BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The Colombian airlines Avianca and Latam Colombia said late Monday they will operate most of their flights Tuesday and resume full schedules Wednesday, after warning earlier they would have to cancel dozens of flights due to shortages of jet fuel.
Avianca said it had received confirmation from the nation's main supplier of jet fuel that there would no longer be any restrictions on how much fuel was provided to airlines. It said that allowed it to again sell tickets for all its routes and observed its planned flights.
Latam Colombia said that it would resume normal operations Wednesday and that passengers whose Tuesday flights were cancelled had been assigned to other flights on the same day. Latam had announced earlier Monday that it was cancelling 36 flights for Tuesday due to fuel shortages.
The late announcements by the airlines, which carry more than 70% of Colombia's domestic passengers, capped off a turbulent day for Colombia's aviation industry that saw hundreds of passengers grounded and others struggling to rebook their flights.
On Sunday, Colombia's national oil company, Ecopetrol, announced it had imported 100,000 barrels of jet fuel to ensure supplies for domestic airlines after the carriers complained they were not receiving enough fuel from suppliers.
The crisis came after a power shortage Aug. 16 disrupted local production of jet fuel at an Ecopetrol refinery in the city of Cartagena. In a letter sent to airlines Aug. 21, local fuel supplier Terpel said the disruption would force it to cut the amount of fuel it could sell at airports in the country.
On Monday, Ecopetrol President Ricardo Roa said the jet fuel production had been restored, and he criticized fuel distributors, saying they were not importing enough fuel to comply with rising demand.
President Gustavo Petro said on his X account that there was no shortage of jet fuel in the country, but rather an “irregular situation” that “is under investigation.” Transportation Minister María Constanza García said there was enough jet fuel in the country, but that airports were currently undergoing “logistical” problems.
The civil aviation authority issued an ordinance Sunday allowing airlines to cancel flights between Aug. 28 and Sept. 4 if fuel was not available. But late Monday, the agency announced the ordinance had been cancelled because there was now enough jet fuel in the country to operate all scheduled flights.
Avianca CEO Federico Pedreira said in a statement Monday night that he was surprised and pleased by the news that supplies of jet fuel had normalized.
“However, this situation demonstrates the need for members of the supply chain to anticipate problems and communicate with each other, so that there is more clarity on inventories and availability of fuel," Pedreira said.
An Avianca plane approaches the runway at El Dorado airport amid jet fuel shortages in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
An Avianca plane climbs after take-off from the El Dorado airport amid jet fuel shortages in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
A Latam plane taxis on the runway after landing at El Dorado airport amid jet fuel shortages in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
The presidential campaign is moving forward after another apparent attempt on Donald Trump 's life. Trump was safe after the incident in Florida and praised the Secret Service for protecting him but didn't shy away from blaming his opponents. The Republican nominee claimed without evidence that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris ' comment that he is a threat to democracy had inspired the attempt on Sunday.
The man suspected in the incident, Ryan Wesley Routh, camped outside the golf course in West Palm Beach with food and a rifle for nearly 12 hours, according to court documents filed Monday. Additional and more serious charges are possible as the investigation continues and prosecutors seek an indictment from a grand jury.
Trump is expected to travel to Michigan while Harris will speak at a Black journalists forum in Pennsylvania.
Here is the Latest:
Voto Latino registered more people in the days immediately after President Joe Biden announced he would not be the Democratic presidential candidate than the organization registered for the entire month of July in previous presidential elections.
Chief Program and Research Officer Ameer Patel said the organization registered more than 50,000 people from July 21 until the end of the month. By comparison, the nonprofit advocacy group registered 2,252 people in July 2016 and 25,156 in July 2020.
Two of the states with the most activity were Texas and Florida, Patel said.
Issues the organization is watching include voter purges, said founder Maria Teresa Kumar, who added that dropping people from voting rolls in smaller communities could have large impacts. “This was not on our radar,” she said.
More than 6 in 10 Latino voters supported Biden in 2020, according to AP VoteCast, and 35% supported former President Donald Trump.
However, a July poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that only about 4 in 10 Latinos said they were somewhat or very optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party, and about one-quarter said the same about the Republican Party.
Vice President Kamala Harris says she was “briefed immediately after” Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and that she is grateful “he’s OK.”
In an interview recorded on Monday with a Spanish-language radio host Chiquibaby, Harris echoed her past sentiments about the attack, condemning “violence of any kind.”
“We have to have civil dialogue, and be able to talk through our differences,” Harris said. “And violence has no place.”
The interview was airing Tuesday on a show that is syndicated on 100-plus Spanish-language radio stations.
The vice president also talked about her mother, the late Shyamala Gopalan, who was born in India, being an immigrant to the U.S. She blamed Trump for helping to derail a bipartisan border security plan in Congress and detailed her previously announced plans to use tax incentives to encourage first-time home purchases and combat grocery “price gouging” to help tame inflation.
Hours after an apparent attempt on Donald Trump’s life over the weekend, Elon Musk took to his social platform X to post a thinking emoji and a comment that “no one is even trying to assassinate” the Democratic president and vice president.
Amid anti-Muslim riots in the U.K., which were ginned up by a false rumor, Musk declared that “civil war is inevitable” in the country.
