Aiming a blow at narcos in Colombia
The Caicedos and some 4,000 other Colombian families have agreed to replace their coca with alternative crops such as cocoa and coffee amid a government scheme
It is part of a $14.4m project to reduce supply of a product blamed for untold misery in a country where armed groups force rural communities to grow coca and raze forests for its cultivation
The project seeks to eradicate coca production on 45,000 hectares in three of Colombia's most conflict-riddled regions, including the southwestern Micay Canyon where the Caicedos family ply their trade in the Argelia municipality
For farmers it is a risk. They cannot be sure that their new plantations – coffee in the Caicedos' case – will succeed, or that guerrillas and other groups whose income depend on cocaine sales will leave them in peace
'When one is planting a coca plant, there is hope that in time there will be a harvest and there will be some income,' said Nicolas Caicedo. 'Uprooting the plants means that there will be no more harvests in other words, no more money,' from coca at least
Alirio Caicedo and a sack of dried coffee beans. With coca, the Caicedos said they were guaranteed an income of about $800 a month. They have received an initial payment of about $300 under the project to grow coffee, with more to come
But another farmer, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said he doubted the project could work in areas such as Argelia where illegal groups outnumber the state in terms of fighters and guns. 'No armed group that lives off [coca] is going to want a farmer to stop growing coca and switch to coffee,' he said
Farmers Nicolas and Alirio show coffee beans and coca leaves at their plantation. Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first-ever leftist president, took office in 2022 with the goal of extricating his country from the US-led 'war on drugs' blamed for double-victimisation of rural Colombians already living under the yoke of violent criminal groups
Cocaine production in Colombia – the world's biggest exporter of the drug – reached record levels as demand continues to grow in Europe and the US, the principal consumer Photograph: Juan Restrepo/AFP/Getty Images
Several previous attempts to get Colombian coca producers to change crops have failed as armed groups caused havoc and government payments and other assistance eventually dried up
Colombian soldiers and policemen stand guard in a street in Argelia
Gloria Miranda, who heads Colombia's illegal crop substitution programme, cautioned that it would be naive to believe the new initiative could end drug trafficking 'as long as there is a market of 20 million consumers and it (cocaine) remains illegal'
President Petro has sought to negotiate with armed groups, meaning fewer military operations and the abandonment of forced coca eradication, but talks have mostly broken down, and the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House in January has ramped up pressure on Bogóta
Argelia's secretary of government, Pablo Daza, poses for a picture in Argelia, Cauca department. With high stakes for its crop replacement gamble, observers fear the government may be taken advantage of. Some farmers may 'try to deceive' by taking the money while continuing to grow coca, said Daza
Coffee and coca leaf farmer Alirio Caicedo. Used not only for cocaine, the coca leaf is also chewed as a stimulant in Andean countries or brewed into a tea thought to combat altitude sickness
Aerial view of Argelia. Colombia's appeals for the leaf to be removed from a UN list of harmful narcotics so it can be commercialised in alternative products such as fertilisers or beverages, have so far fallen on deaf ears
Photograph: Juan Restrepo/AFP/Getty Images
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Daily Mail
15 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The house of horrors where killer butchered couple he befriended online then decapitated and stored their remains in freezer...as neighbour reveals 'chilling' moment he came face to face with killer
Grim photos show the house of horrors where a Colombian porn actor murdered an older couple he was staying with before chopping up their bodies and dumping them on Clifton Suspension Bridge. Civil partners Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Longworth, 71, welcomed 35-year-old Yostin Mosquera into their home in Scotts Road, Shepherd's Bush, west London. Tragically, their flat would be transformed into a sinister murder scene as Mosquera hatched a twisted plot to kill both men and desperately cover his tracks on July 8 last year. First, he bludgeoned Mr Longworth to death with a hammer, inflicting blow after blow on the same day he had searched ''where on the head is a knock fatal?' and 'hammer killer'. Chilling photos released by the Met Police show the hammer he used at the scene, as well as the bloodied divan bed where Mosquera hid Mr Longworth's body so that Mr Alfonso - who was at work - would be none the wiser when he returned home. Hours later, Mosquera then stabbed Mr Alfonso to death, knifing him in the torso, face and neck during a recorded sex session at the Scotts Road flat. The jury at Woolwich Crown Court was shown the distressing footage, where Mosquera repeatedly asked his victim 'Do you like it?'