Some 500 prisoners in several of Colombia’s facilities have initiated an indefinite hunger strike. The strikers are mostly imprisoned FARC guerillas who demand that they be recognized as “political prisoners of war and conscience.”
Both attacks by guerillas and road blockades by peasant protesters have slowed progress on Colombia’s new Bicentenario pipeline, slated to be the country’s biggest and extending into remote territory in the conflicted eastern lowlands.
Peru’s government sent a protest note to Chile, claiming an unauthorized incursion by Chilean troops into its territoryāas the International Court of Justice at The Hague scheduled oral arguments in the border dispute case between the countries.
The US International Narcotics Control Strategy report has harsh words for Peru, lamenting the country’s “slow advance” in coca eradication. Bolivia’s Evo Morales meanwhile brandished a coca leaf at the annual UN anti-drug summit in Vienna.
The former head of Peru’s National Water Authority, Abelardo de la Torre, warned that the country faces at least 70 social conflicts related to control of water, and that these are likely to worsen if urgent action is not taken to address them.
Peru’s President Ollanta Humala announces a deal with the Camisea consortium to assure that Block 88 gas will be used for domestic consumptionāeven as the consortium began fulfilling its long-delayed export contracts.
The Bolivian government declared three days of mourning for union and leftist leader Domitila Barrios de Chungara, who led the mass hunger strike that brought down dictator Hugo Banzer SuƔrez.
Retired Peruvian Gen. Jorge Aquiles Carcovich Cortelezzi is being investigated by the human rights prosecutor for Ayacucho region for his involvement in the massacre of 25 schoolchildren.
Colombia’s ambassador to Peru, Jorge Visbal Martelo Hannibal, resigned after the Prosecutor General’s Office ordered his arrest for alleged ties to paramilitary groups.
Ongoing protests are again being held in the highland city of Cajamarca, Peru, after charges were brought against leaders of the struggle against the US-backed Conga gold mine.
Thousands of demonstrators, led by PaĆŗl Carrasco, prefect of Azuay province, filled the streets of Cuenca, Ecuador, to oppose President Rafael Correa’s plans to massively expand the mineral sector.
Small-scale independent gold miners led strikes and protests across several regions of Peru to demand abrogation of new decrees that outlaw their activities.
