On Dec. 15, tens of thousands took to the streets of La Paz to cheer President Evo Morales and celebrate Bolivia’s new constitution. Simultaneously, tens of thousands took to the streets of the eastern lowland cities Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni… Read moreDueling referendums on Bolivia’s future
Colombia's former FARC rebels, now organized as a political party, announced that they will suspend their campaign for the first elections since their demobilization last year. The FARC—their acronym now standing for the Alternative Revolutionary Force of the People—cited a lack of security for their candidates, campaign workers and followers. Campaign workers in several cities have received death threats, according to the FARC statement. Campaign rallies throughout Colombia were canceled after angry mobs threw bottles and rocks at former guerilla leaders and their supporters. (Photo: Colombia Reports)
In an unusual ruling, a Danish court acquitted seven leftist activists—who had sent funds to the FARC in Colombia and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—of sponsoring terrorism. The panel of judges ruled that though both groups were… Read moreDanish court: FARC, PFLP not terrorists
Security forces are on alert in Bolivia ahead of rallies planned in four eastern departments to inaugurate declarations of autonomy. Rejecting the draft constitution recently completed by supporters of President Evo Morales, regional assembly members in Santa Cruz Dec. 13… Read moreBolivia on the brink?
A Peruvian court Dec. 11 sentenced former president Alberto Fujimori to six years in prison for abusing his powers by ordering an illegal search of the home of Trinidad Becerra, wife of his fugitive spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos in November 2000…. Read morePeru: Fujimori convicted; new case opens in 1991 massacre
On Dec. 10, Chiquita Brands filed a motion to dismiss in a case brought by 144 survivors of Colombian paramilitary victims in federal district court in Washington DC. The case, first filed in June under the Alien Tort Statue, holds… Read moreColombia: Chiquita cases open window into para arms pipeline
On Dec. 4 the US Senate voted 77-18 to approve the Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA, or TLC for its initials in Spanish). The House of Representatives ratified the treaty on Nov. 8, and the approval process now only requires… Read morePeru: US Senate approves FTA
Meeting in Oruro rather than its official seat of protest-wracked Sucre, Bolivia’s Constituent Assembly approved all 411 articles of the new constitution in a marathon 16-hour session dominated by the ruling Movement to Socialism (MAS) and its allies—and boycotted by… Read moreBolivia: new charter advances —and polarizes
The draft Bolivian constitution approved by the country’s Constituent Assembly in Sucre explcitly rejects foreign military bases on the national territory. “Bolivia is a pacifist State, which promotes the culture of peace and the right to peace, and seeks cooperation… Read moreBolivian charter to reject foreign bases
When the US Air Force Southern Command’s 10-year usage rights for Ecuador’s Manta air base expire in 2009, they can expect to be evicted in favor of China. President Jamil Mahuad signed a 10-year lease agreement with the US Military’s… Read moreChina to gain air base in Ecuador?
On Nov. 29 five Mapuche rights activists were in the 51st day of a hunger strike at the Angol prison in Chile’s Region IX. Each of the hunger strikers—Mapuches Jaime Marileo Saravia, Juan Millalen Milla, Hector Llaitul Carrillanca and Jose… Read moreChile: Mapuche hunger strike continues
On Nov. 29, troops from the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD), the National Police and the National Army attacked a group of Nasa indigenous people working on the La Emperatriz farm in Caloto municipality, in the southern Colombian department of Cauca,… Read moreColombia: indigenous attacked in Cauca, Guajira
