left feels the blow of Kast’s victory in Chile]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-16/from-nazi-to-moment-for-reflection-latin-americas-left-feels-the-blow-of-kasts-victory-in-chile.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-16/from-nazi-to-moment-for-reflection-latin-americas-left-feels-the-blow-of-kasts-victory-in-chile.htmlTue, 16 Dec 2025 11:49:08 +0000José Antonio Kast’s victory in Chile’s presidential election has come as a shock to Latin America’s left, but it has also revealed the different ways in which those in power are processing the blow. In Brazil, President Lula da Silva simply congratulated the representative of the Chilean far right, without offering any analysis or warnings. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum went a step further, calling on progressive movements to “reflect” on the reasons for this overwhelming victory. But it was Colombia’s Gustavo Petro who, once again, turned up the volume with an incendiary message: “It’s sad that Pinochet had to impose himself by force, but it’s even sadder now that the people are choosing their own Pinochet,” he wrote, alluding to the longtime dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

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]]>Cristian Soto Quiroz<![CDATA[The trip that changed everything: Venezuela waits to see if María Corina Machado will be able to return ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-15/the-trip-that-changed-everything-venezuela-waits-to-see-if-maria-corina-machado-will-be-able-to-return.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-15/the-trip-that-changed-everything-venezuela-waits-to-see-if-maria-corina-machado-will-be-able-to-return.htmlMon, 15 Dec 2025 11:20:02 +0000What will happen to the Venezuelan opposition when its political and media star leaves the country and may not be able to return? That is the big question currently facing Venezuelan politics after María Corina Machado left the country to travel to Oslo and receive (a day late) her Nobel Peace Prize. Her journey, presented as a historic — and heroic — feat, now opens up an unpredictable scenario: what happens if the opposition figure most legitimized in recent years to challenge the Nicolás Maduro regime is unable to return?

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]]>Rodrigo Abd<![CDATA[Venezuela’s opposition, trapped in an all-or-nothing situation]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-08/venezuelas-opposition-trapped-in-an-all-or-nothing-situation.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-08/venezuelas-opposition-trapped-in-an-all-or-nothing-situation.htmlMon, 08 Dec 2025 16:55:55 +0000Half the world is speculating about the outcome in Venezuela, but no one can say for sure what it will be. For some, the country is on the cusp of a historic opportunity. For others, it’s heading toward catastrophe. And for many more, it’s navigating a territory of extremes where every nuance is seen as treason. The opposition has reached this point exhausted and fractured after so many attempts at change. Some swear the regime is on the ropes. Others see a country mired in a narrative of collapse. Still others, burned out by past high expectations, distrust the epic narrative and fear that, once again, this all-or-nothing game will all end in nothing.

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]]>RONALD PENA R<![CDATA[Ground attack or negotiated exit? Trump’s indecision raises tensions in Venezuela ]]>https://english.elpais.com/usa/2025-12-08/ground-attack-or-negotiated-exit-trumps-indecision-raises-tensions-in-venezuela.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/usa/2025-12-08/ground-attack-or-negotiated-exit-trumps-indecision-raises-tensions-in-venezuela.htmlMon, 08 Dec 2025 10:10:57 +0000Although the world has long grown accustomed to Donald Trump’s volatility, the U.S. president’s attitude in recent weeks toward the idea of an attack on Venezuela has left observers of the bilateral relationship baffled, with both countries in a state of anxiety and heightened alert. The messages coming from the White House have been decidedly contradictory. One day, Trump threatens the imminent start of a ground offensive, vowing “taking those sons of a bitches out,” in reference to the South American country’s drug traffickers. The next day, he resumes deportation flights for irregular immigrants and leaves open the possibility of a negotiated resolution to the crisis. The result? No one — neither in Washington nor in Caracas — dares to predict whether the feared military intervention will actually take place, or what form it might take if it does.

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]]>Brian Snyder<![CDATA[Venezuela’s airspace becomes another battlefield]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-01/venezuelas-airspace-becomes-another-battlefield.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-01/venezuelas-airspace-becomes-another-battlefield.htmlMon, 01 Dec 2025 12:07:09 +0000Venezuela’s skies have become another battlefront. For the past week, what seemed like just another element of Washington’s hybrid offensive against Caracas has transformed into a vast, silent battlefield isolating the country. Venezuelan airspace is now the scene of threats, warnings, canceled flights, and military maneuvers fueling a conflict with an uncertain outcome.

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]]>Gaby Oraa<![CDATA[Maduro and Trump spoke last week, according to The New York Times]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-28/maduro-and-trump-spoke-last-week-according-to-the-new-york-times.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-28/maduro-and-trump-spoke-last-week-according-to-the-new-york-times.htmlFri, 28 Nov 2025 20:23:43 +0000U.S. President Donald Trump held a telephone conversation last week with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, The New York Times revealed on Friday. The call, seen as a gesture of rapprochement amid heightened hostilities between the two countries, included the possibility of a future meeting between the two leaders on U.S. soil; if so, it would mark a significant shift in relations between Washington and Caracas. However, according to the newspaper, the meeting has not yet taken place and there are no specific plans for one yet.

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]]>Al Drago, Gaby Oraa<![CDATA[From oil and cooperation on drug trafficking to his own head: What could Maduro offer to appease Trump? ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-27/from-oil-and-cooperation-on-drug-trafficking-to-his-own-head-what-could-maduro-offer-to-appease-trump.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-27/from-oil-and-cooperation-on-drug-trafficking-to-his-own-head-what-could-maduro-offer-to-appease-trump.htmlThu, 27 Nov 2025 09:52:02 +0000One question is currently hanging over Washington — on pause for the Thanksgiving holiday — and Caracas, tense with the prospect of the United States carrying out its threat of military intervention in Venezuela: will Presidents Donald Trump and Nicolás Maduro talk, as the former hinted at in statements to the press on Tuesday? And while that question remains unanswered, another arises: What could Maduro offer the Republican in order to change his mind?

