Home Tags Posts tagged with "ambassador"

ambassador

0

Venezuela and Colombia have recalled their envoys following days of growing tension between the neighboring South American nations.

More than 1,000 Colombians have been deported and about 6,000 have left in fear since Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro closed the border last week.

On August 27, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said it was “unacceptable” and withdrew his ambassador.

The Venezuelan government followed suit later in the day.

Nicolas Maduro closed the border and declared a state of emergency in the western state of Tachira on August 21 after smugglers injured three Venezuelan soldiers and a civilian.

Photo AP

Photo AP

Announcing the recall of his ambassador, Juan Manuel Santos condemned the expulsions.

“I can’t allow Venezuela to treat Colombians and the Colombian government in this way,” he said.

Th president added that he would call for an extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers from the Union of South American Nations.

A while later, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez announced that Caracas was recalling its own ambassador to Colombia for consultations.

Smugglers have long operated along the porous border between the countries, purchasing heavily subsidized goods in Venezuela to resell in Colombia.

Talks by the countries’ foreign ministers on August 26 were aimed at normalizing the situation in the key border region of Cucuta.

Hundreds are living in shelters there surrounded by the few possessions they could carry across the border on their backs.

Nicolas Maduro blames much of the violence on the Venezuelan side of the border on Colombian paramilitaries, whom he accuses of crossing the border freely to commit crimes.

In order to fight these gangs he declared a 60-day state of emergency on August 21 which, among other things, allows the authorities to search homes without a warrant.

However, the Colombian president said those who had been deported were “no paramilitaries but poor and humble families who only want to live and work”.

Juan Manuel Santos said some had complained of mistreatment by the Venezuelan security forces. The Venezuelan foreign minister dismissed allegations as “media lies”.

0

Carlos Rodriguez, the Honduran ambassador to Colombia, has been sacked after a wild Christmas party at the embassy in Bogota.

Ambassador Carlos Rodriguez has been told to resign “to safeguard relations with Colombia”, the Honduran Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

An investigation has begun into reports that two prostitutes had been invited to the party on December 20.

The two women have been accused of stealing laptop computers and mobile phones from the embassy.

An inquiry committee has been set up in Honduras, while in Colombia the authorities are trying to identify the two sex workers.

Carlos Rodriguez, the Honduran ambassador to Colombia, has been sacked after a wild Christmas party at the embassy in Bogota

Carlos Rodriguez, the Honduran ambassador to Colombia, has been sacked after a wild Christmas party at the embassy in Bogota

An employee close to Carlos Rodriguez has been accused of organizing the party and hiring the prostitutes.

An embassy vehicle was reportedly used to bring them into the building.

It is not clear whether the ambassador was present.

US secret service agents were involved in a similar scandal last year, ahead of an official visit by President Barack Obama to Colombia.

They were sent home and disciplined in April 2012 after being accused of taking prostitutes to their hotel rooms on the eve of the Summit of the Americas in the city of Cartagena.

[youtube qOA5pFr2Nd8]