Calling continued payments “immoral” and “illegitimate,” Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa followed through on pledges to default on the country’s foreign debt Dec. 12, announcing his government will not make a $31 million payment due in two days on the 2012… Read moreEcuador announces default on “illegitimate” debt
Colombia extradited top kingpin “Don” Diego Montoya, 47, to the US Dec. 12, where he faces charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and murder. Officials say he exported tons of cocaine and was responsible for killing at least 1,500 people… Read moreColombia extradites Valle Cartel kingpin
About 20,000 peasant families in La Paz department have been affected by drought for months, the Bolivian Information Agency reports. If there is no rain in the next 30 days, there will be a massive loss of livestock, warned Victor… Read moreBolivia: drought hits campesinos hard
Bolivian President Evo Morales, defending his decision to expel the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said the agency was actually involved in the drug traffic, and “did not respect the police, or even the [Bolivian] armed forces.” Announcing that the… Read moreDEA complicit in Bolivia coke trade: Evo
Unions and social organizations held a commemoration Dec. 6 at CiĂ©naga, in the Colombian Caribbean coast department of Magdalena, marking the anniversary of the 1928 “Masacre de las Bananeras,” carried out by the army against hundreds of striking workers of… Read moreColombia: survivors remember “Bananera Massacre”
On Dec. 2 Venezuelan interior and justice minister Tarek El Aissami announced the arrest of Julio Cesar Agrinzones (also given as “Arguinzones”) Romero the night before on charges of killing three leftist Venezuelan unionists—Richard Gallardo, Carlos Requena and Luis Hernández—the… Read moreVenezuela: who killed Aragua unionists?
Efforts by the US to fight its own financial crisis may cut Latin American governments off from access to credit at a time when they need an estimated $250 billion for financing their 2009 budgets. The US has been issuing… Read moreLatin America: US deficit squeezes credit
Thousands of Colombians took to the streets July 6 to protest the mounting wave of assassinations of social leaders in the country. The protests and vigils were largely ignored by the country’s political leaders, who have come under international pressure for their failure to respond to the wholesale killing that has claimed the lives of 311 community leaders since 2016. Days after the mobilization, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights issued yet another call for the Colombian government to take urgent measures to call a halt to the ongoing attacks. Opposition leaders charge that the assassinations are a "systematic" campaign, and that authorities must break up resurgent paramilitary networks rather than just arresting individual sicarios (assassins). (Photo via Contagio Radio)
The day after thousands of Peruvians filled the streets of Lima in a March Against Corruption, Duberli Rodriguez stepped down from his posts as head of the country's justice department, Poder Judicial, and president of the Supreme Court. Orlando Velasquez, president of the National Council of the Magistrature, also resigned. The justice minister, Salvador Heresi, had already been sacked by President Martín Vizcarra days earlier, amid a widening scandal concerning the perverting of the court system. The outrage was sparked when national media outlets aired a series of telephone recordings involving an extensive network of judges, businessmen and local authorities describing illegal deals. (Photo: Diario Uno)
Colombia recalled its top diplomat in Venezuela’s second largest city last week after President Hugo Chávez threatened to expel the official for allegedly expressing support for his political opponents. Chávez criticized Colombia’s consul in Maracaibo, Carlos Galvis, for privately welcoming… Read moreColombian consul recalled from Venezuela’s restive Zulia state
Former FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt met with Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa in Quito Dec. 3 on her tour of South American capitals to line up leaders’ support for her campaign to free those still being held by the Colombian guerillas…. Read moreEcuador backs Betancourt mission to free FARC hostages
A worldwide slump in zinc prices threatens Bolivia’ss second-largest export as companies reduce output and close mines, officials said. “We’re worried about zinc not only because of falling prices but because it’s the principal mineral that we mine in Bolivia,”… Read moreZinc slump threatens Bolivian mining sector
