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Bram Ebus

@bramebus.bsky.social
574 followers 62 following 60 posts

Investigative journalist and consultant for @crisisgroup.org, focusing on the environment, crime and conflict in the Amazon 🐍

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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
The Amazon is under assault. Criminal groups seeking drug routes and illegal mining sites are wreaking havoc on ecosystems and communities. Our new @crisisgroup.org report examines what governments, residents and the private sector can do. www.crisisgroup.org/rpt/latin-am...
crisisgroup.org
A Jungle Heist: Shielding the Amazon from Organised Crime | International Crisis Group
The world’s largest rainforest is under assault by criminal groups. Seeking routes for drug trafficking and sites for illegal mining, these outfits are wreaking havoc on the environment and society. G...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
In Nariño, some armed groups feud over gold mines and drug routes as others advance in peace talks. With gold prices surging and elections looming, can legalizing illegal mining curb the violence? @crisisgroup.org Photos by Alex Kemman for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
theguardian.com
Could gold mining help Colombia’s armed groups to finally lay down their weapons?
In Nariño, guerrilla groups are swapping arms for legal mining as part of the country’s peace accord. But as presidential elections loom, armed rivals and delays threaten to derail progress
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
“Caracas is not the de facto authority in these mining regions,” I told @nytimes.com. “So they can write up a nice mining legislation, but when you go to these mining districts, there’s other armed authorities you need to deal with.” www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/w...
nytimes.com
Venezuela Approves New Law to Open Mining to Foreign Investors
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Comfort Ero @comfortero.crisisgroup.org · 12/03/2026
In the year when “affordability” is a priority concern for ordinary Americans, $11.3 billion estimated cost for a war of choice in Iran in the first six days alone … and counting. And this doesn’t include costs linked to buildup to the war. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/w...
nytimes.com
Pentagon Tells Congress First Week of Iran War Cost More Than $11.3 Billion
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
The U.S. pursuit of Venezuela’s natural resources echoes what has become known as the “Donroe Doctrine”, a credo laid down by the White House in late 2025 that seeks to reassert U.S. supremacy in the Western Hemisphere. For @crisisgroup.org 🇻🇪 www.crisisgroup.org/qna/latin-am...
crisisgroup.org
U.S. Snaps up Venezuela’s Oil and Rare Minerals in Race for Supplies | International Crisis Group
Even before the price of oil spiked, the Trump administration was eyeing Venezuela’s natural resources. There is now more urgency to getting access to petroleum and critical minerals. In this Q&A, Cri...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
El acceso a los minerales de Venezuela ha sido menos publicitado que el de su petróleo, pero su potencial no ha pasado desapercibido en los círculos del gobierno estadounidense. Lea nuestro nuevo texto para @latam.crisisgroup.org www.crisisgroup.org/es/qna/latin...
crisisgroup.org
EE. UU. pone su mira en el petróleo y los minerales raros de Venezuela en una carrera por insumos | International Crisis Group
Incluso antes que precio del petróleo aumentara, la administración Trump ya tenía la mirada puesta en los recursos naturales de Venezuela. Ahora hay una mayor urgencia por acceder al petróleo y a los ...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
With U.S. support, Ecuador’s armed forces destroyed a camp of the Comandos de la Frontera in Sucumbíos, an armed group involved in Colombia's ongoing peace talks. In 2025 we warned about heightened cross-border conflict risks. amazonunderworld.org?policy-paper...
amazonunderworld.org
ILLICIT ECONOMIES AND ARMED CONTROL IN THE TRI-BORDER REGION OF COLOMBIA, ECUADOR AND PERU - Amazon Underworld
How armed groups such as Comandos de la Frontera, FARC dissidents, Los Choneros and Los Lobos control the region.
