The Last Drops: How Colombia Really Makes Its Money

Ask most foreigners how Colombia earns a living and you get some version of the same two words: coffee and cocaine. It is a tidy story, and it is mostly wrong. The real ledger of how dollars enter this country is stranger, more fragile, and far more interesting than the cliché, and right now it […]

Dutch national Alessandro Massimo Berkemeijer shot dead in rural Valledupar

A 32-year-old Dutch man was killed in a rural area of Valledupar on Sunday, May 24. Alessandro Massimo Berkemeijer, a Netherlands citizen living in Barranquilla where he worked buying and selling vehicles, had arrived in the Cesar capital on May 15. The attack took place in the vereda Las Casitas, a sparsely populated area with […]

U.S. Citizen Bryce Garrett Cleveland Arrested in Medellín Under Interpol Red Notice for Fraud

Authorities in Medellín have arrested U.S. citizen Bryce Garrett Cleveland, who was wanted by Interpol for multiple fraud-related crimes committed in the United States. The operation was carried out jointly by the National Police, Interpol Colombia, and Migración Colombia, according to Medellín’s Secretary of Security and Coexistence, Manuel Villa Mejía. Cleveland’s capture adds to a […]

Two U.S. Citizens Denied Entry to Medellín Within 24 Hours

Colombian immigration officers turned away two U.S. citizens at José María Córdova International Airport in Rionegro in less than a day — both cases tied to suspicions of sexual misconduct. The most recent case unfolded Wednesday morning when airport security raised an alert over a suitcase packed with dozens of sex-related items, including toys, lubricants, […]

U.S. Citizen Stephen Paul Mueller Arrested in Medellín for Alleged Sexual Exploitation of Minors: Contacted Victims Through Social Media

Colombian authorities have arrested Stephen Paul Mueller, a U.S. citizen accused of sexually exploiting minors in Medellín. Police allege Mueller contacted victims via social media, offering them money and accommodation in exchange for sexual encounters. According to the Metropolitan Police of Medellín, Mueller’s capture was carried out in cooperation with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in […]

German Fugitive Georg R. Deported from Colombia to Face Justice

Colombian migration authorities, working with German officials and Interpol, expelled a German citizen who was wanted under a Red Notice and accused of committing dozens of serious crimes. The fugitive, who had been on the run since August, was located in Colombia and deported to Germany, where he must answer for crimes dating back to […]