Deforestation in Colombia falls 33% in first quarter
Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and is home to a myriad of plant and animal species, though it loses swathes of tree cover every year to deforestation.
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The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Venezuelan Little League team forced to skip World Series after Trump team denies visa for annual event
The Trump administration has declined to issue visas to a champion teenage Venezuelan youth baseball team to play in the upcoming Senior League World Series in the U.S. The team, Cacique Mara of Maracaibo, Venezuela, said they traveled to Colombia two weeks ago to apply for U.S. visas for the tournament, but were rejected under the Trump administration's June travel ban. 'The players are demoralized,' Cacique Mara wrote in a statement in Spanish on social media earlier this week. 'The only thing that they know is baseball. They want to go to compete and put the name Venezuela and Latin American on high. They don't represent any threat, they are 15-year-olds that want to win the world series.' Little League International, which organizes the weeklong teen tournament in South Carolina, said in a statement the denial was "extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes." The Independent has contacted the State Department and the U.S. embassy in Colombia for comment. In June, the administration announced travel bans on 12 countries, as well as partial limits on another seven nations, including Venezuela, citing the need to protect Americans from 'foreign terrorists' and other national security threats. The restrictions have exceptions, including for athletes traveling to major tournaments. "They told us that Venezuela is on a list because Trump says Venezuelans are a threat to the security of his state, of his country," Kendrick Gutiérrez, president of the Venezuela Little League organization, told ESPN. "It hasn't been easy, the situation. We earned the right to represent Latin America in the world championship." The White House has repeatedly butted heads with Venezuela. The Trump administration has contradicted its own intelligence community and accused Venezuela of collaborating with the Tren de Aragua gang, whom the U.S. considers a terrorist group. Venezuela also temporarily declined to accept repatriation flights from the U.S., and sharply criticized U.S. officials for the summary deportation of hundreds of Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El Salvador on gang allegations. The men have since returned to Venezuela in a prisoner swap with the U.S. Cacique Mara clinched a spot in the tournament in Easley last month, winning all five of its games in the Latin American Little League Championship in Mexico. They will now be replaced with the No. 2 team from that tournament, Santa Maria de Aguayo, from Victoria, Mexico. The 12-team Senior League World Series, for players aged 13 to 16, begins Saturday and runs through August. Venezuelan teams have won the games three times, most recently in 2006.
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Outrage as Venezuelan Little League team denied US visas for tournament due to Donald Trump travel ban
A Venezuelan baseball team was denied visas into the United States and will miss this year's Senior Baseball World Series, Little League International confirmed Friday. The Cacique Mara team, from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was scheduled to participate in the tournament after winning the Latin American championship in Mexico. 'The Cacique Mara Little League team from Venezuela was unfortunately unable to obtain the appropriate visas to travel to the Senior League Baseball World Series,' Little League International said in a statement, adding that it is 'extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes.' The Venezuelan team traveled to Colombia two weeks ago to apply for their visas at the U.S. embassy in Bogota. 'It is a mockery on the part of Little League to keep us here in Bogotá with the hope that our children can fulfill their dreams of participating in a world championship,' the team said in a statement. 'What do we do with so much injustice, what do we do with the pain that was caused to our children?' Venezuela is among a list of countries with restrictions for entering the U.S. or its territories. President Donald Trump has banned travel to the U.S. from 12 other countries, citing national security concerns. Earlier in the month, the Cuban women´s volleyball team was denied visas to participate in a tournament in Puerto Rico. The fate of those teams is striking because when Trump announced his travel ban at the beginning of June, the White House stated that certain sporting events would not be impacted. Iran, for example, is on the banned list but has also qualified for the 2026 World Cup, hosted in the United States, Mexico and Canada next summer. The White House told Daily Mail in June that exemptions are in place for 'athletes or members of athletic teams, including coaches and support staff, and athletes traveling for the World Cup, Olympics or other sporting events'. But it appears that the Senior League Baseball World Series, the tournament starting Saturday for players aged 13-16 in South Carolina, does not fall under that category. 'They told us that Venezuela is on a list because Trump says Venezuelans are a threat to the security of his state, of his country,' said Kendrick Gutiérrez, the league´s president in Venezuela. 'It hasn't been easy the situation; we earned the right to represent Latin America in the World Championship.' The tournament organizers replaced the Venezuelans with the Santa Maria de Aguayo team from Tamaulipas, Mexico, the team that was a runner-up in the Latin American championship. 'I think this is the first time this has happened, but it shouldn't end this way. They´re going to replace us with another team because relations have been severed; it´s not fair,' Gutierrez added.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Telegraph
Colombia's president mocked for using aide as a laptop stand
Colombia 's president was caught on Tuesday using an aide as a laptop stand as he opened the country 's congress. The staffer was seen lying on the floor beside Gustavo Petro, with his arm in the air, holding up the laptop for the president to refer to during his speech. Filmed on a smartphone and shared on social media, the moment prompted mockery of the president online for using a 'human tripod'. In one reaction video, Right-wing podcasters fell about with laughter as they noted the irony of the Left-wing president referencing anti-slavery policies in his speech. The full official footage was posted online by the president's own office. Many in the audience appeared to have been preoccupied with their phones during the nearly two-and-a-half-hour speech. At least two audience members could be seen sitting on the floor in the middle of the auditorium. Nor did anyone in the room seem surprised when the aide proceeded to take a prone position an hour and a half into the speech, and Mr Petro appears to make no secret of the task he has handed to his staffer. The aide appeared by Mr Petro's side during a portion of the address in which he referred to a series of slides displaying various graphs regarding proposed healthcare reforms. He was seen gesturing at the laptop and leaning in to take a closer look at the data on the screen. The aide's face appeared occasionally over the top of the desk.
