Luis Suarez criticized the Colombian players following a heated Copa America semi-final clash against Uruguay. Colombia clinched a narrow win with Jefferson Lerma’s 39th-minute goal.
However, tensions erupted at the final whistle, leading to chaos on the field involving players, referees, camera crews, and officials. Suarez was seen confronting and pushing Colombian players and staff members amid the commotion.
Darwin Nunez, meanwhile, climbed into the stands to face Colombian fans post-game. Shirtless and visibly furious, Nunez exchanged punches and defended himself as drinks were thrown at him. After the match, Suarez spoke to the media, voicing his frustration over the chaotic aftermath.
“What bothers me the most is the way they mock,” Suarez stated. “There are always clashes, laughs, words, whatever. But what bothers me the most is the way they mock and celebrate, it makes no sense. We eliminated Brazil and none of us walked past any Brazilian player. On the contrary, we went to greet them.
We’re colleagues on the field; we know the suffering of a defeat. Walking past a fellow professional like that looks bad, but the one above sees everything and everything comes back. As a group, we need to rise, stay strong, and stay united. We will often face situations like this”.
CONMEBOL has released a statement condemning the post-game violence, though the actions to be taken are yet unclear.
In the wake of Colombia’s triumph, anticipation builds for an electrifying Copa America final againstArgentina, led by Lionel Messi. The upcoming match is poised to be a gripping showdown, with both sides determined to claim the prestigious trophy.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on Saturday that the mother of Colombian and Liverpool player Luis Díaz had been successfully rescued following her kidnapping in northern Colombia.
However, efforts were still underway to locate his missing father.
The Colombian attorney general’s office had previously formed a team of investigators to conduct a search for the couple in Barrancas, a municipality located in Colombia’s northern La Guajira province.
The National Police verified the successful rescue of Díaz’s mother, Cilenis Marulanda, and reported that she had a conversation with Director William Rene Salamanca.
In a video message, Salamanca emphasised that all available resources were being mobilised to locate Díaz’s father.
The parents of 26-year-old Díaz were reportedly abducted while driving to their residence. Gunmen on motorcycles intercepted them and forcibly took them away in their vehicles, as confirmed by authorities.
Liverpool issued a statement on Sunday, acknowledging their awareness of the situation.
Luis Díaz joined Liverpool from Porto in January 2022. Andrew
“It is our fervent hope that the matter is resolved safely and at the earliest possible opportunity,” the statement read. “In the meantime, the player’s welfare will continue to be our immediate priority.”
The forward was not named in Liverpool’s Premier League game at Anfield against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
“We had to obviously make a late change because of the private situation involving Luis Díaz,” Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said ahead of the game.
“It’s a worrying situation for all of us and it was a pretty tough night. I have never had that before; it’s a new experience I never needed.” The Colombian soccer federation, in an official statement, expressed deep regret over the kidnapping incident and called on authorities to ensure the safe rescue of Luis Díaz’s father.
Luis Díaz, a player with 43 appearances for the Colombian national team, has chosen not to make any public statements regarding the incident.
Liverpool, a Premier League club, made a significant multi-million-dollar signing in January 2022 by bringing in winger Luis Díaz from the Portuguese club Porto. Since joining the Premier League giants, he has made 58 appearances and scored 14 goals.
The Chargé d’Affaires of the Colombian Embassy in Ghana, Claudia Milena Vaca, has sent a formal communication to the organiser of last month’s inaugural African Para Games in Accra.
The letter serves as a protest regarding outstanding bills related to a website development project handled by a Bogotá-based company.
Claudia Milena Vaca, who assumed her role as a representative of Colombia in Ghana last year, has taken up the issue concerning Altheroh, one of several companies that have yet to receive payment for services rendered in connection with the Games.
The African Para Games were coordinated by the African Paralympic Committee (APC), led by President Samson Deen, a native of Ghana.
Due to non-payment for their services, Altheroh decided to take the event website offline on the eve of the Games’ opening.
“The Colombian company Altheroh has informed the diplomatic mission in Ghana and me that you and the company you represent have failed to meet the minimum that of 30,000 dollars for the more than four months of work and services,” Vaca wrote to Deen.
“We all hope the African Paralympic Games will always be remembered in Accra, but also in Colombia, as a positive event that benefits all and make us proud.
Altheroh contacted Vaca after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) refused to intervene in the dispute.
They claimed, that “these are matters that need to be resolved between the respective unpaid companies and the organising Committee.”
However, Deen’s response did not exhibit any inclination towards resolving the outstanding debt. Instead, he has asserted that Altheroh was responsible for the issues at hand.
Authorities have warned that a heatwave is endangering more wildfires in Chile’s south-central region, where more than two dozen people have already perished as a result of the destructive blazes.
The deputy interior minister, Manuel Monsalve, stated on Tuesday that high temperatures are predicted to last until Friday and may exceed 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in the central Maule and Nuble regions.
“A very complex climate situation can arise,” said Monsalve, urging teams to be “prepared for any eventuality”.
Fires have ravaged more than 290,000 hectares (716,606 acres) across the South American nation so far, killing at least 26 people and destroying more than 1,000 houses, leaving thousands homeless.
Approximately 5,600 firefighters, mostly volunteers, are actively battling 81 priority blazes countrywide out of 301 still burning, the AFP news agency reported, citing Chilean authorities.
Air quality in the affected areas also has deteriorated significantly because of the smoke from the fires, said health minister Ximena Aguilera.
Nearly 2,000 people have been injured in a week of blazes in the regions of Biobio, La Araucania and Nuble, where a state of emergency has been in place.