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]]>MIGUEL GUTIÉRREZ<![CDATA[Maduro addresses his supporters: ‘Failure is not an option at this crucial juncture’]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-26/maduro-addresses-his-supporters-failure-is-not-an-option-at-this-crucial-juncture.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-26/maduro-addresses-his-supporters-failure-is-not-an-option-at-this-crucial-juncture.htmlWed, 26 Nov 2025 09:51:44 +0000Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro brought Tuesday’s rally in Caracas to a close, in a show of force with which the Chavista regime sought to demonstrate cohesion amid escalating tensions with the United States. Dressed in military uniform and flanked by the top brass of his government and the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, Maduro raised the sword of Simón Bolívar, a central emblem of Chavista ideology. From below the stage, thousands of supporters chanted in unison: “The man of peace is named Nicolás!”

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]]>Ariana Cubillos<![CDATA[Venezuela on the brink of the unknown: Psychological warfare, isolation and a tense standoff with the US]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-24/venezuela-on-the-brink-of-the-unknown-psychological-warfare-isolation-and-a-tense-standoff-with-the-us.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-24/venezuela-on-the-brink-of-the-unknown-psychological-warfare-isolation-and-a-tense-standoff-with-the-us.htmlMon, 24 Nov 2025 15:16:27 +0000The sudden suspension on Saturday of most international flights to Caracas, after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned of the risks of flying over Venezuelan airspace, has heightened fears about a crisis of still unknown dimensions. The alert, which led airlines such as Iberia, Avianca and TAP to cancel routes, leaves Venezuela more isolated and vulnerable — another element in the U.S. strategy to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. No one dares to guess what Donald Trump’s plan is, but whatever it may be, its outcome is unlikely to be straightforward.

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]]>Ariana Cubillos<![CDATA[The killing of child soldiers: The dilemma facing Gustavo Petro’s government]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-24/the-killing-of-child-soldiers-the-dilemma-facing-gustavo-petros-government.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-24/the-killing-of-child-soldiers-the-dilemma-facing-gustavo-petros-government.htmlMon, 24 Nov 2025 14:45:16 +0000In the early hours of November 13, the Colombian jungle crackled in the darkness. A column of 150 guerrillas, camouflaged in olive green, advanced through the undergrowth with the objective, according to the Ministry of Defense, of ambushing a group of 20 young soldiers deployed in the area. Among the platoon were two high-priority targets for the authorities: trusted men of Iván Mordisco, the guerrilla leader of a FARC dissident group and one of Colombia’s most wanted criminals. They didn’t get that far. Three planes dropped several bombs on them. They were also surrounded on the ground. The order was given by Colombian President Gustavo Petro himself, while he was hosting dozens of world leaders at the CELAC summit on the shores of the Caribbean Sea. The main targets escaped, but 19 rank-and-file combatants died in the attack. Seven were minors forcibly recruited by the guerrillas. Carem Smith Cubillos Miraña was 13 years old. The oldest, Martha Elena Abarca Vilches, was 17.

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]]>Fernando Vergara<![CDATA[3,000 tons of cocaine: The controversial figure that pits Colombia against the United Nations]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-18/3000-tons-of-cocaine-the-controversial-figure-that-pits-colombia-against-the-united-nations.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-18/3000-tons-of-cocaine-the-controversial-figure-that-pits-colombia-against-the-united-nations.htmlTue, 18 Nov 2025 11:42:17 +0000The world’s largest producer and exporter of cocaine doesn’t know its own production. The figure exists, but no one can vouch for its accuracy. After nearly 20 years using the same methodology, Colombian President Gustavo Petro denounced its inaccuracy and decided not to release the numbers. The cocaine production figure, which has continued to rise, became a state secret. After weeks of tension between the Colombian government and the United Nations, the agency responsible for these measurements until now, EL PAÍS reveals this secret figure: 3,001 tons of cocaine were potentially produced in 2024. Four dubious digits that summarize a huge problem: Colombia lacks a reliable method for measuring one of the world’s most profitable illegal businesses. And without accurate information, it’s difficult to assess the effectiveness of its anti-drug policies.

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]]>Anadolu<![CDATA[Soccer, emeralds and cocaine: The ‘new’ Colombian drug lords with ties to Spain]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-02/soccer-emeralds-and-cocaine-the-new-colombian-drug-lords-with-ties-to-spain.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-02/soccer-emeralds-and-cocaine-the-new-colombian-drug-lords-with-ties-to-spain.htmlSun, 02 Nov 2025 04:00:00 +0000One morning 15 years ago, a man hiding his face behind a newspaper surrendered to two U.S. agents in a Panama City cafe. That peaceful arrest — during which smiles were even exchanged — was the culmination of months of negotiations between U.S. authorities and one of Colombia’s most powerful drug traffickers. He was accused of flooding drug routes with more than 900 tons of cocaine and laundering billions of dollars. The scene, recounted by Colombian historian Petrit Baquero, marked the demise of Julio Lozano Pirateque, alias “Patricia,” and the organization he led. After being extradited, he served a six-year sentence and fell off the radar, until Colombian President Gustavo Petro began publicly accusing him of being the head of a criminal organization that, he claims, is plotting to assassinate him.

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]]>Long Visual Press<![CDATA[The pulse of Peru’s youth threatens entrenched power]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-10-14/the-pulse-of-perus-youth-threatens-entrenched-power.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-10-14/the-pulse-of-perus-youth-threatens-entrenched-power.htmlTue, 14 Oct 2025 12:37:05 +0000Jean Villanueva’s father is a bus ticket collector in Lima, working on one of those vehicles that move amid honking horns and fear. He is one of the targets of the mafias that collect extortion fees from ticket checkers and drivers — people who, like so many others, leave home every day without knowing if they will return. Pessimism and weariness are spreading in Peru, but Villanueva, a 29-year-old accountant, prefers not to wait for the country to change on its own. He is shouting. He is clenching his fists. He is always on the front lines. He is convinced that young Peruvians are the only ones who can restore hope to the country. His generation, the one that fills the streets of cities around the world, has grown tired of waiting.

