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Authorities captured a woman suspected of being involved in at least eight thefts, including two targeting foreigners, according to a press release from the Mayor’s Office of Medellín.

‘The Scopolamine Queen of Lleras Park’ was apprehended in the El Poblado neighborhood (in the southeast of Medellín), in an operation coordinated by the Mayor’s Office of Medellín, the Metropolitan Police of the Aburrá Valley, and the Attorney General’s Office.

According to investigations, the woman exploited her physical attributes to gain people’s trust and then committed the crimes using scopolamine.

“The capture of this criminal represents a decisive blow to the structures that disrupt the peace of Medellín’s residents and visitors. It’s not just about protecting their belongings, but also ensuring the safety and well-being of everyone in our city,” said Manuel Villa Mejía, Secretary of Security and Coexistence, in the press release.

This woman allegedly selected her victims with care, targeting primarily tourists. She operated in hotels and rental spaces offered through digital platforms, which provided an advantageous setting for her crimes.

Her income from these illegal activities was estimated to range between $100,000 USD and $200,000 USD, with each theft representing between $20,000 USD and $40,000 USD taken from the victims.

At the time of her arrest, authorities discovered that the woman was serving a house arrest sentence for a 2022 conviction and had an active sentence of 110 months for crimes including qualified and aggravated theft, illegal possession of weapons, and exploiting minors in criminal activities.

“The investigation does not stop here. We continue working closely with judicial and police authorities to identify and arrest other individuals involved in these incidents. We will not allow such criminal networks to operate in Medellín. Ensuring the city’s security and maintaining the trust of visitors are top priorities for this administration,” added Villa Mejía.

Quimbaya Gold Inc. (CSE: QIM) has completed a non-brokered private placement, issuing 2,171,665 units at $0.30 per unit, totaling $651,500 in gross proceeds.

Each unit comprises one common share and one warrant, allowing the holder to purchase an additional share at $0.40 within two years. The funds are designated for exploration activities and general working capital.

Notably, 1,046,666 units were allocated to President and Chief Executive Officer Alexandre P. Boivin and Director Pietro JL Solari, classified as related parties under Multilateral Instrument 61-101. The company utilized exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements, as the transaction’s value did not exceed 25% of its market capitalization.

All securities issued are subject to a four-month hold period by Canadian securities laws.

Quimbaya Gold focuses on the exploration and acquisition of mining properties in Colombia’s Antioquia Department, with projects in Segovia (Tahami Project), Puerto Berrio (Berrio Project), and Abejorral (Maitamac Project).

Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s denounce of an alleged “soft coup d’état” against him and his government, which the president appealed to following the National Electoral Council’s (CNE) announcement to investigate him for violating financial limits in his presidential campaign, has been dismissed by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).

Last October President Petro and his legal team submitted  a request for protective measures against an investigation opened by the CNE and detailed in a press release. The investigation is intended to inquire into the alleged irregular financing of his campaign for the Presidency, based on the omission of several contributions or expenses of the campaign in the first round of elections: one of Fecode (the teachers’ union) for $115,200 USD; another one of the Unión Sindical Obrera, USO (Worker’s Unión), for $87,300 USD; a loan requested by the ‘Polo Democrático Alternativo‘ party for $115,200 USD; the payments to electoral witnesses that totaled $212,200 USD; and payments to the ‘Colombia Humana‘ party for $115,200 USD. Furthermore, according to the CNE associations such as Fecode and the USO are not allowed to make financial contributions to any political campaign.

For the second round, the CNE also found several irregularities, including the omission of the payment to the venue in Bogotá where the victory of the presidency was celebrated, as well as and the absence of payment reports to poll watchers. In total, the irregularities of Petro’s campaign in both presidential rounds total just over $1,2 million USD (as of the date of publication) according to the CNE investigation.

The president’s lawyers argued before the court that this investigation implicitly limits the jurisdiction of the Accusations Commission of the House of Representatives (lower house of the Congress), as the only body empowered to criminally investigate a president. They argued there was a “serious risk” of violating the political rights of the president and his voters.

It is not the first time Petro has tried this strategy, since he got elected as president thanks to a ruling by the IACHR in July 2020 that overturned a disproportionate decision by the Attorney General’s Office – led by Alejandro Ordoñez – that disqualified him from holding public office for 15 years. At that time, the Court considered that his political rights and other legal principles were violated and consequently Petro was able to be a presidential candidate.

This time, according to the international court, Colombia’s highest electoral authority does not have the power to disqualify or restrict the political rights of the head of state, or of any official who has been elected by popular vote. This means it does not represent a real threat to the continuity of Petro’s government.

Hoewever, in its ruling, the court made it clear that the electoral authority’s investigation does not violate the political guarantees of the head of state. “Declare inadmissible the request for adoption of provisional measures presented by the representatives of the victim in the case,” says the document signed by Judge Nancy Hernández López, president of the IACHR.

For the IACHR, the facts of Petro’s previous request cannot be compared with the current one: “the Court considers that the request is not related to the object of the case or to the implementation of any of the guarantees of non-repetition of normative adequacy ordered in the Judgment, which makes it inadmissible.”