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
"U.S. companies risk becoming stuck between two bad options: they could extract directly and either provoke the ire of armed groups or collude with them; or they could buy from state companies responsible for financing systematic abuses of Indigenous and local communities." 🇻🇪👇
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told mining executives and metals traders that Washington wants to unlock Venezuela's mineral wealth. Want to know what's really on Trump's menu? We investigated Venezuela's critical minerals: amazonunderworld.org?policy-paper...
amazonunderworld.org
The Price of Progress: The Dark Side of Amazon Critical Minerals - Amazon Underworld
The global clean energy transition, increased defense budgets and technological advancement, has created unprecedented demand for rare earth elements and critical minerals essential for electric vehic...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Venezuela's critical minerals (coltan, tin, tungsten, rare earths) are drawing increasing attention. But beyond gold, little is known. With @AmazonUworld we documented their extraction, abuses, and illicit trade along the Colombian-Venezuelan border👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=temJ...
youtube.com
How critical minerals are fueling violence in the Amazon
YouTube video by Amazon Underworld
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
En Venezuela hay reservas abundantes de minerales críticos. Para el mundo, una oportunidad. Para quienes viven allí, no necesariamente. Mientras Caracas y Washington vean la Amazonía como zona de saqueo e ignoren a sus habitantes, cualquier estrategia fracasará. elpais.com/america-colo...
elpais.com
Entre China, Estados Unidos y el ELN: la disputa geopolítica por Venezuela huele a saqueo
Mientras avanza la competencia por los minerales críticos, la Amazonía está cada vez más amenazada. Estamos hablando de biodiversidad, seguridad, autodeterminación y derecho a la vida
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Elizabeth Dickinson @dickinsonbeth.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Today in Colombia, it is impossible to talk about the nature of armed conflict without understanding that there are children being forced to participate in every part of it 🧵on our new @crisisgroup.org report & how generalized child recruitment has become www.crisisgroup.org/brf/latin-am...
crisisgroup.org
Kids on the Front Lines: Stopping Child Recruitment in Colombia | International Crisis Group
Colombia’s armed and criminal groups have recruited hundreds of children into their ranks, inflicting enormous harm on minors, their families and communities. The government and international partners...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Following Maduro’s arrest and U.S. attacks on Venezuela, questions arise about Trump’s interest in critical minerals - or rather, preventing Chinese access. Our Amazon Underworld study on criminal control of the business: amazonunderworld.org?policy-paper...
amazonunderworld.org
The Price of Progress: The Dark Side of Amazon Critical Minerals - Amazon Underworld
The global clean energy transition, increased defense budgets and technological advancement, has created unprecedented demand for rare earth elements and critical minerals essential for electric vehic...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
3/ Through these corridors, conflict and violence are rising. Where the Río Negro divides Colombia and Venezuela, the ELN and Segunda Marquetalia fight, affecting thousands of families, a crisis so far ignored by local state authorities.
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
2/ Intelligence sources and communities report an increase in drug trafficking, for example, through the Orinoco and Río Negro corridors, supplying international routes to Europe, among others.
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
1/ Trump's attacks against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific have a little-discussed consequence: increased drug trafficking through the Amazon, driving local violence and severely affecting vulnerable communities. amazonunderworld.org/ataques-a-la...
amazonunderworld.org
U.S. attacks on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific intensify trafficking through Amazon routes - Amazon Underworld
The bombing campaign against alleged drug traffickers moving through the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, alongside joint military exercises between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago, has incr...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Critical minerals are being extracted in areas under the control of guerrilla groups, involving systematic human rights abuses and accelerating environmental destruction in one of Earth’s most vital ecosystems. Our Amazon Underworld article for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
theguardian.com
‘Drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping’: the lawless rush for rare earth minerals in Venezuela
Guerrilla groups have seized control of mining areas, exploiting Indigenous people and fuelling environmental ruin on the border with Colombia
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
For almost a year, we've been chasing the critical minerals (coltan, tin, rare earths, and more) of the Amazon and the dark interests behind their trade. Today, we've launched a series of articles and an investigative report, but there's more to come! amazonunderworld.org?policy-paper...
amazonunderworld.org
The Price of Progress: The Dark Side of Amazon Critical Minerals - Amazon Underworld
The global clean energy transition, increased defense budgets and technological advancement, has created unprecedented demand for rare earth elements and critical minerals essential for electric vehic...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Durante casi un año, hemos estado persiguiendo los minerales críticos (coltán, tierras raras, etc.) de la Amazonía y los oscuros intereses detrás de su comercio. Hoy, con Amazon Underworld, hemos comenzado con una serie de artículos, ¡pero hay más por venir! amazonunderworld.org/es/specials/...