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]]>Martín Mejía<![CDATA[From Somalia to Spain’s Balearic Islands: A journey along one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2025-08-17/from-somalia-to-spains-balearic-islands-a-journey-along-one-of-the-most-dangerous-migration-routes-in-the-world.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2025-08-17/from-somalia-to-spains-balearic-islands-a-journey-along-one-of-the-most-dangerous-migration-routes-in-the-world.htmlSun, 17 Aug 2025 04:14:15 +0000Sahra and Samia’s story begins on a farm in Somalia that no longer exists. Things were going well for them: Sahra, a 55-year-old mother, successfully ran a small livestock and crop business. That is, until her brother — the only adult man in the family — devastated everything.

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]]>Francisco Ubilla<![CDATA[The homeless people of Madrid’s Barajas airport: ‘I’m sick of sleeping on the floor’]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2025-05-13/the-homeless-people-of-madrids-barajas-airport-im-sick-of-sleeping-on-the-floor.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2025-05-13/the-homeless-people-of-madrids-barajas-airport-im-sick-of-sleeping-on-the-floor.htmlTue, 13 May 2025 14:42:26 +0000Between 300 and 400 homeless people sleep each night at Madrid’s Barajas Airport. The number has reached as many as 500. No one knew who they were until a religious organization — Mesa de la Hospitalidad, which includes Caritas — took the initiative to carry out a census. Nearly three months after the issue emerged, the report was presented this Monday to municipal, regional, and national authorities.

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]]>David Expósito<![CDATA[Flooding in Spain: The homes that became death traps in a small Valencia town ]]>https://english.elpais.com/climate/2024-11-15/flooding-in-spain-the-homes-that-became-death-traps-in-a-small-valencia-town.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/climate/2024-11-15/flooding-in-spain-the-homes-that-became-death-traps-in-a-small-valencia-town.htmlFri, 15 Nov 2024 14:34:18 +0000By the time the residents of Valencia, in eastern Spain, began to receive storm alerts on October 29, six residents of Utiel were already dead. It was 8.11pm. The warnings to avoid road travel due to heavy rain not only came too late, they were irrelevant to these victims: they did not die on their way home from work, or on their way to the garage to pick up their cars. Anunciación, Enrique, Maruja, Julia, Colombina and Ángel all drowned in the living room of their own homes. “It was distressing because they called us to say they were drowning,” the mayor, Ricardo Gabalón, said a day after flash floods that have claimed over 200 lives and left a trail of destruction in their wake.

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]]>Álvaro del Olmo<![CDATA[Spanish villagers cast back to the 19th century by flash floods]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2024-11-01/spanish-villagers-cast-back-to-the-19th-century-by-flash-floods.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2024-11-01/spanish-villagers-cast-back-to-the-19th-century-by-flash-floods.htmlFri, 01 Nov 2024 13:36:01 +0000Everything that people took for granted in Chiva is no longer there. The residents of the small Valencian town that registered record rainfall on Tuesday, October 29, cannot call each other on the phone. They have no way to locate those missing or listen to the radio. They do not know for sure what is happening in their town, much less in the surrounding areas.

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]]>Kai Försterling<![CDATA[Spain lodged formal complaint against Mexico for snub to King Felipe ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-09-27/spain-lodged-formal-complaint-against-mexico-for-snub-to-king-felipe.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2024-09-27/spain-lodged-formal-complaint-against-mexico-for-snub-to-king-felipe.htmlFri, 27 Sep 2024 08:46:36 +0000Spain formally protested Mexico’s decision not to invite King Felipe VI to the inauguration of Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female president. On Tuesday — the same day that EL PAÍS revealed that Mexico had not sent the King of Spain an invitation — the Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry sent a formal complaint to the Mexican Foreign Affairs Ministry.

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]]>Raquel Cunha<![CDATA[Mass arrests and forced transfers: How migrants are exiled in North Africa with European money]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-06-01/mass-arrests-and-forced-transfers-how-migrants-are-exiled-in-north-africa-with-european-money.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2024-06-01/mass-arrests-and-forced-transfers-how-migrants-are-exiled-in-north-africa-with-european-money.htmlSat, 01 Jun 2024 04:00:00 +0000It’s been more than four years, but Timothy Hucks’ blood boils every time he remembers it. In another country, what happened to this New Yorker in Morocco could be considered a kidnapping. In March of 2019, Hucks, who was then working as an English teacher in Rabat, had broken up with his girlfriend. Devastated, all he wanted to do was drink an entire bottle of wine. So, he left a quiche in the oven and his mobile phone on the table and headed out to a liquor store, which was just four minutes from his house. But he didn’t make it back: he ended up being arrested and exiled to a city more than 200 miles from the Moroccan capital. Next to him, there were dozens of young guys. And they all had something in common: they were Black.

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]]><![CDATA[The incredible odyssey of nine castaways attempting to reach Europe]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2024-05-06/the-incredible-odyssey-of-nine-castaways-attempting-to-reach-europe.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2024-05-06/the-incredible-odyssey-of-nine-castaways-attempting-to-reach-europe.htmlMon, 06 May 2024 09:57:06 +0000Another tragedy in the Atlantic has left a new trail of people dead while attempting to reach Europe, but it is also an extraordinary story of survival. Early last Monday, a 230-meter tanker sighted a semi-submerged flat-bottomed boat in which nine exhausted men were holding on. They were rescued by a Spanish Coast Guard helicopter and the initial accounts they gave to authorities on reaching land described an incredible odyssey. The boat, with 60 people on board when it set sail, capsized and the nine castaways managed to turn it back around and keep it afloat for several hours. The story raised the suspicions of the police, among other reasons because it was a sizeable boat and therefore difficult to turn on the open sea, but after taking statements from six of the nine survivors, the pieces fit together. “The testimonies are coincidental and spontaneous. In other words, they are credible,” explains a police source.

