As many as 600,000 students and their supporters marched in cities across Colombia against proposed legislation which they say will “reduce education to a commodity.”
The future of Colombia’s FARC guerillas is in question following the death of leader “Alfonso Cano” at the hands of the Colombian army Nov. 4. Local media reports anticipate a power struggle between regional commanders.
Colombian army forces announced that they have killed Guillermo Leon Saenz AKA “Alfonso Cano”—supreme leader of the FARC guerillas. Initial reports that he was killed an in airstrike contradict forensic evidence of multiple bullet wounds.
Colombia’s DAS secret police agency was officially closed after years of scandals concerning paramilitary ties, assassinations, illegal wiretapping and corruption. DAS employees leaked hundreds of classified documents as the agency shut.
Gustavo Petro, a former leader of the M-19 guerilla movement and longtime socialist legislator, was elected mayor of Bogotá. Petro called the vote a “victory of the desire for change.” Pre-electoral violence saw 41 candidates murdered.
Growing political conflicts over development projects have prompted security forces to intervene in recent weeks in Ecuador, with military troops and campesinos in confrontations over mining and hydro concessions.
A total of 32 public universities across Colombia have gone on strike against proposed changes to the education system that students and faculty say will lead to privatization. One student was killed in protests in Cali.
Peru’s National Police report the seizure of nearly a ton of cocaine, after two operations in the conflicted ApurĂmac-Ene River Valley (VRAE). Last month, two soldiers were killed when Shining Path guerillas fired on an army helicopter in the VRAE.
Peru’s populist President Ollanta Humala is facing his first corruption scandal, as his vice president Omar Chehade comes under investigation for using his influence to arrange a police eviction of cooperative farmers at a disputed property outside Lima.
The US Congress passed long-delayed neoliberal free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea—despite the vocal opposition of unions and progressive forces in all three countries.
Tens of thousands of striking workers were joined by students in marches through Bogotá, MedellĂn, Cali and other cities across Colombia to demand the right to unionize, public health care and education, and an end to labor contracting.
The AFL-CIO has initiated a “call-in day” Oct. 4 against the pending US free trade agreement with Colombia, and similar deals with South Korea and Panama. Obama is expected to send the Colombia FTA for approval to Congress in the coming weeks.
