From Reporters Without Borders (RSF), via the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), July 6: RSF deplores President Rafael Correa’s verbal attacks on the press and above all his decision not to give any more news conferences. The aggressivity of… Read moreEcuador: media under attack?
Jorge Noguera, former chief of Colombia’s secret police, was arrested on charges of colluding with illegal paramilitaries July 7. Noguera, freed from prison three months ago because of procedural errors, was ordered detained again by Colombia’s chief prosecutor, Mario Iguaran… Read moreColombia: ex-secret police chief re-arrested
Millions marched in cities across Colombia July 5 to demand the release of all the estimated 300 captives in the hands of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) and other armed groups, and that the remains be turned over of… Read moreColombia: millions march to demand captives’ release
Some 10,000 Colombians marched through Bogota’s main avenues on July 1 as part of the worldwide celebrations for International Pride Day (June 28). The march, which went from the National Park to the Plaza de Bolivar, was organized by the… Read moreColombia: civil union law blocked
On the evening of June 26, hundreds of people vigiled in Lima, Peru, to protest the efforts of the ruling Aprista party majority in Congress to push through the “addenda” of a free trade treaty between the US and Peruvian… Read morePeru: trade pact approved amid protests
On June 27, hundreds of police agents used tear gas in an effort to break up a blockade of Peru’s central highway by miners carrying out a regional strike. The miners struck back with rocks, and one police agent was… Read morePeru: deadly violence at miners’ protest
Raúl Reyes, secretary of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), issued a call June 29 for the suspension of military operations in the southwest of Colombia to allow for the transfer of the bodies of 11 lawmakers who died in… Read moreColombia: did FARC kill hostages?
In response to years of activist pressure, Congressional Democrats have proposed amendments to the Bush administration’s annual foreign aid appropriations request for Colombia. If the Democrats have their way, overall funding will be cut by 10%, while 45% of the… Read moreCongress to cut Colombia military aid?
ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips have opted to abandon their heavy crude oil projects in eastern Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt rather than cede majority ownership and operating control to the state-owned oil company PDVSA, Venezuelan officials announced June 26. President Hugo Chavez had… Read moreExxon quits Venezuela
Two people were killed, including a three-year-old girl, and seven wounded June 24 when presumed leftist guerillas detonated a bomb in a tourist area of Colombia’s main Pacific port, Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca department), the latest in a series of… Read moreColombia: bombing wave at Pacific port halts hostage talks
Spain’s regional Basque Parliament June 22 voted down a motion submitted by the right-wing People’s Party (PP) advocating “freedom of expression” and “pluralism in news media in Venezuela,” following the refusal of the Hugo Chávez government to renew the broadcast… Read moreBasque regional government stands up for Hugo Chavez
A lawyer for the United Steelworkers has asked the US State Department to investigate infiltration by Colombia’s illegal paramilitaries into President Alvaro Uribe’s first electoral campaign, based on a video showing then-candidate Uribe meeting with a group that included a… Read moreColombia: video sparks call for probe of Uribe paramilitary links