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]]>SALVAMENTO MARÍTIMO<![CDATA[Madrid, the new launchpad for migration from Africa to the United States]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-02-06/madrid-the-new-launchpad-for-migration-from-africa-to-the-united-states.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2024-02-06/madrid-the-new-launchpad-for-migration-from-africa-to-the-united-states.htmlTue, 06 Feb 2024 19:16:41 +0000Mamadou landed in Spain on January 28, 19 years after he last left the country. He was one of the tens of thousands of Senegalese who disembarked on the Canary Islands during the so-called cayuco crisis of 2006. But the European dream did not work out well for him. “I held out for two years, but without papers, it was very difficult to find work, and I returned to Dakar,” he said this week, in the transit area of Terminal 4S of Madrid’s Barajas airport. Now 45 years old, he was making a stopover in Madrid before passing through El Salvador on the way to Nicaragua, with the ultimate goal of crossing the U.S. border irregularly. “I am strong, I feel young enough to start again. I don’t think the route, or making a new life there, will be more difficult than what I’ve already been through,” he laughs. Mamadou was surrounded by others. Near the bathrooms, 30 Africans (mainly Senegalese, with some Mauritanians) dozed on cardboard placed on the floor, waiting for the same connecting flight that would leave the next day.

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]]>Claudio Álvarez<![CDATA[Why is there a new surge in migrant boats to Spain’s Canary Islands?]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2023-10-13/why-is-there-a-new-surge-in-migrant-boats-to-spains-canary-islands.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2023-10-13/why-is-there-a-new-surge-in-migrant-boats-to-spains-canary-islands.htmlFri, 13 Oct 2023 15:47:15 +0000Spain’s Canary Islands, located off the northwestern coast of Africa, are once again featuring prominently in the global immigration scene. The increase in arrivals from Africa since the beginning of summer has exceeded all forecasts and records are being posted in October, with up to 1,000 arrivals in a single day. Senegal has been the main departure point in recent months and the small island of El Hierro, the spot with the most arrivals. The figures for 2023 will exceed those of 2020, the second most intense year along this route after 2006, which was the year of the so-called Cayuco Crisis, so named after the type of traditional canoe used by smugglers. But the current scenario is very different from that of three years ago.

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]]>Gelmert Finol<![CDATA[Surge in migrant boats to Spain’s Canary Islands stretches resources thin]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-10-12/surge-in-migrant-boats-to-spains-canary-islands-stretches-resources-thin.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-10-12/surge-in-migrant-boats-to-spains-canary-islands-stretches-resources-thin.htmlThu, 12 Oct 2023 15:35:50 +0000The number of migrant boats arriving in the Canary Islands in recent months — and especially in the last two weeks — is pushing Spain’s reception resources to the limit. Since October 1, more than 5,000 people have landed on the islands, a figure that has forced the Spanish government to organize transfers to the mainland to avoid the collapse of services in the archipelago.

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]]>Álvaro García<![CDATA[All or nothing to make it to El Hierro, the last European outpost for African refugees]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-10-05/all-or-nothing-to-make-it-to-el-hierro-the-last-european-outpost-for-african-refugees.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-10-05/all-or-nothing-to-make-it-to-el-hierro-the-last-european-outpost-for-african-refugees.htmlThu, 05 Oct 2023 17:28:52 +0000At the La Restinga port in El Hierro, dozens of huge, colorful launches float near the dock while two men walk across planks to inspect the engines and search for water leaks. Inside the launches are the remnants of a challenging trans-Atlantic journey to this far-flung spit of land in the Canary Islands archipelago — cans of food, raincoats, crackers, backpacks, water containers and shoes. Their conversation is drowned out by a nearby excavator removing the wreckage of other launches. Meanwhile, Red Cross workers tend to 129 new arrivals. Shouts suddenly bring everything to a halt.

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]]>Miguel Velasco Almendral<![CDATA[Political crisis in Senegal triggers influx of migrants to Spain’s Canary Islands ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-07-16/political-crisis-in-senegal-triggers-influx-of-migrants-to-spains-canary-islands.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-07-16/political-crisis-in-senegal-triggers-influx-of-migrants-to-spains-canary-islands.htmlSun, 16 Jul 2023 11:33:27 +0000Senegal is going through a political and social criss. This past June, riots broke out, resulting in around 20 deaths, at least 600 arrests and significant material damage. According to Frontex — the European Border and Coast Guard Agency — and various Senegalese NGOs and migrants, the ongoing violence is the cause of the intense outflow of rafts and canoes from the coasts of West Africa to the Canary Islands of Spain.

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]]>DESIREE MARTIN<![CDATA[Survivors of the shipwreck in the Mediterranean accuse Greek authorities: ‘The Coast Guard towed us at high speed, and we capsized’]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-30/survivors-of-the-shipwreck-in-the-mediterranean-accuse-greek-authorities-the-coast-guard-towed-us-at-high-speed-and-we-capsized.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-30/survivors-of-the-shipwreck-in-the-mediterranean-accuse-greek-authorities-the-coast-guard-towed-us-at-high-speed-and-we-capsized.htmlFri, 30 Jun 2023 10:06:29 +0000Seconds before plunging into the sea, Kamal, a 27-year-old Syrian refugee, looked at his watch. It was 2:05 a.m. on June 14. His body was sinking into the darkness alongside some of the 750 people who were traveling with him aboard an old blue fishing boat bound for Italy. “The Coast Guard towed us at high speed, and we capsized,” he says. The water, which had been calm until then, was filled with people desperately trying to save themselves, screaming, men tearing off their clothes to escape from others who were grabbing them to stay afloat...A short distance away, the Greek Coast Guard boat witnessed the scene. When the young man looked at his wrist again, now aboard the superyacht that rescued him, it was 4:15 a.m. “I’d been swimming for over two hours,” he recalls.

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]]>EUROKINISSI<![CDATA[The 11-hour anguished search for survivors of the shipwreck in Greece: ‘Ship sinking. We’re asking you to come to the rescue’]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-21/the-11-hour-anguished-search-for-survivors-of-the-shipwreck-in-greece-ship-sinking-were-asking-you-to-come-to-the-rescue.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-21/the-11-hour-anguished-search-for-survivors-of-the-shipwreck-in-greece-ship-sinking-were-asking-you-to-come-to-the-rescue.htmlWed, 21 Jun 2023 08:26:26 +0000It was a clear, windless dawn, and the sea was as smooth as glass. The Rekon, a 122-meter Maltese-flagged tanker, was going about its route to the port of Haifa in Israel. Then the radio announced a distress call: “Ship sinking. Large number of people. Vessels in the vicinity are asked to proceed with search and rescue operations.” The officer immediately alerted the captain. It was June 14 at 2:12 a.m. local Greek time.