But the international magistrates specified that “the information provided in this request for provisional measures does not show that the administrative body in question (the CNE) has the power to disqualify or restrict the political rights of a popularly elected official.”

As Carlos Prieto, lawyer and professor at the Universidad Javeriana, confirmed to EL COLOMBIANO, the outcome did not come as a surprise: “The president intends to repeat the events that marked his term as Mayor of Bogotá, and that served for the IACHR to dictate the sentence of which he feels so proud. For this reason, he goes before the international organization in the condition in which he likes to present himself, as a ‘victim’, requesting protection against the actions of the judicial and administrative authorities.”

Headline photo: President Gustavo Petro (Photo: Joel González, Presidencia de la República)

The Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Interpol (abbreviated in Spanish as DIJIN) of the National Police, in coordination with the Attorney General’s Office of Colombia, captured the alleged leader of a human trafficking network in Medellín and Barbosa, Antioquia. This organization was reportedly dedicated to trafficking women for sexual exploitation. Alongside the alleged leader, identified as alias “Juan David,” two additional suspects were apprehended, according to a press release from the National Police of Colombia.

The group is accused of recruiting women from Lleras Park in Medellín and the metropolitan area of the Aburrá Valley to send them to Greece, specifically Athens and Thessaloniki, where they were forced into prostitution.

The investigation began after victims, rescued from nightclubs and private locations in Greece, reported their experiences. These women, predominantly from low-income backgrounds, had been lured from Medellín with false promises of legitimate employment. Upon arrival in Greece, they were coerced into prostitution under dire conditions.

The victims were either recruited in person or through social media platforms. Once under the network’s control, they were burdened with insurmountable debts and fined up to €3,600 for supposed expenses never disclosed beforehand. Their identification documents were confiscated, and they were subjected to inhumane treatment, including being forced to provide sexual services to more than 30 men daily.

Alias “Juan David,” the alleged leader of the network, was apprehended in El Hoyo, a rural area of Barbosa where he had been hiding for nearly a year. Among his possessions authorities recovered a 16-gauge shotgun, multiple cartridges, and approximately one pound of marijuana. Investigators revealed that “Juan David” was not only avoiding the law enforcement, but also members of his own criminal organization due to internal disputes over payments related to victim trafficking.

From 2017 to the present, the investigation uncovered evidence linking “Juan David” to the trafficking of numerous women to destinations worldwide, particularly Greece. The victims were forced into unprotected sexual services, which resulted in many contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

In June 2023, a collaborative operation between the Hellenic Police of Greece and DIJIN led to the rescue of 54 Colombian women from Antioquia. Of these, 14 were repatriated to Colombia.

In addition to “Juan David,” authorities arrested two women in Enciso, a neighborhood in Medellín. These individuals were allegedly responsible for recruiting, transporting, and sheltering the victims before they were trafficked abroad.

Legal Proceedings

The suspects were presented before a Judge of Guarantees Control. Alias “Juan David” and one of the women were remanded to prison, while the second woman was placed under house arrest. The Attorney General’s Office charged the suspects with aggravated human trafficking, illegal manufacturing and possession of firearms, and trafficking, manufacturing or carrying of narcotics.

Headline photo: Alias “Juan David” being apprehended (Photo: Policia Nacional de Colombia) 

 

See also: Finance Colombia » Medellín’s New Mayor Cracking Down on Vice and Sex Tourism Amid Local Fury

On December 17, 2024 the discussion of Colombia’s health reform bill in the Chamber of Representatives (lower house of the Congress) was overshadowed by derision when Representative Catherine Juvinao was caught vaping just before her turn to speak in the session. The incident sparked outrage on social media and among lawmakers.


Images of Juvinao vaping in the ‘Capitolio’, quickly went viral (some of the best memes were curated by Infobae in an article), since vaping in enclosed spaces is prohibited by Colombian regulations. The backlash was fueled by the irony of her actions taking place during deliberations on health reform, which aims to promote preventive care and address public health challenges, including tobacco-related diseases.

Reactions from colleagues in the Congress emerged immediately. Representatives such as Alejandro Ocampo, Cielo Rusinque, and Gustavo Bolivar criticized Juvinao. “She disrespects basic rules of coexistence and public health by vaping in a enclosed space. We are discussing a reform to strengthen health systems and prevent diseases, yet here we see behaviors that are anything but coherent.”, said Representative Alfredo Mondragón in a video on Instagram.

She later apologized with a message on Twitter/X, but the controversy deepened when, the next day, during a session that continued the debate, Juvinao was expelled from the chamber after allegedly insulting the President of the Chamber of Representatives, Jaime Salamanca, calling him “marica” (an offensive term in Spanish). Salamanca immediately sanctioned Juvinao, suspending her right to speak during that session.

Juvinao denied the accusation, claiming her removal was politically motivated: “They silenced me because I am one of the most critical voices against this reform,” she tweeted following her expulsion.

President Gustavo Petro joined the debate on December 22, with a tweet: “Many scientific associations recommend banning these devices. They introduce water into the lungs and can be fatal. In a preventive health system, educating students on healthy practices is fundamental for well-being.”

While the health reform bill remains a central issue for Petro’s administration, this incident drew attention away from substantive discussions.

