"I saw they had a good future," Alvarado remembers. "It was very lucrative, because the salary of an official was three times the salary of a normal person." He became a police officer in 2003, when he was twenty years old. At the time, Venezuela was ruled by Huge Chavez; Alvarado remembers that Chavez's socialist policies kept individuals from owning two cars but welcomed large American oil and aeronautic companies. In 2013, Chavez died and was replaced by Nicolas Maduro. Alvarado says that right away, the change in leadership began...

A worker washes a motorcycle at an ecological carwash in Bogota, Colombia, Friday, April 12, 2024. Water rationing in the capital began on Thursday due to the low level of water in reservoirs that give drinking water to the capital, a consequence of the El Niño weather phenomenon. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Luis Soler is caring for water as if it were the most expensive ingredient at his restaurant in Colombia’s capital. For the first time in 40 years, a severe drought pushed the city to start...

Two forces for good in Charlotte — Manolo Betancur of Manolo’s Bakery and 99-year-old Myers Park United Methodist Church — are joining forces to launch the nonprofit coffee shop Higher Grounds by Manolo’s in the church’s new Center of Hope building off Queens Road in May. Britt Yett, the program director for missions and food ministry at the church, said, “The goal was to be a nonprofit, mission-centered cafe, and then, obviously, the next call was Manolo. That’s a no brainer. He personifies what we want to be in the...

About ten million residents of the Colombian capital Bogota are being subjected to water rationing as reservoir levels hit record lows.

The measure is the most drastic to be introduced in decades, and will see the water cut every ten days for 24 hours.

“I take a four-minute shower maximum and I avoid washing clothes,” one resident said.

This video has been optimised for mobile viewing on the BBC News app. The BBC News app is available for iPhone and Android.

Millions of residents in the Colombian capital city of Bogotá started rationing drinking water on Thursday as the city's reservoirs hit drastically low levels. The rations were announced a day after the city's mayor posted aerial footage of two primary reservoirs surrounded by dried embankments. The footage posted by Mayor Carlos Galán shows the San Rafael and Chuza reservoirs, which make up the Chingaza water system. Galán said that the system supplies the capital city with 70% of its drinking water. "Please, let's save water," Galán posted on X, the...