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]]><![CDATA[Greece imposes silence around shipwreck of overcrowded migrant boat]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-20/greece-imposes-silence-around-shipwreck-of-overcrowded-migrant-boat.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-20/greece-imposes-silence-around-shipwreck-of-overcrowded-migrant-boat.htmlTue, 20 Jun 2023 08:47:42 +0000The silence imposed around the shipwreck of the Adriana, a fishing trawler loaded with more than 700 migrants that capsized on June 13 in waters off southern Greece, is triggering questions about the role of Greek authorities in one of the worst migrant shipwrecks on record in the Mediterranean Sea. Both the Greek Coast Guard and the Ministry for Migration have tried to prevent the survivors from talking about their experience.

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]]>FRONTEX<![CDATA[Migrants from shipwreck off Greece warned of danger: ‘The captain has fled. We need a solution’]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-16/migrants-from-shipwreck-off-greece-warned-of-danger-the-captain-has-fled-we-need-a-solution.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-16/migrants-from-shipwreck-off-greece-warned-of-danger-the-captain-has-fled-we-need-a-solution.htmlFri, 16 Jun 2023 09:42:47 +0000More than 48 hours after an old fishing boat capsized in Greek waters, leaving a trail of hundreds of missing migrants and at least 78 corpses in the sea, it is getting harder to reconstruct what happened. The main question is whether a rescue operation activated in time by the Greek authorities would have prevented the deaths. Rescuers saved 104 people, all men, but it is suspected that numerous women and children were trapped in the ship’s hold as it sank, and nobody knows for sure how many people were traveling in the trawler. Nine people were arrested Thursday on suspicion of smuggling, AP reported. Based on the accounts of the survivors, the International Organization for Migration calculated that between 700 and 750 people were traveling on the ship. The estimate includes a minimum of 40 children. These figures suggest it could become one of the greatest tragedies ever recorded in the Mediterranean.

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]]>STELIOS MISINAS<![CDATA[Reconstruction of a shipwreck: How Italy and Frontex could have prevented over 90 deaths in Cutro]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-02/reconstruction-of-a-shipwreck-how-italy-and-frontex-could-have-prevented-over-90-deaths-in-cutro.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-02/reconstruction-of-a-shipwreck-how-italy-and-frontex-could-have-prevented-over-90-deaths-in-cutro.htmlFri, 02 Jun 2023 15:25:13 +0000In the early hours of February 26, at around 5 a.m. and after almost four days and four nights of sea crossing from Turkey, a wooden boat sank off the coast of Cutro, in southeastern Italy. Almost 200 people were crowded aboard the old vessel, mostly refugees from Afghanistan who had paid up to €9,000 to try to reach Europe. About 40 meters from the beach, strong waves rocked the boat; its hull ran into shoals and broke apart. At least 94 people died, including 35 minors. On Thursday of this week, the prosecutor’s office of Crotone (Calabria) ordered a search of the headquarters of the two agencies involved in the operation (the Coast Guard and Guarda di Finanza) and made the first charges for negligence in the rescue tasks.

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]]><![CDATA[The fences dividing Europe: how the EU uses walls to contain irregular migration]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-04-08/the-fences-dividing-europe-how-the-eu-uses-walls-to-contain-irregular-migration.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-04-08/the-fences-dividing-europe-how-the-eu-uses-walls-to-contain-irregular-migration.htmlSat, 08 Apr 2023 22:00:41 +0000The specter of walls is haunting Europe again. Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the question resurfaces: Should the European Union erect barriers to protect its external borders?

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]]><![CDATA[More than a month without her daughter: the legal deadlock of an immigrant mother in Madrid]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2023-03-23/more-than-a-month-without-her-daughter-the-legal-deadlock-of-an-immigrant-mother-in-madrid.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2023-03-23/more-than-a-month-without-her-daughter-the-legal-deadlock-of-an-immigrant-mother-in-madrid.htmlThu, 23 Mar 2023 15:09:23 +0000The life of Catalina Delgado, a 23-year-old Colombian, was turned upside down on the night of February 16, when she made the decision to leave her four-year-old daughter alone in her bed, surrounded by her toys and her mother’s cell phone, due to the fear of missing work. A few hours later, Catalina (an assumed name), was handcuffed in the bar where she worked and her daughter was taken to a juvenile detention center. She has not slept with her in 35 days and is six months pregnant. Her only access to a doctor has been in an emergency room. Catalina faces a trial for child abandonment — punishable by up to three years in prison — which has been delayed due to a judicial strike. Meanwhile, she calls her daughter at the center every day, but sees her only once a week, while being bounced from one institution to another. With no job, no money, no medical care and now without her daughter, Catalina is trying to survive in a country that is squeezing her more and more every day.

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]]><![CDATA[Brussels will propose to extend temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees until 2025]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-02-27/brussels-will-propose-to-extend-temporary-protection-for-ukrainian-refugees-until-2025.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-02-27/brussels-will-propose-to-extend-temporary-protection-for-ukrainian-refugees-until-2025.htmlMon, 27 Feb 2023 10:35:05 +0000The European Commission is taking it for granted that the conflict in Ukraine will keep hundreds of thousands of people on European soil longer than expected. One year after the start of the Russian invasion, Brussels has decided to propose to member states that temporary protection for fleeing Ukrainians be extended until March 2025. Almost four million people are already benefiting from this program, which allows Ukrainian refugees to live and work in the EU.