 

Headline photo: Representative Catherine Juvinao. (Photo: Twitter/ https://x.com/CathyJuvinao)

The last week of work of 2024 for the Colombian Senate marks a new lost battle for the President, Gustavo Petro, to pass his political reform bill.

The government agenda was full of reforms the last year: Pension, Health and Political bills were the most important for Petro. As the Colombian Senate recess period began on December 16; this was the deadline for this bill to be approved by the chamber that had already denied some government bills in the past months. For the government and Petro’s party, Pacto Histórico, the political reform was necessary and key for the political future of the country. However, many analysts and organizations didn’t agree with the president and his bill.

One of those organizations was the MOE (Electoral Observatory Mission), they warned about the content of the political reform. MOE subdirector, Frey Alejandro Muñoz, pointed out a major setback in the possibility of changing parties one time every four years and as late as four months before the election: “This proposal weakens the political parties, because the seat goes from representing the position of the political organization to belonging to the person who was elected. On the other hand, this could generate distrust in the citizenry by finding a lack of consistency in the political system when they see their representatives move from one organization to another.”

The financial aid for political movements was also at risk if the bill was approved. “The bill provides access to operating financing only for political organizations that reach 3% of the vote in Congress, which excludes parties with legal status that emerge from the special Afro and indigenous constituencies.” Another problem related to this issue is the control over the finances of every campaign, as the project did not adopt a clear measure to keep track of the money and its source.

After a long discussion on the last day of ordinary sessions, more than seven hours, the bill didn’t pass.

Juan Fernando Cristo, Minister of the Interior, criticized the decision of the Senate to drown this bill, “They killed political reform by suffocation. The country demanded that Congress debate it. We are not resigned to a nonviable political system, without legitimacy or credibility. We will insist and persist that it is urgent to change the political system to prevent the usual corruption scandals from continuing to be repeated.”

The President of the Senate, Efrain Cepeda, blames the Pe party, Pacto Histórico, for the disaster of the political reform. “On Thursday (December 12) that political reform was scheduled on the agenda, and there were some discussions that, among other things, the same bench of the Pacto Histórico was dedicated to endless interventions to add proposals, and little by little the plenary of the Senate was running out of quorum.”

Cepeda also responds to the critics who try to blame him for the drowning of this initiative. “I cannot answer for the quorum of the plenary, the same governing party delayed the discussion of previous projects.”

In the near future, there’s no schedule for the political reform in 2025, Petro’s party will focus their efforts on Health and Labor reform bills that have already been discussed in the chambers and have more possibilities of being approved in the midterm.

Headline photo: Senate President Efrain Cepeda, centre chair, discuss a bill with congressmen in the chamber. (Source, Congres official website)

Collective Mining (NYSE: CNL) is an early-stage mine in Caldas, Colombia near the town of Supía, that has been making some exciting discoveries regarding the mineralization that exploratory drilling is revealing. They recently discovered a high-grade gold zone called the Ramp Zone, and they plan a very aggressive drilling campaign for the coming year. CEO Omar Ossma spent a few minutes with Finance Colombia’s Executive Editor Loren Moss during CGS 2024, Colombia’s most important precious metals mining event, to talk about the mine’s progress and plans for the future.

Finance Colombia: I’m here with Omar Ossma of Collective Mining, and you guys just gave a fascinating presentation on the project that you are developing in Caldas. Collective is a fascinating company to me because it’s made up largely of executives who came out of the successful Continental project that you guys developed a few years ago. But now you have announced that you have a new project, as part of your drilling program- This year you are on track to complete 40 kilometers of drilling. Is that correct?

Omar Ossma: Yes, sir. We are hoping to do 40,000 meters of drilling. The good thing is that the 40,000 meters are going to end with very good news. We communicated a couple of weeks ago that we found a high-grade zone and something like 1,000 meters below the surface, which is very interesting. Apollo, our flagship discovery, has been evolving very nicely since 2022 when we first discovered it. And today, thinking back, in 2023 when we discovered Tungsten, and now 2024, we have this new area, the Ramp Zone, a high-grade area, a high-grade zone, it’s made Collective Mining enter into a very exciting phase of drilling and exploration.

Finance Colombia: Now, we are always excited to cover you. Tell me: Is it the ‘Ramp Zone’ or the ‘Trap Project’? The name of this discovery that you guys have made.

Omar Ossma: Okay, so, the Ramp Zone is part of the deep zone of Apollo. It’s not part of the Trap.

Maybe you saw in our presentation when we did, we had an image and we showed the different discoveries. You can see Apollo and Trap, and then you can see the valley. Trap and Ramp Zone are different.

They are two different discoveries. Ramp Zone is the discovery within the Apollo discovery. It’s the deep zone of the Apollo discovery, with the nice added to it, is that even though it’s a deep zone, it has the possibility conceptually to have a ramp. And that’s why we are calling it the ‘Ramp Zone.’

That can surface further on in the lower part of the geography. So that’s the interesting part. Conceptually, we are seeing something very interesting in the future of the mine with Apollo.

