Colombia’s top cocaine lord Wilber Varela, kingpin of the notorious Norte del Valle Cartel, was found shot dead in Venezuela, authorities in Caracas announced Feb. 1. The bullet-riddled body of Varela, known by the nicknames “Jabon” (soap) and “Detergente” (detergent),… Read moreColombian cartel kingpin found slain in Venezuela
Testimony in the trial of Peru’s ex-strongman Alberto Fujimori charges that his administration negotiated amnesty for an army death squad in exchange for keeping secret the government’s involvement in two massacres in which 25 were killed. The claim comes from… Read moreFujimori linked to cake-scarfing death squad
In an interview published in [Bogota’s] El Tiempo on December 22, [j]ournalist Yamid Amat asked: “What was it that the Attorney General’s office discovered and is investigating in the Chocó?” and [Colombian] Attorney General Mario Iguarán replied: “The tragedy of… Read moreColombia: paras linked to agbiz
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Jan. 27 urged his allies to form an “anti-imperialist” military alliance to defend Latin America from potential attack by the United States. Speaking on his weekly TV program Aló Presidente, he called upon Bolivia, Cuba and… Read moreChávez calls for “anti-imperialist” military alliance
As of Jan. 27 Chilean activist Patricia Troncoso Robles had rejected an Interior Ministry offer to ease her prison conditions if she would end the hunger strike she started 109 days earlier to demand the release of 20 indigenous Mapuche… Read moreChile: Mapuche activist continues fast
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice visited Colombia on Jan. 24 and 25, meeting with right-wing president Alvaro Uribe in MedellÃn at the end of the trip. The high-level delegation, including US legislators, was intended to show support for Uribe… Read moreColombia: Rice pushes “free trade” accord
There is real possibility for peace between the Colombian government and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), according to Antonio Navarro Wolf, a former rebel who is now governor of the southern department of Nariño and a leader… Read moreColombia: give peace a chance?
Simón Trinidad [nom de guerre of Ricardo Palmera Piñeda], the FARC’s well-known prisoner-exchange negotiator, was today sentenced to 60 years in prison in Federal District Court in Washington, DC. Several months ago, Trinidad was found guilty of conspiracy to take… Read moreFARC negotiator gets Colombia’s max —in US prison
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez told a Caracas press conference Jan. 26: “I accuse the government of Colombia of devising a conspiracy, acting as a pawn of the US empire, of devising a military provocation against Venezuela. A military aggression is… Read moreChávez: Colombia plotting attack on Venezuela
Hundreds of representatives of Venezuela’s grassroots social movements met in the Southern Caracas barrio of El Valle this weekend, to hash out plans for the formation of the Revolutionary Grassroots Front of the South [Frente Popular Revolucionario del Sur]—a new… Read moreVenezuela: revolution in the revolution?
A director of Colombian military intelligence and another officer implicated in a series of false attacks and a bombing that killed a civilian and injured 19 soldiers in Bogotá in 2006, attended the US Army School of the Americas, an… Read moreSOA graduates implicated in Bogotá “false attacks”
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on a visit to Colombia Jan. 18 that the US is concerned about a Venezuelan military buildup, pointing to “what Mr. Chávez has done militarily in recent years and… Read moreChávez arming Colombian guerillas?