amazonunderworld.org
El precio del progreso: el lado oscuro de los minerales críticos en la Amazonía - Amazon Underworld
La selva amazónica revela una cruda paradoja: mientras los países compiten por alcanzar sus objetivos de energía limpia y aumentan los presupuestos de defensa en medio de crecientes preocupaciones por...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Indigenous peoples, proven to be the Amazon's most effective nature guardians, are increasingly facing mounting pressures from those after the rainforest's riches. We're honoured to have Amazon defender Alessandra Munduruku as our guest writer. amazonunderworld.org/the-crime-th...
amazonunderworld.org
Crime bleeds the Amazon and invades our homes - Amazon Underworld
I write these words as I walk through the forest alongside my Munduruku people, doing the work that the Brazilian State refuses to do. In this first week of July, men, women, and children formed yet a...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
About a month ago, Tom Laffay and I visited the Comandos de la Frontera, a group that describes itself as a "21st-century guerrilla organization," controlling the borderlands of Colombia with Peru and Ecuador. This is our Amazon Underworld story 👇🇨🇴🇪🇨🇵🇪 amazonunderworld.org/the-state-of...
amazonunderworld.org
The State of coca - Amazon Underworld
Four unmarked white pickup trucks race through a patchwork landscape of bright-green plantations, blasting through mud puddles on winding jungle roads. As the convoy rounds a sharp corner, it draws wo...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Hace aproximadamente un mes, Tom Laffay y yo visitamos a los Comandos de la Frontera, un grupo que se describe como una "organización guerrillera del siglo XXI," controlando las fronteras de Colombia con Perú y Ecuador. Esta es nuestra historia 🇨🇴🇵🇪🇪🇨👇 amazonunderworld.org/es/el-estado...
amazonunderworld.org
El Estado de coca - Amazon Underworld
Cuatro camionetas blancas sin identificación corren por el paisaje verde brillante de las plantaciones, atravesando charcos en carreteras serpenteantes de la selva. Mientras el convoy toma una curva c...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
This week, Bogotá hosts the Amazon Dialogues, where Amazon governments convene to discuss main challenges. With our journalistic partners and @amazonwatch.org, we have publications lined up about the Amazon's most disputed borderlands and why this should be on the political agenda. Stay tuned!
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Crisis Group Latinoamérica @latam.crisisgroup.org · 11/08/2025
La expansión de la minería ilegal en los estados Bolívar y Amazonas de Venezuela ha provocado una violencia generalizada contra la población local, especialmente contra las comunidades indígenas, así como daños ambientales que amenazan con destruir esta parte de la Amazonía.
crisisgroup.org
La maldición del oro: Minería y violencia en el sur de Venezuela | International Crisis Group
La minería ilegal de oro está generando un daño cada vez mayor en el sur de Venezuela, a su delicado ecosistema y a su población. Frenar este daño es responsabilidad del gobierno de Caracas. Los gobie...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Record gold prices have made illegal mining more profitable than ever. In the Venezuelan Amazon, this means not only organized crime is capitalizing, but state authorities like the army are involved as well. Our new @crisisgroup.org briefing 🇻🇪⛏️ www.crisisgroup.org/latin-americ...
crisisgroup.org
A Curse of Gold: Mining and Violence in Venezuela’s South | International Crisis Group
Illegal gold mining is doing growing damage to southern Venezuela, its delicate ecosystem and its people. Curbing this harm is up to the government in Caracas. Foreign capitals should use whatever mea...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Los precios récord del oro hacen que la minería ilegal sea más rentable que nunca, y en la Amazonía venezolana esto no solo significa que el crimen organizado aprovecha, sino también las autoridades estatales. Nuestro nuevo informe de @crisisgroup.org 🇻🇪⛏️ www.crisisgroup.org/es/latin-ame...
crisisgroup.org
La maldición del oro: Minería y violencia en el sur de Venezuela | International Crisis Group
La minería ilegal de oro está generando un daño cada vez mayor en el sur de Venezuela, a su delicado ecosistema y a su población. Frenar este daño es responsabilidad del gobierno de Caracas. Los gobie...