Monsalve, the deputy interior minister, said on Tuesday that fire brigades from Colombia and Mexico were arriving to help. He added that 15 people had been arrested for possible links to starting the fires over activities including welding and burning animal wool.
Meanwhile, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Twitter that his country was sending a firefighting brigade and cargo plane with two Bambi Buckets – used to help extinguish blazes from the air – to Chile.
Spain, Mexico and other countries in Latin America also have said they would send firefighters and experts to help combat the fires.
One of the local volunteers, Macarena Fernandez, a 31-year-old physical education teacher, described the situation in Chile’s Santa Juana region late last week as “intense”.
“We did what we humanly could, what was within our means,” she told AFP.
“The most difficult is to see the situation of people left without homes, without their family, without their animals and completely destitute.”
But a week into the emergency, the government said some employers were calling on volunteers to return to their normal jobs.
“The more days [of fire], the more we need the volunteers, the more tired they are and the more in need of help,” said interior minister Carolina Toha.
Earlier this week, Chile’s President Gabriel Boric called for unity and resolve in response to the destruction left by the fires.
“Unity to face the tragedy, unity to rebuild ourselves. That has been and will always be the path in the face of adversity in our Chile,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday.
Officials in Chile have previously suggested that climate change was to blame for the rising temperatures and subsequent fires.
Scientists have been warning that the climate crisis – fuelled by human activity, namely the emission of greenhouse gases – will lead to increased risks of natural disasters, including wildfires, droughts and hurricanes.
“The evolution of climate change shows us again and again that this has a centrality and a capacity to cause an impact that we have to internalise much more,” Toha, the interior minister, said earlier this month.
“Chile is one of the countries with the highest vulnerability to climate change and this isn’t theory but rather practical experience.”
The deaths of two males were found at the airport in Bogota, and authorities said they are looking into their nationalities and place of origin.
According to a statement released by Avianca on Saturday, “upon its arrival at the El Dorado airport in Bogota, staff from the airline discovered the bodies of two passengers who flew irregularly [stowaways] in the undercarriage of the plane.”
Avianca offered condolences to the two victims’ families and stated that, while it inspects aircraft before every flight, authorities are in charge of ensuring the security of airports and their restricted areas.
“The technical investigation body of the attorney general’s office is carrying out urgent actions to identify the nationality and origin of the bodies aged between 15 and 20, Afro-descendent, which were found inside the airplane,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
Not identified
Although no identification documents were found with the bodies, one was carrying currency from the Dominican Republic and a suitcase found with the men had paperwork from that country, suggesting the men may have been in that country.
Those discoveries “infer that the men could have been on the plane since January 3”, when it was last in the Dominican Republic, the office said.
The plane was last given regular maintenance on December 27, the attorney general’s office added, and has since travelled to Bogota, Guarulhos, near Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Santiago.
Thebodies had been frozen and were partially thawed, the statement added, and one had burns.
A Colombian judge known for sharing racy photos on her Instagram page has been suspended for three months after appearing on a virtual Zoom meeting while half-naked and smoking a cigarette in bed.
In a 33-second clip circulating on social media, the 34-year-old judge, Vivian Polanía, can be seen lounging in bed, appearing half-awake while taking a drag from a cigarette. At one point in the hearing, a prosecutor tells Polanía that her camera is on, and she immediately turns it off as the hearing continues, local media reported.
En un video que circula por WhatsApp se ve a la jueza Vivian Polanía (trabaja en el Palacio de Justicia de Cúcuta) atendiendo una diligencia judicial en su cama, semidesnuda y fumando. No sé si esto pueda acarrearle alguna sanción, pero al menos el escándalo ya está servido. pic.twitter.com/9rgNx4C6pV
The virtual court hearing centered around debates over whether a man charged in a 2021 car bombing should be granted bail.
One of the solicitors on the call reported Polanía’s alleged impropriety to Colombia’s National Commission of Judicial Ethics.
The commission said in a written ruling that Polanía’s suspension will remain in effect until February 2023, Spanish-language outlet Infobae reported.
“It is a duty of this commission to avoid repeating the judge’s contempt for the investiture of her position and the contempt she showed with her peers in the public prosecutor’s office, the prosecution and the defense,” the commission wrote.
A Colombian judge has faced disciplinary proceedings in the past over her racy Instagram photos. (Instagram/@vivianpolaniaf3)
“We find no justification for the judge to have presented herself in such deplorable conditions when she had the facilities of her own home and all the amenities necessary to prepare for a public hearing appropriately and with the respect such a hearing deserved.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Polanía for comment.
Responding to the incident, Polanía told a local radio station she was laying in bed during the hearing because she was suffering from an anxiety attack, according to the Spanish-language outlet El Pais.
She further alleged that she’d been threatened with disciplinary proceedings in the past because of her online conduct.
“You never know when you’re going to have an anxiety attack. I always wear my gown,” she reportedly said, adding that she “had low blood pressure.”
The Takoradi Habour Circuit court A, presided over by His worship Michael Kwodjoe Ampadu, is expected to give judgement today in the case involving Josephine Panyin Mensah, the lady from Columbia in Takoradi who was allegedly kidnapped while pregnant.
Josephine Panyin Mensah has been charged with two counts of deceiving a public officer contrary to section 251 (B) of the Criminal office’s Act and Publication of false news with intent to cause fear and panic contrary to section 208 subsection 1 of the act of the criminal offence.
Josephine, who has been facing prosecution since September 2021 when she was found at Axim, showed up at the Takoradi Habour Court looking pregnant, but the court is expected to receive pregnancy test results today before judgement in the substantive case.
