Following an “extraordinary assembly,” the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) called for an “uprising” to press demands for a “pluri-national state.”
A Spanish judge accused the Venezuelan government of aiding two rebel groups—Spain’s ETA and Colombia’s FARC—in a plot to assassinate Colombia’s president in Spain.
The China-Peru FTA took effect, calling for phasing out tariffs on 90% of goods exchanged between the two nations. Peruvian minerals are critical to the pact.
Colombia’s Constitutional Court voted down the proposed referendum to allow President Alvaro Uribe to run for a third term, calling the idea “unconstitutional in its entirety.”
Venezuela’s top human rights official criticized a new OAS report which is harshly critical of the Hugo Chávez government. Gabriela RamĂrez said rights have actually improved.
The UN International Narcotics Control Board finds an 8% decrease in overall coca production in South America last year—but a 45% increase in Peru.
Indigenous peoples are once again caught in the middle as the Colombian army launches a major offensive against the FARC guerillas in the southern Andean department of Cauca.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced the creation of a new Campesino Militia, which will be under the command of the national Bolivarian Armed Forces (FAB).
Bolivian President Evo Morales appointed 18 judges ahead of the country’s judicial elections, calling the move “the beginning of the decolonization of the judiciary.”
Gubernatorial candidate JosĂ© PĂ©rez Restrepo in Colombia’s Guaviare department was wounded and three of his bodyguards killed when presumed FARC guerillas attacked his caravan.
Bolivia’s Evo Morales plans to put the coca back in cola with a new coca-infused drink dubbed Coca Colla—the last word being a reference to the country’s Aymara indigenous people.
President Evo Morales signed a decree creating the Bolivian Space Agency, to build and launch a satellite—named for anti-colonial rebel Túpac Katari—with Chinese oversight.