Finance Colombia: It looks like it would be easy access, because you can potentially build a tunnel to go under, and so, even though the tunnel would be horizontal, the way that the geography is, I’ve been down there, it would allow a lot easier access. You know, I was out at the last big project you guys developed a few years ago, and it was very difficult to get to. On the other hand, in this project, down near Supía, Caldas, there’s already road infrastructure, it’s a more populated area, it’s a developed area, it’s a safe area, it’s in Coffee Country. And one of the things I wanted to talk about is, you guys have historically had very good relationships. I remember during the previous administration I talked to the then Mayor of Supía, Caldas.

“We communicated a couple of weeks ago that we found a high-grade zone and something like 1,000 meters below the surface, which is very interesting.” – Omar Ossma

Omar Ossma: Yes.

Finance Colombia: And he was very glowing in discussing the way that you all were contributing to that area, as far as helping them, not just with mining, which, that’s always been a mining-friendly area, but in developing tourism and kind of social inclusion. And maybe you could talk about some of those projects and the relationships that you’ve built there in the area.

Omar Ossma: In principle for us juniors, geology sets the way.

And I think that geology has already helped us set the path into a very interesting development. Now, you can’t do that if you are not evaluating and evolving also into the social aspect of it. I know you visited our project under a different administration. In that time the Mayor, I know we had a very good relationship with him, we were supporting several of his programs, and several of our programs were focused more on what the community needed. And when we say ‘the community needed’ is what the government at that time had envisioned for the municipality. So we managed to sync our capabilities with the needs of the communities, and that’s how we started to work on the social side. Things have changed. In what way? Things have changed in that we have a new government in Office. With this government in Office, we have also been able to understand and sync ourselves into what he wants to do for the region. So, as you portrayed, when you talked to that Mayor.

He showed you that he was very hype because we were able to sync. That’s what we’re doing with this new government. This business is obviously about geology, but the geology without the social aspect about it, without the sustainability aspect about it, is not going to evolve. We have several programs. You said it yourself, we are in Coffee Country. We have one of the leaders in coffee helping us with an alliance. This is the National Coffee Federation.

We still maintain an alliance with the National Coffee Federation. It’s been instrumental in what Collective Mining is doing in the region. And I think that that’s part of the success: geology, plus a very sound sustainability program, with the major players and stakeholders in the region: the Coffee Federation; the government; the regional and local governments. And that, summed up, has allowed us to be in 2024 with Ramp Zone, with Apollo, with the Trap, and with a very, very exciting discovery.

Finance Colombia: One of the things I saw that struck me when I visited the site a lot of times, and not just in Colombia, but around the world, there’s a conflict between commercial miners and artisanal miners. But with you guys, I’ve seen that you’ve had a track record of success in this area. We visited the site that you guys have, the Apollo site, and these artisanal miners, local miners are waving at you and saying ‘hi’ and greeting. And you guys have seemed to and very few mines, I haven’t seen a lot of this- have worked to have a kind of collaborative and friendly relations, whereas in most cases there’s kind of a conflict or competition. How have you guys managed to maintain these relationships and kind of build alliances with these old- you know, because in Colombia we have hundreds of years of tradition when it comes to artisanal miners? How have you guys managed to obtain that?

            “Experience has taught us that artisanal miners are, in principle, the pioneer geologists.” – Omar Ossma

Omar Ossma: No? They are the first on-site, they are the first to identify what you see. So, they are not your counterpart, they are your ally.

You need to understand that. Usually, companies tend to feel that they have more competition with the artisanals than the possibility of alliances. We arrive at the site and we understand that they are pioneers and that they help us discover. Understanding that you need to involve them in your process. They’re already there, and they have economic expectations, they live from that, so it is important to be able to involve them. That has legal aspects, environmental aspects, health and safety aspects.

That makes it a bit uncomfortable for companies. When you manage to understand that there are ways to control those different aspects, you manage to evolve and work with the artisanal miners. What is our focus on artisanal mining? For starters, health and safety.

That’s our focus. I know that there’s a lot of legal jargon and ideas around it, but we need the artisanal miners to arrive safely at home, and we focus first on health and safety. And I think that they’re seeing that we are genuinely concerned about their safety, and that’s what you eventually saw at sight: It’s they are happy that there is somebody that is not putting conditions on them and first is trying to help them and try to make them safe and arrive. Once you have them safe, you can start talking about other necessary things, that you need to be in the legal part of the mining activity. We already solved the fact that you are operating in a better condition, so now let’s go and talk with the government and understand how we can liaise, how can you guys start working with all the legal requirements, and let’s power through. And for us, it has been instrumental moreover, that they are close to our discoveries, and with what they are also discovering, they help us see. So, there is a win-win in working with the artisans.

Finance Colombia: Another thing. And thank you, you’ve been very generous with your time, but I do have one other question. One of the things that- or observation, I guess I should say, that has impressed me: You guys have an international world-class team where you bring in the experts, the geologists, the finance people, the people that have access to capital markets and things like that. But you guys have stood out in developing Colombian talent. You, as the leader of the company, you’re Colombian.

Omar Ossma: Yes, sir.

Finance Colombia: I know that you also have a lot of companies that just fly in executives from other continents, or wherever, and there’s nothing wrong with that, you are bringing the best people that you can get. But you have not just, you know, you visit some mines, and it’s like, all the workers are locals, and then all the experts are from, you know, some other planet.