. And in a final insult to his victim, the naked murderer danced and sung while his victim bled out on the floor. Mosquera, who was this week convicted of both murders, then brutally decapitated and dismembered the two men, leaving their heads in a chest freezer he had purchased before travelling to Bristol to dump their bodies. Pictures from inside the couple's flat shows the freezer dumped in the middle of the corridor, next to a mirror with a floral design. The grisly deaths were first discovered when the suitcases were found on the iconic bridge at 11.30pm on July 10 last year. One of the suitcases had a tag on it linking them back to an address on Scotts Road where police found the heads in the freezer. It's been more than a year since the couple were murdered in their west London flat. But today, the first floor flat - a stone's throw from the bustling Shepherd's Bush Market - remains virtually untouched with a wilting cactus sat on the windowsill the only sign that someone lived there. Neighbours on the quiet street, where homes sell for nearly half a million pounds, revealed that no one has moved in to the house since as they recalled the 'brutal killing on their doorstep'. Some recalled coming face to face with the would-be murderer, while others were left rocked by the manner of the killings in such a quiet, friendly hub of west London. One neighbour told MailOnline: 'I was really shocked. I used to see Paul all the time. I seen him (Mosquera) once. If I'm being honest I got the shivers. Something in me said I wouldn't like to upset him. 'I picked up something straight away. He stopped and opened the gate for me, let me through. I never seen him before that but I couldn't stop staring. I got the shivers. 'I was shocked when it came out in the papers, I was numb for two hours. It's awful.' The man, who did not want to be named, said he was left feeling 'angry and shocked' that he lived so close to the scene of the double murder. He also questioned Mr Alfonso's desire for 'extreme sex' and pornography, adding: 'You don't know what sort of people it's going to attract. In the end he attracted a murderer from online.' The neighbour, referencing the fact that Mr Alfonso would have sex with other men, added: 'No wonder Paul was always at the pub. I used to see him and the shops and He used to ask me to come for a drink. He'd go at lunchtime.' Mr Longworth would regularly go to The Shepherd & Flock, an Irish pub on the High Street, just a few minutes from his home. Neighbours said that Mr Longworth used to regularly drink at the Shepherd and Flock - a stone's throw from his flat Another neighbour said it is 'such a community' and that 'all the neighbours chat', but they added: 'It's not very nice what he [Mr Alfonso] had in his bedroom. But I guess everyone has skeletons in their closet.' A friend, who like Mr Longworth was Irish, told MailOnline: 'They were really friendly, they were a very happy couple. I knew Paul more so than Albert. 'The last time I saw Paul was probably two weeks beforehand. He'd recently retired. He was planning holidays and things like that. He seemed his normal self. 'I had only just come home from Ireland the day they announced it on the news. I'd seen the police presence and assumed it was a burglary or something. 'It hadn't clicked until they said about the suitcases in Bristol were linked to our street that's when it dawned on me. It was shocking. It's one of those things you expect to see on the news, you never expect it to be on your doorstep. It's awful. 'They were brutally killed. It puts me on edge knowing it happened there. It must be ten times worse for the people who live next to him or above him. The friend, who believes the house has been left empty since, added: 'I'd imagine it would be horrible to move in there. I presume the flat has been cleaned but I don't know.' Neighbours say the 'friendly' community was rocked by the double murder, with one saying: 'I walk through here so many times and I've never ever felt day and night unsafe. I was horrified when I heard about it.' A worker at the nearby care home, just down the road from the flat, said: 'It was scary at the time. It's something you see on the news or in a move not in the place you work.' As far as neighbours are aware, no one has moved in to the house. There