Tag Archives: Colombia

Vice News reports: The environmentally invasive descendants of four “cocaine hippos” from Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s private zoo now have their eyes set on a new target: People. There have been reports of hippos invading a school yard, as well as terrorizing local fishing communities with some residents requiring hospital care after ferocious attacks. Many are now worried that …

Rolling Stone reports: Taylor Hawkins, the jovial, ferocious drummer for Foo Fighters for more than two decades, has died at the age of 50, according to a statement from the band. “The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins,” read the message, which was posted to social media. Foo Fighters are …

The New York Times reports: Having an abortion is no longer a crime under Colombian law, the country’s top court on constitutional matters ruled on Monday, in a decision that paves the way for the procedure to become widely available across this historically conservative, Catholic country. The ruling by Colombia’s Constitutional Court follows years of organizing by women across Latin …

Newsweek reports: A Catholic Bishop plans to spray holy water from a helicopter to exorcise the demons he says are plaguing his town. Monsignor Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya, bishop of Buenaventura, Colombia, is borrowing a navy copter to deluge the city on July 14, the feast day for Buenaventura’s patron saint. “We want to go around the whole of Buenaventura …

The Guardian reports: Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has survived an apparent assassination attempt after what officials described as drones armed with explosives detonated overhead during a speech he was making at a military event. The drones, according to officials, were flown towards Maduro as he addressed soldiers in Caracas on Saturday. Mid-speech, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, looked up …

CBS News reports: A chartered plane with a Brazilian first division soccer team crashed near Medellin while on its way to the finals of a regional tournament, killing 76 people, Colombian officials said Tuesday. Only four people are believed to have survived. The British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane, operated by a charter airline named LaMia, declared an emergency at 10 …

Michael Lavers reports at the Washington Blade: Two men on Tuesday became the first same-sex couple to legally marry in Colombia. Fernando Quimbayo and José Ticora, who have been together for two years, exchanged vows before a registrar in the city of Cali. El País, a Colombian newspaper, posted a video of the ceremony on its website. Colombia’s constitutional court …

The Perchy Bird reports: On April 7th, Colombia’s Constitutional Court defeated a proposal from one of its conservative magistrates that would have barred same-sex couples from marrying on a vote of 6-3. The LGBT community and many supporters around the country rejoiced, but a successful counter-opinion from another magistrate in favor of expanding the right to marry was needed to …

Two days ago the Colombian Constitutional Court ruled 6-3 to legalize same-sex marriage and while some formalities remain ahead before weddings can commence, Levis yesterday extended their congratulations with a cheeky hanky code image.

In a ruling that was widely anticipated, today the Colombian Constitution Court issued a landmark 6-3 ruling which legalizes same-sex marriage nationwide. Today’s ruling follows a 2011 decision which declared that unions between same-sex couples fall under the government’s definition of families. You can find Spanish-language reporting on today’s ruling here and here. I’ll update this post shortly when we …

JMG reader Luis reports at The Perchy Bird: In Colombia, several media outlets have reported that a 20-page Constitutional Court opinion that will bring marriage equality to the country is ready and only awaits a meeting to cast a Court vote. According to them, sources close to the Court say that the magistrates will vote against one conservative judge’s proposal …

Tomorrow Colombia may join Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay and become the fourth South American nation to legalize same-sex marriage. From our very own Perchy Bird: Originally, the [Supreme] Court’s website wrote that the debate on the issue of whether gay couples can marry and if existing marriages performed by civil court judges should be annulled was planned on February 4th, …

The local Catholic Church is very unhappy. The Associated Press reports: In a historic decision, Colombia’s constitutional court opened the door Wednesday for same-sex couples to legally adopt children in the conservative South American nation. In the 6-2 ruling, the court said adoption agencies can’t discriminate against gay, lesbian and transsexual couples during an adoption process. Colombia’s Roman Catholic Church …

J. Lester Feder reports at Buzzfeed: Colombia’s top court held a day-long hearing on Thursday on whether it should interpret its constitution as giving marriage rights to same-sex couples — framing the debate in a wider discussion about whether international standards now dictate that marriage equality is a fundamental right. The hearing comes five weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court …

Colombian Interior Minister Juan Cristo yesterday vowed to soon make same-sex marriage legal. Via Gay Star News: “The government supports the fight for equality and we will adopt measures providing equal marriage rights for all,” Cristo said at the Andes University in Bogota on Thursday, as reported by Efe. He said he would not submit to the mercy of the …

Adoption by same-sex couples is presently before the courts in Colombia and this weekend local YouTube star Sebastian Villalobos, 19, who has 1.2M subscribers, revealed that he has two moms. The clip below has gone viral and already has over half a million views. The full Villalobos family appears at the 8:00 mark. Earlier this month the Colombian Constitutional Court …

Progress in Colombia: The Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that a lesbian woman,could adopt her long-time partner’s daughter, since the child in question was the biological child of one of the two partners. The court said Ana Leiderman, who underwent artificial insemination to conceive her daughter, and raised her with Veronica Botero, had the right to request an adoption by …

“Marriage between homosexuals to me is perfectly acceptable and what’s more I am defending unions that exist between two people of the same sex with the rights and all of the same privileges that this union should receive. If these unions are called marriage or not is secondary to me. For me it is important that they have their rights. …

“We do not see [gays] as being a family or married or an integral part of the social fabric but as needing clinical, psychiatric, medical and spiritual care, if possible, to help acknowledge their condition so that they can reverse it and recover their gender identity. I don’t think God created homosexuals. That would be an evil God.” – Colombia’s …