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]]><![CDATA[Beni Mellal, Morocco’s city of exile for migrants pushed back from Europe’s borders]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-08-02/beni-mellal-moroccos-city-of-exile-for-migrants-pushed-back-from-europes-borders.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2022-08-02/beni-mellal-moroccos-city-of-exile-for-migrants-pushed-back-from-europes-borders.htmlTue, 02 Aug 2022 01:44:44 +0000Moroccan security agents escorted 21-year-old Azdin, a refugee from Sudan, onto a bus, drove 11 hours southwest, then left him at the bus station in Beni Mellal, the capital of Morocco’s second-poorest region, situated in the country’s north-central interior. Azdin had no money, no food, no cellphone, no first aid supplies. One month after a mass attempt to breach the border fence in Melilla, an exclave city belonging to Spain, Azdin is still trapped in this impoverished town. And he’s not the only one. The forced expulsion of migrants from the Spanish border has left more than 200 people — mostly from Sudan, some from Mali — living in desperate conditions on the streets of Beni Mellal, with no way to leave. Some have broken legs and feet, many have infected wounds covered by old, filthy bandages. Azdin’s only advantage is that he knows this city well: it’s the 10th time Moroccan authorities have sent him here — once for each failed effort to jump the fence. The collective attempt last month left at least 23 people dead.

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]]><![CDATA[Former Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto settles in Spain with a golden visa]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-05-30/former-mexican-president-enrique-pena-nieto-settles-in-spain-with-a-golden-visa.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2022-05-30/former-mexican-president-enrique-pena-nieto-settles-in-spain-with-a-golden-visa.htmlMon, 30 May 2022 16:25:17 +0000Mexico’s ex-president Enrique Peña Nieto has settled in Spain. The former head of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which governed Mexico between 2012 and 2018, applied for a two-year residency and work authorization that was granted in October 2020, according to sources familiar with the case. The permit that Peña Nieto has is known as a so-called golden visa, a procedure that awards legal papers to foreigners who spend at least €1 million on acquiring Spanish assets, who have a business project or who buy at least €500,000 worth of real estate (10.5 million Mexican pesos). It is the formula that dozens of Russian, Chinese and Venezuelan entrepreneurs have used over the years to settle down in Spain.

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]]><![CDATA[The Algerian activist who may face the death sentence after being deported by Spain]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-05-27/the-algerian-activist-who-may-face-the-death-sentence-after-being-deported-by-spain.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2022-05-27/the-algerian-activist-who-may-face-the-death-sentence-after-being-deported-by-spain.htmlFri, 27 May 2022 12:21:12 +0000A former Algerian serviceman called Mohamed Benhalima was handed over by the Spanish government to the Algerian authorities on March 24. This happened just five days after Algeria withdrew its ambassador in Madrid in protest against Spain’s decision to support Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara, which brought to an end its decades-long policy of neutrality on this longstanding territorial dispute. For Spain, Benhalima was just an illegal immigrant. But for Algeria, the 32-year-old was a highly vocal dissident who they wanted back on home ground. But if the Spanish Interior Ministry’s goal in returning the 32-year-old was to mend relations with Algeria, it has not worked. Two months later, Algeria still does not have an ambassador in Spain. But Benhalima’s life, as he warned before he was deported, has been destroyed. He is doomed to spend decades in prison, or even the rest of his life.

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]]><![CDATA[In Spain’s Lanzarote island, political bickering keeps 400 migrants in cramped conditions]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2022-01-25/in-spains-lanzarote-island-political-bickering-keeps-400-migrants-in-cramped-conditions.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2022-01-25/in-spains-lanzarote-island-political-bickering-keeps-400-migrants-in-cramped-conditions.htmlTue, 25 Jan 2022 10:27:14 +0000Around 400 migrants, including several minors, are being held in overcrowded and insalubrious conditions in Lanzarote, in Spain’s Canary Islands, despite the fact that there is a brand new facility sitting empty nearby.

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]]><![CDATA[In Spain, legal change helps young at-risk migrants get their first job contracts]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-01-06/in-spain-legal-change-helps-young-at-risk-migrants-get-their-first-job-contracts.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-01-06/in-spain-legal-change-helps-young-at-risk-migrants-get-their-first-job-contracts.htmlThu, 06 Jan 2022 08:01:05 +0000The enthusiastic director of Haizea Wind, Borja Zárraga, has the wind in his sails. The Basque company, which manufactures wind turbines for export to northern Europe’s huge wind farms, already has a turnover of €200 million a year but now the European Union’s commitment to renewable energies has provided an unprecedented opportunity for expansion.

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]]><![CDATA[Why Spain’s citizenship test contained a few nasty – and incorrect – surprises for aspiring applicants]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2021-12-09/why-spains-citizenship-test-contained-a-few-nasty-and-incorrect-surprises-for-aspiring-applicants.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2021-12-09/why-spains-citizenship-test-contained-a-few-nasty-and-incorrect-surprises-for-aspiring-applicants.htmlThu, 09 Dec 2021 10:24:22 +0000According to the handbook to prepare for the official examination to become a citizen of Spain, Mariano Rajoy is still the prime minister (he hasn’t been since June 2018), the death penalty still exists (it was banned in 1978 and completely abolished, including for wartime conditions, in 1995) and the Spanish Constitution is just a secondary law.

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]]><![CDATA[Spain starts deporting migrant minors from Ceuta despite fierce opposition]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2021-08-16/spain-starts-deporting-migrant-minors-from-ceuta-despite-fierce-opposition.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2021-08-16/spain-starts-deporting-migrant-minors-from-ceuta-despite-fierce-opposition.htmlMon, 16 Aug 2021 08:58:12 +0000Spain has begun to deport migrant minors who crossed irregularly into the Spanish exclave city of Ceuta in North Africa in May, when lax border controls in Morocco saw more than 10,000 people breach the territory.

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]]><![CDATA[Thousands of Sephardic applications for Spanish nationality denied following fraud alert ]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2021-08-20/thousands-of-sephardic-applications-for-spanish-nationality-denied-following-fraud-alert.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2021-08-20/thousands-of-sephardic-applications-for-spanish-nationality-denied-following-fraud-alert.htmlFri, 20 Aug 2021 12:05:52 +0000It was a police report sent to the Spanish Justice Ministry at the end of 2018 that set alarm bells ringing. The document warned of the existence of a criminal organization and possible fraud relating to the concession of Spanish nationality to the descendants of Sephardic Jews.