And when an anonymous X user distorted data to claim a surge in sketchy voter registrations in three U.S. states, Musk amplified the false post and called it “extremely concerning.”
All three posts sparked quick backlash from public officials who called Musk’s words irresponsible and misleading. As his words amass millions of views and thousands of shares, they also illustrate the ability of one of the world’s most influential people to spread fear, hate and misinformation during fraught political moments around the world.
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The election director in Cobb County, an Atlanta suburb where votes will be fiercely contested in this year’s presidential race, recently organized a five-hour training session. The focus wasn’t solely on the nuts and bolts of running this year’s election. Instead, it brought together election staff and law enforcement to strategize on how to keep workers safe and the process of voting and ballot-counting secure.
Having a local sheriff’s deputy at early voting locations and panic buttons that connect poll managers to a local 911 dispatcher are among the added security steps the office is taking this year.
Tate Fall, Cobb County’s election director, said she was motivated to act after hearing one of her poll workers describe being confronted during the state’s presidential primary in March by an agitated voter who the worker noticed was carrying a gun. The situation ended peacefully, but the poll worker was shaken.
▶ Read more about what officials are doing across the country
Florida law enforcement will launch a state-level criminal probe of the apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.
DeSantis told reporters that the “suspect is believed to (backslash)have committed state law violations.” DeSantis’ announcement comes a day after Ryan Routh was charged with federal firearms crimes.
Routh did not fire any shots, never had Trump in his line of sight and sped away after an agent who spotted him shot in his direction, officials said. He was arrested in a neighboring county.
Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are kicking off a week of action to encourage young voters in battleground states to sign up to vote in the Nov. 5 election.
Walz has events on Tuesday in Macon, Georgia, and Atlanta, followed by a rally in Asheville, North Carolina, while his wife, Gwen, appears in Las Vegas.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and actor Jane Fonda are among a group of high-profile Harris supporters who are set to participate in the registration drive.
More than 130 voter registration events will be held on college campuses — at basketball tournaments, football games and more — in the handful of states where Harris and Walz and the Republican presidential ticket of former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, are focusing their campaigns, the Harris-Walz campaign said.
The campaign will also have a presence at historically Black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions, including setting up kiosks to assist students with registration.
As he participated in an event on his X social media platform, Trump gave a shoutout to Elon Musk, saying the tech billionaire “endorsed me for president so strongly.”
Trump also called Musk his “friend,” commending his efforts on space travel in particular.
Musk deleted a post on X in which he said “no one is even trying to assassinate” Biden and Harris in the wake of the apparent assassination attempt on Trump.
Early Monday, after taking down the post about the apparent Trump assassination, Musk wrote on the platform: “Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X.”
Musk, who has nearly 200 million followers on the social media site he bought for $44 billion in 2022, has increasingly embraced conservative ideologies in recent years and endorsed Trump for president.
Trump says the apparent attempt on his life was a “much better result” than when he was shot in July because no others were wounded or killed.
“That was some crazy day, and yesterday you had another one with a different result, actually much better result,” Trump said.
The host noted that some of Trump’s sons were in the room for the interview.
He and his friends playing golf “heard shots, being fired in the air, and I guess probably four or five.”
Trump said they got into carts “and we moved along pretty good.”
“I would have loved to have sank that last putt,” Trump said, of not being able to finish the round of golf.
Trump said an agent had seen a gun barrel “and started shooting in the bushes ... and ran toward the target.”
Trump also noted that a civilian woman in the area drove her vehicle to the back of Routh’s vehicle and took pictures of the license plate, which she then gave to authorities, who were able to track the suspect down.
Trump is participating in his first speaking appearance since the apparent assassination attempt on Sunday.
The former president is taking part in an X Space about the launch of World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform controlled by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric.
From his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, Trump commended the Secret Service for doing an “excellent job.”
Farokh, the event’s host, began by applauding Trump for not canceling his appearance.
Law enforcement officials work at the scene of the Trump International Golf Club in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Law enforcement officials work at the scene at the Trump International Golf Club in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Law enforcement officials work at the scene of the Trump International Golf Club in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Law enforcement officials work at the scene of the Trump International Golf Club in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass speaks during a news conference in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis walks from the podium after a news conference in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks and answers questions at a news conference Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis arrives for a news conference in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Jestin Nevarez, of Lake Worth, Fla., adjusts flags flying from his car as he shows support for Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump outside of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, a day after an apparent assassination attempt, in Palm Beach, Fla., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Ryan Wesley Routh takes part in a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
In this image taken from police body camera video and released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers prepare to arrest Ryan Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
In this imaged released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers arrest Ryan Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
In this imaged released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers arrest Ryan Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
A Coast Guard boat patrols the Lake Worth Lagoon in front of the Mar-a-Lago estate of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, one day after an apparent assassination attempt, in Palm Beach, Fla., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
President Joe Biden, left, holds up the arm of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, while on stage at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at the Las Vegas Police Protective Association during a campaign stop, Saturday, Sept.14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Election 2024 Latest: Trump and Harris resume campaigning after apparent assassination attempt
Election 2024 Latest: Trump and Harris resume campaigning after apparent assassination attempt
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at Harry Reid International Airport to board a plane after a campaign trip, Saturday, Sept.14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
