COLOMBIA: Keeping the Words – and the Whales – Alive

"They take care of their children and drive their husbands away" sing the "cantaoras". Verse by verse, the traditional black singers describe the mating ritual of the humpback whales that visit their breeding grounds in Malaga Bay on Colombia's Pacific coast from June to November.

ENVIRONMENT-COLOMBIA: Megaport vs Megadiversity

The Colombian government has chosen the pristine Malaga Bay on Colombia's Pacific coast, which draws tourists interested in whale-watching, for a new deep sea port.

COLOMBIA: Arrests of Lawmakers with Paramilitary Ties Rock Government

The arrests of several Colombian lawmakers for their links to extreme-right paramilitary militias have given further credence to reports by human rights organisations "of how deeply embedded the paramilitaries are in the local and regional public institutions," the assistant director of the Colombian Commission of Jurists told IPS.

COLOMBIA: Arrests of Lawmakers with Paramilitary Ties Rock Government

The arrests of several Colombian lawmakers for their links to extreme-right paramilitary militias have given further credence to reports by human rights organisations "of how deeply embedded the paramilitaries are in the local and regional public institutions," Carlos Rodríguez, assistant director of the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ), told IPS.

COLOMBIA: Impunity Still Surrounds Palace of Justice Tragedy

"I don't know why I'm talking to you. My life was peaceful, calm, but now the nightmares and insomnia are back, problems I had already overcome. I have a new identity now, a new life, a new family; I am putting myself at risk by talking to you."

COLOMBIA: Uribe’s Explosion

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe's furious response to a car-bomb that blew up in a military installation in the capital was, for many, a spontaneous outburst against the FARC guerrillas, who he blamed for the attack. But perhaps it was a coldly calculated response, merely part of his overall strategy.

COLOMBIA: Flu, War Hem in Nukak Indigenous Nomads

Decimated by a flu epidemic and driven from their territory by the civil war, Colombia's Nukak indigenous people are teetering on the brink of extinction.

COLOMBIA: Flu, War Hem in Nukak Indigenous Nomads

Decimated by a flu epidemic and driven from their territory by the civil war, Colombia's Nukak indigenous people are teetering on the brink of extinction.

COLOMBIA: Bombs Explode in Government’s Face

The widow of a garbage picker killed by a car bomb reportedly placed by army officers to simulate an attack by leftist rebels has yet to receive reparations from the government.

COLOMBIA: ‘No’ to Storm Sewer Runoff, Says Fishing Village

The residents of a picturesque fishing village in northern Colombia are up in arms against a storm drain system being built by a majority Spanish-owned water and sewage company that will serve shantytowns in the nearby port city of Santa Marta, discharging the runoff into the cove where their village is nestled.

COLOMBIA: US Supervision of Paramilitary Demobilisation Becomes Evident

Just a few days into Colombian President Álvaro Uribe's second term in office, the close U.S. supervision of his government's negotiations for the demobilisation of the ultra-rightwing paramilitary militias became evident.

COLOMBIA: Murders Down, but Indigenous Group Still Hemmed In

"It is not only beautiful, but it is rich in livestock, minerals and water," says a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat who looks every bit the tough cowboy, looking out at the spectacular view of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta from the airport at the northern Colombian city of Valledupar.

COLOMBIA: Kankuamo Indians Count Their Dead – in Photos

Every Kankuamo community member killed by armed groups in Colombia's civil war has a name, a face and a story. And each one of them can be found in the pages of a new book published by the indigenous group that calls the remote northern Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain chain home.

COLOMBIA: Kankuamo Indians Have Paid High Price in Blood

The killings have decreased but "in Rioseco and Murillo we still have problems caused by the war," says Jaime Arias, the leader of the Kankuamo Indians, referring to two of the 12 villages and towns inhabited by the ethnic group in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range in northern Colombia.

COLOMBIA: Kankuamo Indians Have Paid High Price in Blood

The killings have decreased but "in Rioseco and Murillo we still have problems caused by the war," says Jaime Arias, the leader of the Kankuamo Indians, referring to two of the 12 villages and towns inhabited by the ethnic group in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range in northern Colombia.

COLOMBIA: ‘Dismantled’ Paramilitaries Continue to Extort ‘Taxes’

At least 10 percent - that is the "quota" charged by the extreme-right paramilitaries for each contract granted by government offices in the northeastern Colombian province of Cesar, the regional section of the association of engineers (SIC) complained in a statement to which IPS had access.

POETRY-COLOMBIA: “I Am Iraq”

The shout "I am Iraq!" was heard echoing through the streets and plazas of this northwestern Colombian city during the 16th International Poetry Festival of Medellín - founded here as a fight against fear. The Colombian armed conflict, which has dragged on for decades, was added in late 2001 to the U.S.-led "war on terror", which Iraq has also been living since March 2003.

SPORT-COLOMBIA: Football for a Sense of Belonging

They have won three amateur football championships in the Colombian capital, came second in another, and are so far undefeated in a tournament now being played. But the Afro-Colombians of Los Corintios football club have never been included in the Soacha municipal championship.

COLOMBIA: Displaced Persons Know Their Rights but Have Low Expectations

What Francis Deng - then-representative to the United Nations Secretary General - saw and heard on his two visits to Colombia in the 1990s helped inspire the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement he published in 1999.

COLOMBIA: With No Alternatives for Farmers, Coca Production Rebounds

Coca farmers in Colombia complain that their proposals for alternative development projects are ignored by the goverment. Meanwhile, coca production is on the rise once again, despite increased spraying of illegal crops and forced manual eradication.

COLOMBIA: Uribe Only Outdone by Abstention

The polarisation of Colombian society did not curb the decline in voter turnout, as Colombians basically faced the choice of voting for right-wing President Álvaro Uribe and his strong-arm tactics in the armed conflict, or the leftist Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA), which is set to become the second-strongest political force, having shoved aside the Liberal Party.