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]]><![CDATA[Yemeni asylum seekers deported from Ceuta: ‘After beating us up, they threw us out’]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2021-07-01/yemeni-asylum-seekers-deported-from-ceuta-after-beating-us-up-they-threw-us-out.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2021-07-01/yemeni-asylum-seekers-deported-from-ceuta-after-beating-us-up-they-threw-us-out.htmlThu, 01 Jul 2021 12:02:47 +0000Between May 17 and 18, a civil servant, two workers from a pen manufacturing company and an accountant-turned-cab driver made it to the Spanish North African city of Ceuta, having slipped past the Moroccan guards who were rumored to be taking a lax attitude to border control, reportedly in response to Spain’s decision to offer medical treatment to the founder of an outlawed liberation movement for the Sahrawi people in the parts of Western Sahara that are under Moroccan control.

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]]><![CDATA[Growing migrant crisis in Canary Islands pushes Spanish government to action]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-11-16/growing-migrant-crisis-in-canary-islands-pushes-spanish-government-to-action.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-11-16/growing-migrant-crisis-in-canary-islands-pushes-spanish-government-to-action.htmlMon, 16 Nov 2020 11:11:34 +0000The arrival of more than 16,000 migrants in the Canary Islands this year, and the fact that half of these arrivals took place over the last month, has pushed the Spanish government into action to deal with a growing humanitarian and political crisis.

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]]><![CDATA[Explainer: How did the migrant crisis in Spain’s city of Ceuta occur and what is going to happen now? ]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-05-19/explainer-how-did-the-migrant-crisis-in-spains-city-of-ceuta-occur-and-what-is-going-to-happen-now.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-05-19/explainer-how-did-the-migrant-crisis-in-spains-city-of-ceuta-occur-and-what-is-going-to-happen-now.htmlWed, 19 May 2021 07:31:22 +0000The irregular entry of nearly 8,000 migrants from Morocco into the Spanish North African city of Ceuta on Monday and Tuesday has sparked an unprecedented migratory crisis on the border. Never before has such a large number of immigrants arrived in such a short time.

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]]><![CDATA[Spain’s coalition government clashes over immigration crackdown ]]>https://english.elpais.com/politics/2020-02-20/spains-coalition-government-clashes-over-immigration-crackdown.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/politics/2020-02-20/spains-coalition-government-clashes-over-immigration-crackdown.htmlThu, 20 Feb 2020 13:17:19 +0000The Spanish coalition government between the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the anti-austerity Unidas Podemos is showing the first signs of tensions over plans to introduce tougher asylum requirements. Spain’s Interior Ministry is drafting a new law that will restrict the right to asylum, following the path taken by the European Union in recent years. A draft of the bill, to which EL PAÍS has had access, limits access to asylum application at migrant holding centers, and expands the list of legitimate reasons for denial.

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]]><![CDATA[Spain to introduce tougher asylum requirements]]>https://english.elpais.com/politics/2020-02-19/spain-to-introduce-tougher-asylum-requirements.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/politics/2020-02-19/spain-to-introduce-tougher-asylum-requirements.htmlWed, 19 Feb 2020 09:36:03 +0000The Spanish government is drafting a new law that will restrict the right to asylum, following the path taken by the European Union in recent years.

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]]>Víctor Sainz<![CDATA[Morocco says it prevented 70,000 attempts at irregular migration in 2019]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2020-02-04/morocco-says-it-prevented-70000-attempts-at-irregular-migration-in-2019.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2020-02-04/morocco-says-it-prevented-70000-attempts-at-irregular-migration-in-2019.htmlTue, 04 Feb 2020 11:54:29 +0000Morocco said that in 2019 it prevented nearly 74,000 “attempts at irregular migration” and broke up 208 human-trafficking rings.

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]]>Joaquín Sánchez<![CDATA[No water, toilets or electricity: Life in Spain’s shameful shanty town ]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2020-02-18/no-water-toilet-or-electricity-life-in-spains-shameful-shanty-town.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2020-02-18/no-water-toilet-or-electricity-life-in-spains-shameful-shanty-town.htmlTue, 18 Feb 2020 07:29:56 +0000No one in the camp knew who the white-haired Australian in the leather shoes was. Foreigners do not tend to bring good news and they are viewed with suspicion in the shanty town. They quickly surrounded him. The visitor was Philip Alston, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. He arrived two weeks ago at this migrant workers’ camp in Lepe, in the southern Spanish province of Huelva, to find out how people in 21st-century Spain can live without water, electricity or a toilet.

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]]>PACO PUENTES<![CDATA[Spain tops EU for asylum requests due to influx from Latin America]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-02-24/spain-tops-eu-for-asylum-requests-due-to-influx-from-latin-america.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-02-24/spain-tops-eu-for-asylum-requests-due-to-influx-from-latin-america.htmlMon, 24 Feb 2020 15:07:00 +0000For the first time ever, Spain has received more asylum requests than any of its European Union partners, according to official data from the European Asylum Support Office. The ongoing crisis in Venezuela and the widespread violence in a number of countries in Central America and Colombia have seen applications shoot up to 118,000 in 2019. At the start of this year, requests were at 3,500 a week. But just 5% of those applications are approved, a similar rate as Hungary and far off the EU average of 30%.

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]]>David G. Folgueiras<![CDATA[Dakhla: the departure point for migrants to Spain’s Canary Islands]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-11-23/dakhla-the-departure-point-for-migrants-to-spains-canary-islands.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-11-23/dakhla-the-departure-point-for-migrants-to-spains-canary-islands.htmlMon, 23 Nov 2020 13:03:15 +0000A new clandestine immigration route is operating out of Dakhla, a coastal city in the disputed territory of Western Sahara under Moroccan administration. Despite significant police surveillance in the area, growing numbers of migrant boats are departing from Dakhla on their way to Spain’s Canary Islands, which have seen a surge in arrivals this year.

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]]><![CDATA[Tensions rising in Spain’s Canary Islands over irregular immigration]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-02-01/tension-rising-in-spains-canary-islands-over-irregular-immigration.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-02-01/tension-rising-in-spains-canary-islands-over-irregular-immigration.htmlMon, 01 Feb 2021 15:08:39 +0000For several days now, a school in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in Spain’s Canary Islands, has been more reminiscent of a prison than a shelter for migrants. The people inside are free to come and go, but most of them are afraid to wander too far from the entrance.