But I look at the geologists, and even though you bring in kind of world-class leaders, you develop Colombian geologists. So you know, we just saw a presentation from your technical people, and I’ve met a lot of not just senior people, but it looks like you put an effort in to develop, whether it’s on the business side or the technical side, you are developing talent. So it’s not just the workers, it’s not just the miners, but the actual leadership and the knowledge, the brain power. You seem to take seriously developing Colombians to be professionals, not just laborers.

Omar Ossma: No, indeed I appreciate the comment, for myself and the team. We have an advantage: Colombia has evolved in the last 25 years a lot.

I started in this business something close to 2008, so it’s been almost 17 years, and I can tell you that in 2008 you saw a lot of what you are describing, a lot of foreigners with a lot of experience in developing businesses, and we didn’t see that in Colombia. But it has evolved. It’s been 17 years since we’ve had people evolving into this business.

I am a lawyer, I started in this business 17 years ago, as we’re saying, and I’ve managed to learn a lot about the business. And I think it’s not just me, we are seeing that in several other companies and we have to start grasping the fact and the idea that we have very prepared people. Our discoveries are the result of our geologists. And they’re all Colombian. So it makes us very proud to be able to have that, and our geologists are very proud of what they’re doing and they put all into it. We have a very, very good team. And we all, most of us, come from past Continental. And Continental was an exciting project and it was a successful project. So there’s a lot that we learned there, a lot that we brought into Collective, the good and the bad, to understand what we had to do going into the future. So I appreciate your comment, Loren.

Finance Colombia: Absolutely.

Finance Colombia: I’m here with Julián Lopez of Target Directional. We’re here at CGS 2024 Colombia Gold Summit. You guys have some exciting news to announce, is that correct?

Julián Lopez: Yes, that’s correct, for sure. We just finished the deeper hole in HQ with directional drilling. It’s a sub-horizontal hole, for a tunnel, so that is a very successful hole in Colombia. Especially because it’s an HQ, so it’s a big diameter for exploration.

Finance Colombia: What is the diameter of the hole?

Julián Lopez: The diameter is 3.78 inches. So, usually, you drill in 2.38 inches. So, for this deep hole, it’s 1,000 meters.

Finance Colombia: Wow, a kilometer. Wow.

Julián Lopez: Yeah, one kilometer.

Finance Colombia: And where have you guys drilled this hole? Where is this?

Julián Lopez: Okay, this is in Antioquia. No, it’s difficult to say which project is right now.

Finance Colombia: Okay, I understand.

Julián Lopez: But the hole, it’s still drilling, right now. We will be the deepest hole in Colombia, it’s 2,000 meters in NQ.

Finance Colombia: So, tell me about Target Directional. You guys are specialists when it comes to drilling. When does a company, when does a mining operation, call on specialists like you all?

Julián Lopez: Okay, so, we start doing, like…Helping the drilling companies. Like, we start to help in drilling companies, and we are specialists in directional drilling, from the oil and gas industry. So, what we did: we take that technology, we bring for a diamond drilling industry, so we mix the technologies, and we start to drill in, and getting targets in Peru. We started in Peru. But the company [was] just born in Colombia.

Finance Colombia: Directional drilling has revolutionized the business because you can drill around obstacles. I see in big construction projects they use it, but then, obviously, with oil and gas to get to different deposits. And in mining as well, because a lot of times the most valuable deposits are not the easiest ones to get to. How has directional drilling revolutionized the industry?

Julián Lopez: Okay. The main idea for directional drilling is that you can save meters. Why? Because from one hole, you can get multiple holes. So, you only need to drill the mother hole one time. And, let’s say, if you will drill 5,000 meters, 1,000 meters each hole. Okay? With directional drilling, you drill one mother hole to 500 meters, and from 500, you can open zone holes. So, you will save time, you will save, let’s say, water, you will save environmentally, roads… A lot of things.

Finance Colombia: I’ve seen- I visit mines. I love when I get a chance to visit mines, especially early-stage mines, when they’re under exploration. And sometimes they’re in very difficult areas to reach. They’re on the side of a mountain, it’s this deep mountain, or something like that, and you have to get these big drill rigs up on some mountain. And then, like you mentioned, saving time. Time is money. One of the biggest risks for early-stage exploratory mines is running out of money or running out of investments before they complete their drilling, right?  So, how does directional drilling help those companies to be better stewards of their investments and to be more successful?

Julián Lopez: Okay. Let’s say this is your target, okay? So, if this is the azimuth of the target. You want to go from the front, okay? So, you need to build different platforms. With directional drilling, we use the same platform, okay? So you can turn the holes wherever you want, and impact in the inclination, or azimuth, so you have absolute control of the direction.

Finance Colombia: It makes it easier to explore and is less expensive, right?

Julián Lopez: The cost of the directional drilling, you save with the meters that you leave to drill. So, at the end, it’s one extra cost, but you save meters, you save time, you save water, you save people. So, in the end, you save money, and you get better information about the target because we have precision. So, if you want to get one coordinate, we will get there.

Finance Colombia: Okay. Even by degrees or things like that. Wow.

Julián Lopez: It doesn’t matter, yeah.

