On July 22, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez Frias met with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow as the two countries signed agreements for joint work on energy projects in Venezuela. Chávez said the accords would promote “a strategic alliance in… Read moreChávez does Moscow, seeks “strategic alliance”
Retired Colombian army colonel Guillermo Armando Gordillo confessed to the Fiscalía (attorney general) his participation in the slaying of eight people, including three children, at the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó on Feb. 21, 2005. The Fiscalía said… Read moreColombia: army colonel admits participation in Peace Community massacre
Raúl Hasbún, alias Pedro Bonito, a banana plantation owner turned paramilitary chieftain, gave preliminary testimony in Medellín about his participation in several massacres, including against the Peace Community [of San José de Apartadó]. Massacres were a practice to ensure control… Read moreColombia: banana executive admits participation in Peace Community massacres
Two more Colombian paramilitary commanders pleaded guilty July 29 in US federal court to drug conspiracy charges. Ramiro Vanoy Murillo, 60, and Francisco Javier Zuluaga Lindo, 38, entered their pleas before US District Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami. Under… Read moreColombian paras cop plea in Miami; “New Generation” wreaks terror in Nariño
The body of Colombian unionist Guillermo Rivera Fuquene was found buried in a garbage dump in a rural area of Ibague, Tolima department, on July 15. Rivera Fuquene, an economist in the Bogotá Controller’s Office and the president of the… Read moreColombia: Bogotá unionist found dead
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced July 24 that it had received eight of ten persons detained by the FARC guerillas July 17 when their boat was stopped on the Río Atrato in Chocó departament. The captives,… Read moreColombia: FARC releases eight hostages
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos share a joint op-ed in the New York Times July 23, “Colombia’s Gains Are America’s, Too,” shamelessly trading off the apparent hostage rescue operation to shill for the… Read moreRobert Gates joins PR offensive for Colombia FTA
In mid-July Citgo—the US oil distributor owned by the Venezuelan state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA)—began a program to distribute compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) to low- and middle-income families in Houston and Corpus Christi, Tex.; Lamont, Ill.; Lake… Read moreVenezuela’s Citgo gives U.S. families energy-efficient lightbulbs
Some 10,000 Venezuelans protested in Caracas July 12 to demand the country’s supreme court overturn a “blacklist”—or “inhabilitación política”—barring several opponents of President Hugo Chávez from running in upcoming state and municipal elections. Chanting “freedom!” and waving Venezuelan flags, the… Read moreVenezuela: opposition protest “blacklist”
“Venezuela and Colombia today open a new epoch in our relations,” Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez told reporters after a meeting with his Colombian counterpart Álvaro Uribe in Caracas July 11. “I want to make clear that the intention exists to… Read moreChávez in lovefest with recent Colombian nemesis
Claude-Marie Vadrot, writing for his blog on the French online journal Mediapart July 4, asserts that FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt—freed in a Colombian military operation July 2—was actually supposed to be liberated on March 8, in a French deal that… Read moreFrench deal in Colombia hostage case?
As popular organizations called a one-day general strike July 9 to protest rising food and fuel prices, Peru’s President Alan García accused leftist opponents of plotting to overthrow him. “What we are seeing is a conspiracy that is underway,” García… Read morePeru general strike: land struggle or “conspiracy”?