are rumours one of the victims' relatives has asked for the keys but there is no sign of anyone living there today. Shuddering, another neighbour said: 'I wouldn't want to live in there. It's a friendly community - everyone was obviously shocked. You don't expect this. ' Mosquera, a Colombian national, met Mr Alfonso online through webcam sex websites and used the names 'iamblackmaster and 'mrd—k20cm'. The court heard Mosquera visited the couple in London in October 2023 and that they travelled to Colombia in March 2024. He returned to England last June on the promise of English lessons and financial support from Mr Alfonso, whom he had met years earlier on porn websites. The court heard how he also participated in sex acts and dominated and degraded Mr Alfonso who filmed it and posted the footage online. He was in a paid sexual relationship with Mr Alfonso. Prosecutors told the trial how Mr Alfonso, a swimming instructor at Mode Gym in Acton, and Mr Longworth, a retired handyman, were in a happy long-term relationship when they were barbarically murdered by Mosquera. Mr Longworth is believed to have been killed by multiple blows to the head with a hammer between 12.30pm and 1pm on July 8 last year when Mosquera was seen closing curtains to a first floor window on CCTV. Mosquera shattered Mr Longworth's skull before hiding his body in a divan bed, the court heard. He later cut his corpse up with a power tool and knife and stuffed it in a suitcase, the trial heard. Later that day, Mr Alfonso was stabbed to death after he and Mosquera were recording themselves having sex. Jurors were shown the horror footage of Mr Alfonso being killed on camera. Mr Alfonso was in a 'submissive' role and referred to Mosquera as 'master' during the recorded session. 'What is striking, when one considers the footage, is just how calm and in control the defendant remains throughout', prosecutor Deanna Heer, KC, told the trial. On the day that the two men were killed Mosquera googled 'Where on the head is a knock fatal?' and 'How long before a corpse starts to decompose?' 'The post mortem examination of his body revealed that he had suffered severe blunt force trauma to the head which caused his death', said Ms Heer. She explained that there were injuries on his hand, which suggested that he had tried to defend himself. 'When the flat was later searched, a hammer was found lying on the floor in the hallway. It was found to be stained with Paul Longworth's blood', she said. Earlier in his evidence, Mosquera claimed Mr Alfonso cut up Mr Longworth's body after killing him. He said he stabbed Mr Alfonso because he was 'afraid that he would do the same to me that he had done to Paul'. Mosquera said after seeing Mr Longworth's dismembered body, he decided to do the same to Mr Alfonso's corpse. 'Yes I saw Paul's body and I cut Albert's. I don't know the exact moment but I cut it having seen Paul's body'. The trial heard how Mosquera was interrupted by a man while he was attempting to dispose of the suitcases on Clifton Suspension Bridge. Prosecutor Ms Heer, KC, said: 'At about 11.30pm on the night of the 10 July 2024 Douglas Cunningham was cycling home across the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol when he saw the defendant, Yostin Mosquera, standing next to a large red suitcase. 'Thinking he was a lost tourist, Mr Cunningham stopped to see if he was okay. 'A few metres away from where the defendant was standing, on the bridge approach, there was another suitcase, a large silver trunk. 'The defendant told Mr Cunningham that he was from Colombia and that the suitcase he was standing with contained car parts. That was a lie. 'In fact, the suitcases contained the decapitated and dismembered bodies of Paul Longworth and Albert Alfonso, which the defendant had taken to Bristol from their home in London where they had been killed two days before.' The trial heard how Mosquera was visiting Mr Alfonso at the time of the killings, having returned to the UK to stay with the couple on June 9 2024. On June 29 2024, Mr Alfonso and Mr Longworth took Mosquera to Brighton for the day, with photos showing them at Brighton pier, drinking beer and going on a zip wire. They also engaged in sex sessions along with another man, known by pseudonym James Smith in the trial. But on July 8 last year, Mosquera hatched his plan to kill Mr Longworth and Mr Alfonso before attempting to cover up their deaths. Mosquera had denied both murders and sought to blame Mr Alfonso for killing Mr Longworth. But the prosecution's case was that Mr Alfonso did not know and that he was out of the flat at work at the time Mr Longworth was killed and that Mosquera hid the body before he returned. The court heard that Mosquera had also got hold of Mr Alfonso's financial information, copying over spreadsheets