Finance Colombia: So, if somebody wants to…Let’s say an operator or an early-stage mining company wants to contact Target Directional. How can people find the company? Do you have a website, or how can people reach you and communicate with you?

Julián Lopez: Yes, for sure: www.targetdirectional.com. We are on LinkedIn: Target Directional. We are on Facebook, Instagram, and, yeah. It’s easy to find us on social media, for sure.

Finance Colombia: Great, great. Well, congratulations on this great news. I understand that with mining, there’s a lot of confidentiality, but you know, we know that you guys have done this here. We’re in Medellín, which is the capital of Antioquia, one of the most active mining regions, and so really, that’s great news, and “un hito.”

Julián Lopez: Yes. Colombia is not drilling too much at this moment. But here we have four projects with directional drilling. Not only Target, other players, okay? But what does that mean? Colombia is getting into a new market because it is the leader right now of the directional drilling market. Even right now, 80% of the technicians for directional drilling are from Colombia. In the South American market.

Finance Colombia: That’s a great achievement for Colombia, even though we’re in a time of uncertainty when it comes to mining. Now, let’s talk about…We’re here at CGS 2024, we’re here at Colombia Gold Summit. Tell me about how is this event for you all. How is the Colombia Gold Summit for you? How do you like this event?

Julián Lopez: Okay, really, really good. We always find friends and clients. Even here are some clients, “Hey, the hole is going well, thank you so much,” you know. So it’s a very good space for the people that you need to meet. Each person here is somebody that you need to talk to, you need to meet him, and that’s what we like a lot about this event.

Finance Colombia: It’s the most important gold mining event in Colombia, if not the entire Andes. So it’s always great so see you here, to meet old friends and new. Again, congratulations on this great achievement that Target Directional has made.

Julián Lopez: Thank you so much, and thank you so much for the interview and this space.

 

Companies doing business in Latin America – or anywhere, must manage operational risk. FTI Consulting was present at CGS 2024 in Medellín, also known as the Colombia Gold Summit, where consultant Lucas Marsden gave a talk on the pitfalls that companies face as they attempt to be forward facing and progressive on the environment, but may fail to have a positive impact, or in some cases cause more harm than good.  It is important, Marsden explains, for companies to have advisors with local knowledge and expertise – “boots on the ground,” as they say, to provide the best, most timely and relevant guidance. After his presentation, Marsden spent a few moments with Loren Moss, executive editor of Finance Colombia.

Finance Colombia: So, you gave a really interesting talk today. We’re at the CGS 2024 Colombia Gold Summit, put on every year by Paul Harris and his team. Now, FTI, you guys are known as one of the most important consultants across, I think, the globe, but I know certainly across the Americas. Now, you talked today about the politics of energy transition, and that’s an interesting thing because we go back and forth. There’s like a tug of war between the right and the left everywhere, even down here in Latin America, and specifically in Colombia.

At this mining event, there is a lot of consternation, and I’ve seen the same thing at petroleum events that I’ve attended, and there’s a lot of uncertainty regarding governmental policy and that kind of thing. So, tell me about, when you talk about the politics of energy transition, especially down here in Latin America, what tend to be some of the major obstacles that your corporate clients might come across?

Lucas Marsden: Sure. Well, I mean, it’s a topical time to be talking about this because we’re not just having Colombia Gold Symposium here; we have got COP16 happening in Cali, and we have roadblocks, we’ve had roadblocks across the country from the mining sector, and farmers that are protesting changes that are being made by the government, environmentally related. Some risks exist on all levels, right? From your macro political to your operational. And what I feel like our clients are currently worried about are being able to comply reputationally and legally with all the new encouraging sort of biodiversity carbon targets that are coming out, that are coming out this week, that came out yesterday on biodiversity credits.

How they can do well by that? Because these things can be made into, you know, black and white, simple concepts, but the actual reality of investing in Colombia and investing in a couple of projects in Colombia or biodiversity is incredibly complicated and involves the social element of getting communities inside, it involves local government, anti-bribery and making sure that you’re getting that political stability and getting things to stay.

Finance Colombia: You know, one of the things that you talked about that I think is very important is a lot of companies will do things…I look at heavy manufacturing, for example, and they’ll go, “Look, we’re 100% carbon neutral” or “We’re green,” and they’ll go and do things like purchase carbon credits, which, conceptually, may be a good idea, but there are some dangers there. We find that a lot of those programs are…not only are they not regulated, but not necessarily monitored. So maybe you could touch on that because you gave some interesting case examples of that today.

“So a lot of what we do in FTI is help companies. It’s not just about the investment.” – Lucas Marsden

Lucas Marsden: Yeah, definitely. I mean, first off, just on that point of claims of net zero and nature-positive, which is the kind of biodiversity equivalent, our team in the UK and Europe were advising companies to be very careful about how they’re using these terms, because a general consumer will think, “Oh, net zero, it doesn’t have an impact on the environment.”

No. You know, you’re impacting the environment, but you’re also doing things to benefit it. So, that term “nature-positive”, there have been talks at COP16 to try to change that, to try to change it to “net positive” and more nuanced terms, because no company can be nature-positive, right? So, I think first, there’s that terminology issue and the reputational thing. But you’d like me to talk a bit more about the actual projects that we’re seeing and tracing and investments that-

Finance Colombia: Absolutely. I mean, obviously, don’t give away any client secrets, but we’d really love to hear about some of the ways that companies engage with FTI to kind of navigate this landscape.

