Tuesday Feb 21, 2023 - Colombia - China's spy balloon, Colombia's Mafia hired a PR firm, General Motors in Colombia

These are some of the Trending news in Colombia on Tuesday February 23rd, 2023.

China has been accused of using surveillance balloons for espionage activities in Colombia. A mysterious Chinese balloon was spotted floating at 55,000 feet in Colombia's airspace in February. The Colombian defense establishment insisted that the balloon posed no threat to the country's sovereignty or air security. However, the Pentagon stated that the balloon was deployed by China for surveillance purposes, and it sent a message to the United States that they are surrounded in the north and south. The Colombian government plans to investigate the origin of the balloon but has not yet made a statement on the matter. Meanwhile, some more aggressive critics of China in the US have alleged that Chinese spies are active in Colombia. Other countries, including Russia and Iran, have also been involved in espionage activities in Colombia.

If you missed it, Colombia’s mafia hired a Spanish PR firm to erase their criminal past from Google. Among the clients of the firm, Eliminalia, are former Medellin Cartel members Juan Gonzalo Angel and his brother Luis Guillermo. The Spanish firm threatened to sue Colombia Reports if they failed to rectify a 2020 article on the involvement of Colombia’s civil aviation agency in the international drug trade. Colombia Reports has evidence to sustain every single claim made in that article. According to newspaper El Espectador, the Angel brothers paid Eliminalia 13,000 euro to seek the deletion of the Colombia Reports article and 49 other online news reports referring to their criminal past.

General Motors is considering making Colombia the first country in Latin America to build their electric vehicles, according to Shilpan Amin, President of General Motors International. During a visit to GM's Colmotores plant in Bogota, Amin was encouraged by Colombia's government commitment to the energy transition. The visit also coincided with "Car Free Day," highlighting the country's dedication to alternative mobility. GM's visit ended with the question of whether Colombia could become the first Latin American country to assemble their EVs. This has caused a stir in the country, as it has never had a large car-manufacturing base and lost one of its three vehicle assembly plants during the past decade.

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