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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
The U.S. Secretary of State cares so much for Venezuelans that he helped disappear hundreds of them to a hellhole in El Salvador to face horrifying abuse. www.state.gov/releases/off...
state.gov
Standing with the Venezuelan People:  One Year After Yet Another Sham Election - United States Department of State
One year since dictator Nicolás Maduro defied the will of the Venezuelan people by baselessly declaring himself the winner, the United States remains firm in its unwavering support to Venezuela’s rest...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
In Venezuela's far east, where the Orinoco River meets the Atlantic Ocean, FARC dissident groups have seized control far from their Colombian origins. This is what we discovered @armandoinfo.bsky.social / Amazon Underworld 🇻🇪🐍 amazonunderworld.org/es/disidente...
amazonunderworld.org
Disidentes de las FARC alcanzan y controlan el extremo este de Venezuela - Amazon Underworld
En el extremo este de Venezuela, en la ruta fluvial a la desembocadura del Orinoco, se mueven decenas de hombres —uniformados y armados— identificados por la comunidad como disidentes de las Fuerzas A...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Over the next days and weeks, we'll introduce more of our team and share more about our project, but first, our brand new feature article about the illegal timber that's pulled out of Bolivian forests into Peru and to world markets - by RAI - from Bolivia! amazonunderworld.org/selva-en-fug...
amazonunderworld.org
Forest On the Run: Timber Trafficking Devouring Bolivian Forests - Amazon Underworld
Deep in the rainforest, north of the department of Pando, the vegetation seems to swallow the road. The landscape becomes denser and less guarded, in the community of Holanda, where now a narrow detou...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
11/ It has been very exciting to work with a full team of administrative experts, advocacy and editorial specialists, amazing journalists, researchers, social media people, web developers and designers, but special thanks to co-director Juan Torres for working tirelessly to get this ready!
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
10/ and will repackage some of our journalistic content in investigative reports and advocate for change. This, for example, we do with partners such as @amazonwatch.org, IUCN-NL, GI-TOC and @globalwitness.org. .
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
9/ Now, in our new setup, our journalistic content is only part of our project, as we try to answer a high demand from policymakers to better understand the combined climate, environmental, and security crises in the Amazon ...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
8/ That said, this means we'll do our best to combine maps and data with chronicled texts, but also will include video and short documentaries in our way of reporting, with help from Cruzo Mundo. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMp-...
youtube.com
Árboles saqueados de Bolivia
YouTube video by Amazon Underworld
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
7/ We've been focusing—and will continue to do so—on the mapping of the presence of crime/armed groups, but also invest in fieldwork to be able to offer in-field insights, empathetic reporting, exposing global relations with Amazon crime, and attractive storytelling.
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
6/ As we were working with a network of researchers already, we could puzzle together some of the linkages and start to interpret crime on an Amazon level, specifically focusing on border areas where organized crime nests, multiplies, and outsmarts law enforcement strategies.
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
5/ Our first phase had many highlights: we travelled to international conferences and events, such as the COP16 on Biodiversity, won awards, such as the Gabriel García Márquez award in Bogotá, and were able to lay the groundwork for what comes next.
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
4/ It all started in 2023, when we published a series looking into expanding criminal dynamics in the Amazon. During the research, we noticed that while there was substantial information about specific crimes or groups, there was limited understanding of the cross-border aspects of crime.
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
3/ Our new website just went live, we have a new logo, and instead of one-off journalistic series, we will publish frequent feature-length articles, (short) documentaries, op-eds from experts from and on the Amazon, and investigative reports. But first, a look back...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
2/ In Amazon Underworld, we bring together six media outlets and will have frequent publications and media specials.