Lucas Marsden: Yeah, I mean, the great news is that Latin America is the main receiver of climate-related funds, and there’s a huge amount of money, and this week with COP16 even more money being pumped into some incredible projects in, say, for example in Colombia, in Antioquia, in Vichada, around the Amazon. Some really incredible things are being done. I actually had a talk with one of the ministers of Indigenous Relations in Chile, who was telling me, “Look, all this money is pumping in, but what’s actually happening on the ground? Like, we’re not seeing this on the ground. We’re already protecting the environment.”

Saying, you know, “We’ve invested 20 million, might be great for a sort of top-level headline.” But, when you’re thinking about it actually being implemented, these communities are already doing this; they’re already protecting the oceans, they’re already protecting the landscape. So a lot of what we do in FTI is help companies. It’s not just about the investment, it’s about how do you get in a room with these communities, how do you find out what they’re doing, how do you increase those efforts so we’re not starting from zero and we’re not going in there and making a mess of things, which, unfortunately, has happened.

Finance Colombia: You know, you kind of almost answered my next question for you, and you’ve been generous with your time, and that was: You see a lot of these initiatives that are launched at a global level, or these guys go over there, Davos, Switzerland, and come up with this initiative, and they come on the ground and it’s like, “We’re going to do this or that,” but they don’t have input at the conceptual level or the decision-making level, with the local communities on the ground. You know, I’ve talked to friends in the Wayuu community, for example, here in Colombia. And on one hand, with some companies, they have great relationships because the companies have been very…I guess not presumptuous, or, you know, like, “Look, let’s come and listen to you first before we go and do anything,” or say, “What do you need?”

In other cases, they’ve been in more contentious relationships where some company comes in with some initiative that doesn’t take into account the actual needs on the ground, or not just the needs, but the beliefs and the wishes of those local communities. So, what can companies do and what have you seen that has been successful when companies try to engage, and so not just be environmentally responsible, but also socially responsible, and treat those local communities as equal stakeholders and partners, versus looking at them as, like, little children or something like that?

Lucas Marsden: Yeah, definitely. And I think that is the key to what this COP has been about. It’s called the COP of the people. It’s this idea that you can’t remove the environment from the social aspect and that there are communities that are living there that are making their income, their livings, from living in this kind of highly biodiverse place. So, that’s why there’s been so much encouraging indigenous participation at COP16. The first thing you need to do is actually understand who you’re talking to.

The other side of the business that we have is FCPA investigations, Department of Justice investigations, corruption; when things go wrong, we have an investigative team that goes and finds out what’s happened. A lot of the times what has happened is that you’re speaking to the leader of the community, you think that they represent the wider community, and they say, “Right, there’ll be no problem. We’ll sign all the papers; just help me with the roof of my house over here, and it’ll be okay.” Right? So, make sure that you’re not falling into those traps, that you’re not just saying- It’s not as simple as saying, “Okay, this is the leader of the community.” Unfortunately. You’ve got to have a wider thing and find those good actors, find the ones that are really benefits in the community and make sure you identify that. So, a big part of what we do is stakeholder mapping identification to make sure that that panorama is clear.

Finance Colombia: We have two audiences at Finance Colombia. Basically, either multinational executives that have current or potential operations in Colombia, and then, of course, institutional investors. Now, for those executives, when is the ideal time to engage with FTI Consulting? When should they reach out? When should they look at the services that you offer, like you just mentioned? What kind of due diligence, and that kind of thing. What’s the ideal circumstance and, maybe, the ideal client profile?

Lucas Marsden: Well, we embed ourselves and exist on top of the current situation, right? I mean, you get some consultancies that will come in and just start things from scratch. These companies, they know what they’re doing, they have very good risk profiles, they’ve got good boots on the ground. And that’s the real key part: having boots on the ground. So, I’ve been talking to some investors from some banks that said they wouldn’t invest in climate initiatives unless they have a presence in that country, an office. Not necessarily a risk office, but an office, so at least they understand the culture of it, right? And when it’s getting to that point…I mean, what I said about FTI is as early as possible. Anytime that you need that help with the identification, with understanding the culture. If you’ve got a team on the ground, if you’ve got a risk team, brilliant. If you don’t, we can help from scratch. If you do, then we can sit on top of what already exists, do some kind of external and second opinion, right? And yeah, that’s what we said.

Finance Colombia: It’s like when a large company is going to have in-house counsel, but they also have the law firms that they partner with. They may have risk experts, but it’s leveraging your expertise, and especially global expertise, when you’re going into new markets, maybe where they haven’t operated. Well, Lucas, thanks. You’ve been great with your time and, even more importantly, great with your knowledge here at CGS, and I hope to see you again.

Lucas Marsden: Great. Thank you very much.

 

Sergio Guzmán is perhaps Colombia’s best known political risk expert, sought after by news organizations and corporate clients from around the world. He spent a few minutes during CGS 2024 – Colombia Gold Summit, Loren Moss, executive editor of Finance Colombia to discuss the challenges facing investors and executives active in Colombia during these more turbulent times.