containing his bank details relating to Barclays, Halifax, Natwest, Moneygram and Paypal on June 27. Prosecutors told the court this was to 'steal' money from Mr Alfonso. On July 8 last year, the day of the murders, Mosquera also looked up the value of the Scotts Road flat in a bid to 'find out what they [the couple] were worth'. Mosquera claimed during the trial that he feared for his own life and believed he was about to be killed when he stabbed Mr Alfonso. He also said he was 'raped every day' by Mr Alfonso, telling jurors it made him feel 'humiliated, sad and trapped', but never angry. But prosecutor Ms Heer KC reminded the court that his 'detailed' defence statement produced for trial made no mention of the alleged rape. The case was put to a retrial after incorrect evidence was placed before the jury. Mr Justice Bennathan told Mosquera, aided in the dock by an interpreter: 'I am not going to pass sentence on you today. The only sentence I can pass is one of life imprisonment.' The judge ordered psychiatric reports and adjourned sentence until 24 October. Mr Justice Bennathan also thanked the jurors who had to view the horrific footage repeatedly throughout trial.
Telegraph
16 hours ago
- Telegraph
Milei's bet on China threatens an ugly fallout with his idol
When firebrand libertarian Javier Milei was campaigning to be president, he vowed that under his watch Argentina would not engage with 'decadent communists' like the Chinese, branding their leaders murderers and thieves. But 18 months is a long time in geopolitics. Milei, one of the few world leaders to attend the presidential inauguration of his political hero Donald Trump in January, has performed a remarkable political U-turn. On Monday, Milei rewrote the visa rules to make it easier for Chinese people to visit or work in Argentina. A week earlier, he unlocked a $5bn (£3.7bn) China-backed hydroelectric project in the country's south, which had been fractiously frozen since before he took office. And in April he renewed a currency swap arrangement with China, worth about 35bn yuan (£3.6bn) – a move that prompted an alarmed White House to dispatch Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, to Buenos Aires to deliver a dressing-down. By cosying up to China, Milei is risking his idol's ire. What has changed? Economics vs politics On the campaign trail in 2023 Milei told Argentine voters: 'I am not going to do business with any communist.' He has previously branded the country a 'bloody dictatorship'. But by last December he was having a sit-down with Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rio, and said he was up for a trip to Beijing. 'If you compare Milei during the campaign to Milei as president, he has softened his views on many, many issues. One of them is China,' says Bruno Binetti, an associate fellow at Chatham House, a think tank. 'He is adapting to the realities of governing, without this affecting his core beliefs and identity.' While Trump and Milei might be political soulmates – radically anti-woke, anti-regulation, anti-net-zero – Argentina cannot do without China's appetite for its exports, nor its investment into areas like mining and energy. 'If you want the economy to grow, if you want to show that Milei's economic model can generate growth, then you need good ties with China,' Binetti says. Milei has tried to separate this economic need from Argentina's wider political and diplomatic relationships, from his radical reform agenda – which has won him admirers worldwide, including Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader. He has refused to join the anti-Trump Brics group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. 'We must separate the geopolitical question from our commercial question,' Milei told the Wall Street Journal last year. Trading and economic relationships should be driven by business and he would not be 'meddling in whatever the private sector decides'. But economics and politics don't separate so easily, particularly in Trump's binary, zero-sum world. Peter Lamelas, Trump's nominee as the next ambassador to Argentina, told a US Senate committee hearing this week that his mission was 'to reduce the malignant influence of opposing powers' in Latin America – and that includes China. 