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
1/ Today we kickstart Amazon Underworld, an alliance of investigative journalists and a project very close to my heart. We have an amazing team that worked its socks off to begin providing you with new reporting from the Amazon 👇 🧵 amazonunderworld.org
amazonunderworld.org
Home - Amazon Underworld
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Crisis Group Latinoamérica @latam.crisisgroup.org · 08/04/2025
Nuevo Q& A | #Venezuela insiste en sus reclamos territoriales mientras se agudiza la disputa con #Guyana 🔽 www.crisisgroup.org/es/latin-ame...
crisisgroup.org
Venezuela insiste en sus reclamos territoriales mientras se agudiza la disputa con Guyana | Crisis Group
La creciente tensión entre Venezuela y Guyana por la disputada región del Esequibo ha reavivado los temores de un conflicto fronterizo entre ambos países. En esta sesión de preguntas y respuestas, el ...
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Tom Phillips @tomphillips.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
“Bolsonaro stands accused of crimes including being involved in an attempted coup d’état and an armed criminal association and the violent abolition of the rule of law.”
theguardian.com
Jair Bolsonaro charged over alleged far-right coup plot to seize power in Brazil
Former president is charged by attorney general following police report that accused him of organising a conspiracy to stop Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva taking power.
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
In 2019, we visited the Cuyuni border region to report on mining conflicts, illegal armed groups, and Venezuelan security forces who patrolled the river and collected kickbacks in gold / @crisisgroup.org www.crisisgroup.org/latin-americ...
crisisgroup.org
Troubled Waters along the Guyana-Venezuela Border | Crisis Group
Gold and migrants stream across the stretch of the Cuyuní river that marks the Guyana-Venezuela border. Guerrillas and criminal organisations control much of the flow. Their turf wars are already spil...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
6 Guyanese soldiers wounded in shootout with suspected Venezuelan gang near disputed border. Attack on GDF supply boat at Cuyuni River comes amid rising tensions over Essequibo region.
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
The ELN's role in Venezuela goes beyond a strategic rearguard, as they have moved into gold mining districts and border areas, coinciding with Caracas' interests. “We know that there is a tacit alliance on the federal level in Venezuela,” I told @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/w...
nytimes.com
How Venezuela Helps Feed the Violence in Colombia
After finding refuge and building power in Venezuela, a decades-old rebel group has waged the worst violence in Colombia in a generation, setting off troubling regional tensions.
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Elizabeth Dickinson @dickinsonbeth.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
The gravity of USAID's shuttering in #Colombia go well beyond gaps in the budget line. Programs have been shut down in a way that could endanger communities and devastate U.S. access and credibility for many years. It also stands to destabilize #Colombia's delicate security🧵
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Jonathan Janssens @jonathanjanssens.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
“Trump’s cuts will hit Latin America’s most vulnerable populations, including millions of Venezuelan migrants and refugees, as grassroots organizations providing essential care, guidance, and food are left without funding,” @bramebus.bsky.social
apnews.com
USAID is going away. Here's what it's been doing in South America
The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development will deliver a major blow to efforts including humanitarian assistance in Colombia, conservation efforts in Brazil and coca eradication...
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Crisis Group Latinoamérica @latam.crisisgroup.org · 05/02/2025
“Trump’s cuts will hit Latin America’s most vulnerable populations, including millions of Venezuelan migrants and refugees, as grassroots organizations providing essential care, guidance, and food are left without funding” @bramebus.bsky.social tells @apnews.com 🔽 apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com
USAID is going away, and along with it cocaine-fighting efforts and Amazon rainforest protection
The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development will deliver a major blow to efforts including humanitarian assistance in Colombia, conservation efforts in Brazil and coca eradication...
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Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
“Marrugo and his team had been researching the effects of mercury on human health at the start of the millennium when they began noticing that the Guarumo tree was thriving in spots where gold had been processed.” www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
Illegal Gold Mining Contaminated This Land. Trees and Plants Are Healing It
Mercury left behind by wildcat miners polluted areas of northern Colombia. Restoring them to health depends on a surprisingly low-tech solution.
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Geoff Dabelko @geoffdabelko.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
This @enpax.bsky.social environmental peacebuilding webinar had Erika Weinthal @eswein.bsky.social Bram Ebus @bramebus.bsky.social & JoJo Nem Singh sharing insights on mining for green energy to criminal actor impacts in the Amazon to transboundary water coop/conflict www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahZ0...
youtube.com
Environmental Peacebuilding: The Year in Review and the Year Ahead
YouTube video by Environmental Peacebuilding
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