Click on the above image to see the video.

Finance Colombia: So I’m here with Sergio Guzmán. It’s always good to see you again, my friend. I think since the last time I saw you in person you were a bachelor, so I want to congratulate you on your recent marriage.

Sergio Guzmán: Thank you.

Finance Colombia: So that’s always a good thing. And we’re back here at CGS 2024, the Colombia Gold Summit, as originally known. Now, of course, it has expanded, and it covers copper, and it covers silver. A great event put on every year by Paul Harris and his organization. Sergio, we’re in a time right now where we are two years into the current administration, and I know that you are a specialist in political risk. And you got up, and you opened the session talking about the different challenges and the risk that we have. Now, we see that there are some concerning trends when it comes to crime and insecurity, but then we also have political uncertainty. Some other presenters talked about the growth and lack of growth in the sector.

Tell me about- if you could just briefly, within 30 seconds or so, recap the message that you gave this morning when it comes to the political risk for the mining sector.

Sergio Guzmán: Absolutely. Well, I think if we look at political risk in Colombia in general, it’s doing much better than the government’s antagonists expect.

And much worse than the government proposes. And so it’s somewhere in between. The truth is usually somewhere in between. Colombia is not a country that’s in an active coup d’état, but it’s also not a country that is a haven for investment and great opportunities. What is true, I think, is something that I’ve tried to get across: Colombia is not for the faint of heart. It’s a country that needs to be explored and analyzed meticulously and not just looked at from a surface level. So if people are interested in investing here, if people are serious about long-term opportunities here, they need to do their homework.

Finance Colombia: Let’s talk about this, and I don’t want people to panic or anything like that, but there has been an uptick in insecurity. We look at things in the north of Colombia, the Urabá region, also down around Tumaco and things like that. Have we seen a material effect on crime and insecurity when it comes to mining development?

Sergio Guzmán: I think three things are going on at the same time. The first one is that insecurity in urban areas is getting worse. The perception of insecurity is also getting worse. In parallel, the government is trying to negotiate simultaneously with nine different armed organizations, right? And that’s led to a bilateral ceasefire and a relative cooling of some fighting between the government and these armed groups. And then the third, and I think you know, many of these armed organizations no longer depend exclusively on drugs as the principal source of income. Now, they’ve diversified their portfolio, so to speak. They have illegal mining, they have human smuggling, they have extortion, right?

And so Colombia’s violence is becoming more complex, much more interwoven into global illegal economies. And, of course, the mining sector can’t choose where it operates; it has to operate in the areas where there are resources. And so, in some of those areas, there are specific local dynamics of crime that need to be addressed or need to be mitigated. Then, there are also interwoven elements that correspond to these insurgent groups or criminal organizations and insurgencies that also need to be understood well. All in all, I think the perception of violence and the perception of crime are getting worse in Colombia. The capacity of some of these groups is improving, and the intent to target, you know, has remained unchanged. However, some of these bilateral ceasefires have created a relative calm in that we haven’t seen, you know, major kidnapping events, or major terrorist attacks against critical infrastructure, as there used to be back in the day. So I think, you know, it’s a mixed bag. It’s not as positive as the government would want it to sound, but it’s also not chaos.

Finance Colombia: You know, I’ve seen where companies have had success when they go in and work with the local people, not just rely on the politicians in Bogotá, but they’ve come in first and engaged with the local community to make sure that the populace is on their side. There’s a talk going on right now about how mining companies, big commercial mining companies, can work with artisanal miners rather than compete or have a conflict with them, but work kind of in the form of symbiosis.

What advice would you give to mining operators if they’re looking at maybe either taking on a project in Colombia or looking, obviously, with the long-term vision? What is the best strategy that you’ve seen work to mitigate the different types of risk, the political risk, the physical risk, and then, of course, the financial risk of their investment?

Sergio Guzmán: I think in your question, you sort of framed the answer as well. I think having a long-standing, positive and collaborative working relationship with local communities is the best security, both in social terms and security terms, that companies can have. If the local actors perceive that the company is 1) there to stay, 2) will help strengthen their economy, and 3) will not, you know, go away and leave them hanging when things get tough. Those are three elements that the local community will stand up for the company when things go south. And those are three elements that the company needs to work with a very, very intentional mindset from the very beginning of the exploration.

Finance Colombia: You are, in my universe, the foremost expert on risk, and you have your consultancy firm, I know that you have a founding partner, but Colombia Risk Analysis, how can people find out–I know that you have a website, and you have both kind of free summaries and then also more in-depth report. Give people an idea of how they can communicate or how they can find out more about Colombia Risk Analysis.

Sergio Guzmán: Absolutely. People can find out about Colombia Risk Analysis by going to our website, www.colombiariskanalysis.com. All our socials are @ColombiaRisk, and we offer both subscription services for the general person that wants to understand, to more bespoke conferences or reports that can be written according to whatever a client wants, both in English and Spanish. And I think that’s something that makes us unique in Colombia as well.

Finance Colombia: Sergio, it’s always great to talk to you.

Sergio Guzmán: Thank you so much, Loren.

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