'Argentina is essential, critical to opposing authoritarian regimes like Venezuela and China,' he said. Jim Risch, a Republican senator and the committee's chairman, urged Lamelas to fight China's 'expanding influence' in the region and to 'reduce China's technological and financial influence in Argentina'. Snubs and dealmaking This was not an exchange the two men might have anticipated having. When Trump returned to power, Milei – whom the American calls 'a friend' and 'my favourite president' – would have been at the very bottom of the White House's list of leaders to worry about. Not only was Milei at Trump's inauguration, but he came back a month later to publicly present Elon Musk, then setting up his department for government efficiency, with a version of his trademark bureaucracy-slaying chainsaw. The gift – which was inscribed with Milei's catchphrase 'Long live freedom, dammit!' – was handed over at a Conservative Political Action Conference, where Milei also met Trump. The two leaders discussed Argentina's 'groundbreaking economic reforms', according to a White House readout. Milei was back in the US yet again in April, heading to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort for the 'American Patriots Gala', where he picked up an award recognising his 'unwavering dedication to freedom, market economics and conservative values'. But this time, Trump was unavailable. Supposedly a problem with the US president's helicopter prevented him from getting to Florida in time to catch Milei on this flying visit. That wasn't the only snub. The day before, Trump had unveiled his 'liberation day' tariffs – and there was no exemption for Argentina from the 10pc worldwide hit. Today, Trump's Aug 1 trade-deal-or-tariff deadline is looming and there is not yet any sign of any agreement with Milei that might ease the pain for Argentina's soy and beef exporters. By contrast, in early May several Chinese officials visited Buenos Aires to sign a deal to buy $900m of Argentine soybeans, corn and vegetable oil. The White House did reportedly help Argentina to secure a new $20bn loan programme from the International Monetary Fund in April. Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trump's special envoy for Latin America, said he hoped this might supplant the Chinese currency swap agreed at almost the same time. 'What we would like to see, eventually, is the end of the famous line of credit Argentina has with China,' he said. 'That line of credit is extortionate, and as long as they maintain that line of credit, China will always be able to extort.' Beijing shot back. 'Fair-minded people are able to tell who is extorting and coercing others and making trouble,' said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian. Balancing act Milei will probably try to keep the two superpowers in some kind of balance. But both will be looking to use carrots and sticks to tip favour their way. China seems to be making most of the running right now, and has ambitions to get further ahead of Trump. A Chinese official told the Argentine newspaper Clarin earlier this year: 'We're doing well, but not as well as we'd like'. If Beijing is appealing to Milei's pragmatism, Washington can count on his passion. His friendship and ideological affinity with Trump will likely stop the scales from tipping too far towards China. 'Milei sees himself clearly as a global leader figure in a Right-wing, pro-West, pro-market movement. And his alignment with Trump is a big part of that identity – it makes him feel part of something bigger,' Binetti says. 'You'd think that given Milei's symbolic role in some Trumpist circles in the US, he would get a little bit more leeway.' If Milei's rapprochement with the Chinese continues to deepen, he might end up testing just how far that leeway extends.
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
Philippine troops kill 7 communist rebels in latest flare-up of decades-long insurgency
Philippine troops killed seven communist guerrillas in an offensive Sunday in a central province and were pursuing several others in the latest flare-up of the decades-long insurgency that the military says is on the brink of collapse. Army forces killed two New People's Army guerrillas in a clash last week in Masbate province and then caught up with the fleeing insurgents early Sunday in the hinterlands of Uson town, where they killed seven of them in a 30-minute gunbattle, Maj. Frank Roldan of the army's 9th Infantry Division said. Seven assault rifles and two grenade launchers were recovered by troops at the scene of the battle. At least eight rebels managed to flee in different directions and were being pursued, Roldan said. 'We're in the final push,' Roldan told The Associated Press by telephone, saying about 50 armed guerrillas remain in the island province, a poverty-stricken agricultural region of more than 900,000 people. Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said last week that less than 900 rebels remain, mostly in eastern rural regions, from the estimated 25,000 insurgent force at the peak of the 56-year insurgency, one of Asia's longest-running rebellions. Saddled by battle defeats, surrenders and factionalism, the guerrilla forces 'are on the brink of collapse,' said Brig. Gen. Medel Aguilar, deputy commander of the military's Civil Relations Service.
