Venezuelan Justice Minister Tarek El-Aissami said Oct. 16 that six, including three army intelligence officials and a police officer, have been detained in the killing of an opposition student leader. El-Aissami said that the presumed murder weapon was also recovered… Read moreVenezuela: army intelligence officials held in student’s death
Thousands of relatives of inmates staged sit-ins Oct. 14 at prisons across Venezuela to protest poor conditions and rights abuses. Hundreds of inmates die each year in prison violence—including 500 last year. This has fueled complaints that President Hugo Chávez… Read moreVenezuela: nationwide protests at prisons
On Oct. 15, Bolivian President Evo Morales voiced defiance in the face of Washington threats to remove Bolivia’s trade preferences as a punitive measure for failing to meet US narcotics enforcement standards. “We can’t kneel down for $63 million,” said… Read moreEvo: Bolivia won’t “kneel down” to US on drug war
Bolivian President Evo Morales Oct. 13 led the opening rally at a cross-country march from the city of Caracollo, Oruro department, to La Paz in support of a referendum on the country’s pending new constitution. “If from here we begin… Read moreBolivia: Evo leads march for new constitution
Latin American markets continued to be shaken by a global financial crisis set off in September by bad mortgages in the US. On Oct. 7 the stock exchange in Sao Paulo, Brazil, fell 4.66%; Mexico‘s market was down 3.97%; stocks… Read moreLatin America: more shocks from global crisis
Iran’s top diplomat in Bolivia says his country will open two health clinics in the Andean nation as a base for future Red Crescent projects in South America. The agreement was signed by Iranian business attachĂ© Hojjatollah Soltani and the… Read moreIran to open clinics in Bolivia
At least 18 were killed, including 12 soldiers, when Sendero Luminoso guerillas ambushed a Peruvian army convoy late Oct. 9, military sources say. A child was among six civilians killed in the ambush on four trucks transporting troops and civilians… Read morePeru: Sendero resurgent in Apurimac Valley
Calling his corrupt underlings “rats,” Peru’s President Alan GarcĂa has dismissed his entire cabinet in what the local media have dubbed the “Petrogate” scandal, and appointed a popular left-wing regional governor as prime minister. Allegations of kickbacks in the granting… Read morePeru: cabinet shake-up in “Petrogate” scandal
Mexico’s powerful drug cartels are buying cocaine directly from Colombia’s main guerilla group, Colombian deputy defense minister Sergio Jaramillo charged Oct. 7 at an OAS anti-crime conference in Mexico City. Jaramillo said that Oliver Solarte, finance chief of the FARC‘s… Read moreColombian guerillas linked to Mexican cartels?
Forensic examinations have determined that five bodies found in Ayacucho department, Peru, are relations of Lucy Pichardo, a peasant woman who reported the disappearance of 11 family members after the National Police had conducted a “counter-subversive” operation in the area…. Read morePeru: disappearances in Ayacucho
President Evo Morales said Oct. 4 that he has rejected a request from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to fly over Bolivian territory. “Two days ago I received a letter…asking a government institution for permission to fly over national… Read moreBolivia: Evo bars DEA overflights
In the first six months of 2008, the “desplazados,” or internally displaced persons from Colombia’s conflict, reached a record number of 270,675—about 41% more than the same period in 2007. “The national rate shows an average of 632 desplazados for… Read moreColombia: war refugees reach two-decade peak
