Colombia's president has said he will donate more than €887,000 of his Nobel Peace Prize money to the victims of Colombia's 50-year conflict.

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A permanent ceasefire has taken effect in Colombia, the latest step in bringing an end to 52 years of bloody combat between the government and the country’s biggest rebel group.

A permanent ceasefire is taking effect in Colombia, in the latest step to bring an end to 52 years of bloody combat between the government and the country's biggest rebel group.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos and the top Farc rebel commander have pledged to end the 50-year war within the next six months, sealing their pact with a handshake likely to stand as a lasting image in the South American nation.

COLOMBIA: A self-declared chocolate addict has been sentenced to five months in one of Colombia’s harshest prisons for swiping $8 (€5.90) worth of bars.

Colombia and leftist FARC rebels have reached a deal on land reform, one of the most contentious items in negotiations aimed at ending five decades of insurgency.

The Colombian government and the country’s biggest rebel group have reached a deal on land reform – one of their main bones of contention – after months of slow-moving peace talks in Cuba’s capital.

Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez has a respiratory infection after undergoing cancer surgery in Cuba and must have “complete rest” for the next few days, the government said today.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said he is willing to help Colombia's government and leftist FARC rebels broker a peace deal and congratulated both sides on taking steps to end the Western Hemisphere's longest-running conflict.

There is a new group of nations in Latin America – the Pacific Alliance - uniting Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos has said two people have been killed in a bomb attack on a crowded Bogota street which he says targeted a former interior minister.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is hosting leaders from across the Americas at a two-day summit.

The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela agreed to restore diplomatic relations severed nearly three weeks ago by Caracas, smoothing over a dispute over allegations Colombian rebels have camps in Venezuela.

Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia’s 59th president, declared himself open to dialogue with rebels in the hope of ending his country’s nearly 50 year conflict.

The government of President Hugo Chavez fears Colombia’s president-elect could end up doing Washington’s bidding by conspiring against its neighbour, Venezuela’s top diplomat says.

FOREIGN intelligence services spying on the European Parliament?

A former defence minister from a powerful political clan who oversaw a major weakening of leftist rebels won Colombia’s presidency, routing an eccentric outsider in a runoff.

COLOMBIANS voted for a successor to President Alvaro Uribe yesterday in what was expected to be a rout favouring a former defence minister who oversaw a major weakening of leftist rebels.

THE amount of land planted with coca in Colombia fell by 18% last year, the country’s defence minister claimed, saying it shows headway in reducing production of the leaf used to make cocaine.

Police say a bomb blast killed two people outside a Blockbuster video store in an upper middle-class district of Colombia’s capital Bogota.

Colombian spies tricked leftist rebels into handing over kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three US military contractors today in a daring helicopter rescue. No shots were fired during the rescue.

COLOMBIA freed Ingrid Betancourt and three US military contractors from leftist guerrillas after military spies tricked rebels into giving them up without a single injury, the defence minister said. In all, the operation freed 15 hostages including Colombian soldiers and police, Juan Manuel Santos said.

Fifteen hostages, including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three US military contractors, have been freed, the Army said tonight.