Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced on live television Nov. 27 that he would not permit “foreign commandos” to be contracted by opposition politicians, in response to rumors that the newly elected governor of Miranda state, Henrique Capriles Radonski, is planning… Read moreVenezuelan opposition contracting Israeli mercenaries?
In a ceremony capping the first visit of a Russian president to Venezuela, Hugo Chávez met with Dmitri Medvedev aboard a Russian warship moored off the port of La Guiara Nov. 27, four days before joint military exercises between the… Read moreMedvedev, Chávez meet on eve of naval maneuvers
Bolivian President Evo Morales ended martial law in the northern department of Pando Nov. 23, more than two months after government supporters were killed in the region amid strikes and protests by the opposition. The decision by Morales clears a… Read moreBolivia: martial law lifted in Pando; prefect still imprisoned
President Hugo Chávez‘s Venezuelan United Socialist Party (PSUV) scored a string of victories in key state and municipal elections Nov. 23. “A new stage is beginning. For me, as the leader of the Venezuelan socialist project, the people are telling… Read moreVenezuela: elections mandate or “hard blow” for Chávez?
Despite an intense rain, some 12,000 indigenous marchers from southern Cauca department arrived in the Colombian capital of Bogotá Nov. 21, and established an encampment in the central Plaza de Bolívar. Leaders declared that they would not return to their… Read moreColombia: indigenous march arrives in Bogotá
The leaders of the 21 nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) met in Lima over the weekend, where George Bush continued to push free-trade prescriptions—prompting demonstrations at the US Embassy, where protesters in black hoods and orange jumpsuits representing… Read moreBush protested at Lima APEC summit
The president of a failed Colombian financial firm suspected of laundering drug profits and bilking thousands of mostly poor investors of millions of dollars was arrested in Panama and promptly deported Nov. 20. David Murcia Guzmán, 28, founder of the… Read moreColombia: protests after arrest of populist outlaw banker
From the BBC News, Nov. 18: UK drug users ‘damaging Colombia’ Drug users in the UK are causing an environmental catastrophe in Colombia, the country’s vice-president has told a meeting of police chiefs. Speaking in Belfast, Francisco Santos Calderon said… Read moreColombia: coke users snort rainforest
Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, in Washington DC for an OAS meeting Nov. 19, drew parallels between himself and US President-elect Barack Obama: “Who would have believed 10 or 15 years ago that I could become president of Bolivia?… Read moreBolivia’s Evo Morales seeks “improved relations” with Obama White House
The New York Times reports Nov. 19 that “President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team has signaled to Eric H. Holder Jr., a senior official in the Justice Department in the Clinton administration, that he will be chosen as attorney general… Mr…. Read moreEric Holder: death-squad defender
Colombian officials declared a state of emergency Nov. 19, boosting their powers of arrest and money seizure to help deal with multimillion-dollar investment scams that have targeted mostly poor investors. President Álvaro Uribe’s office said the measure was taken because… Read moreColombia declares state of emergency over financial scams
On Nov. 12 Cuba released La Paz en Colombia (Peace in Colombia), a 265-page book by former president Fidel Castro giving new information about the Cuban government’s relations with Colombia’s leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In the book,… Read moreFidel spills frijoles on FARC