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]]><![CDATA[How a migrant teen’s ordeal at sea inspired schoolchildren in Spain]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2021-05-11/how-a-migrant-teens-ordeal-at-sea-inspired-schoolchildren-in-spain.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2021-05-11/how-a-migrant-teens-ordeal-at-sea-inspired-schoolchildren-in-spain.htmlTue, 11 May 2021 07:22:13 +0000Several months after a Nigerian teen made international headlines when he arrived in Spain’s Canary Islands after a grueling 15-day trip atop the rudder of a tanker, his story continues to reverberate.

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]]><![CDATA[Thousands of migrants remain in Ceuta as Morocco blocks deportations]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-06-01/thousands-of-migrants-remain-in-ceuta-as-morocco-blocks-deportations.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-06-01/thousands-of-migrants-remain-in-ceuta-as-morocco-blocks-deportations.htmlTue, 01 Jun 2021 09:38:15 +0000Two weeks have passed since more than 9,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta from Morocco, but life in the Spanish city is yet to return to normal. For days now, the Rabat government has been blocking the deportation of hundreds of its citizens, who crossed into the North African exclave between May 17 and 19 unhindered by Moroccan security forces. After the mass arrivals, Morocco initially helped with the deportations and those who voluntarily wanted to leave. But since the middle of last week, it has become increasingly difficult to deport the recent arrivals, according to Spanish police forces. While Morocco continues to allow its citizens to freely return to the country, most of those who wanted to leave have already done so.

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]]><![CDATA[Ceuta crisis: the minors on the frontline of migration chaos]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2021-05-24/ceuta-crisis-the-minors-on-the-frontlines-of-migration-chaos.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2021-05-24/ceuta-crisis-the-minors-on-the-frontlines-of-migration-chaos.htmlMon, 24 May 2021 10:09:40 +0000Karim, 17, starts to retch as he walks into the bathroom of an industrial warehouse that’s been turned into a makeshift holding center for hundreds of Moroccan youngsters who arrived in the Spanish exclave city of Ceuta last week. Morocco’s unexpected decision to relax its border controls resulted in an unprecedented surge in migrant arrivals into this small Spanish territory located on the northern coast of Africa.

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]]><![CDATA[Diplomatic pressure curbs Spain’s migrant crisis in Ceuta, but hundreds of minors remain in limbo]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-05-20/diplomatic-pressure-curbs-spains-migrant-crisis-in-ceuta-but-hundreds-of-minors-remain-in-limbo.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-05-20/diplomatic-pressure-curbs-spains-migrant-crisis-in-ceuta-but-hundreds-of-minors-remain-in-limbo.htmlThu, 20 May 2021 09:34:50 +0000Morocco appeared on Thursday to have succumbed to pressure from Spain and the European Union over the migrant crisis in the Spanish North African city of Ceuta. After allowing thousands of people to cross into the exclave city on foot or by sea, Moroccan authorities decided once again to impose control at the border, a move that dramatically reduced the number of arrivals. Given Morocco’s unpredictability, the Spanish government was unwilling today to say the crisis was over but the latest developments indicated that it had clearly subsided. The main problem remaining was how to deal with the minors who entered and continued to enter Ceuta. A total of 740 migrant teens and children have been recorded, but the final count could be as high as 1,000.

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]]><![CDATA[Hundreds of migrants head toward Morocco to return home after breaching Spanish border by sea]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-05-19/hundreds-of-migrants-head-toward-morocco-to-return-home-after-breaching-spanish-border-by-sea.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-05-19/hundreds-of-migrants-head-toward-morocco-to-return-home-after-breaching-spanish-border-by-sea.htmlWed, 19 May 2021 13:01:04 +0000Hundreds of youngsters who arrived in the Spanish North African city of Ceuta this week have decided to return home. Many of the migrants left Morocco on Monday and Tuesday with a little more than their cellphone and a few dirhams in their pocket. Some swam to the exclave city while others crossed the jetties separating Ceuta from Morocco on foot. Once in Spanish territory, they spent hours wandering the streets. Now, after sleeping outside for one or two nights – some without eating – hundreds of the youngsters have made their way to the border at Tarajal to return home. In the line to leave, organized by the military to ensure an orderly departure, the same phrases are heard: “There is nothing in Morocco,” “I came here to make a living, but there’s nothing here either,” “I tried to reach the mainland, but I didn’t make it.”

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]]><![CDATA[Spain deploys army after some 6,000 undocumented migrants swim to Ceuta amid diplomatic row with Morocco ]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-05-18/more-than-6000-people-swim-to-ceuta-amid-diplomatic-row-between-spain-and-morocco.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-05-18/more-than-6000-people-swim-to-ceuta-amid-diplomatic-row-between-spain-and-morocco.htmlTue, 18 May 2021 09:54:17 +0000Some 6,000 undocumented migrants arrived illegally in the Spanish exclave city of Ceuta in North Africa on Monday and Tuesday, according to the central government’s delegate in the city. Government sources told Spanish news agency Efe that around 1,500 of the migrants may be minors, although their age still needs to be confirmed. Most of the arrivals were recorded between 4.30pm and 7pm yesterday.

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]]><![CDATA[NGOs call on Spanish government for guidelines over vaccination of migrants and other collectives without healthcare cards]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2021-04-30/ngos-call-on-spanish-government-for-guidelines-over-vaccination-of-migrants-and-other-collectives-without-healthcare-cards.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2021-04-30/ngos-call-on-spanish-government-for-guidelines-over-vaccination-of-migrants-and-other-collectives-without-healthcare-cards.htmlFri, 30 Apr 2021 11:15:26 +0000Spain’s vaccination campaign is open to everyone living in the country, regardless of their immigration status. But it is still unclear how the regions – which are in charge of their own inoculation processes – are going to reach collectives who are invisible to the system. The homeless, for example, or foreign-born seniors who are legally living with family members resident in Spain but are not eligible for a healthcare card, run the risk of being excluded. That’s according to 40 different NGOs, who jointly denounced the situation on Thursday.

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]]>Paco Puentes