Hugo Chávez threatened to seal off Venezuela’s border with Colombia following the killing of two Civil Guards by apparent paramilitaries—as Bogotá’s new pact for US military bases advances.
Venezuelan authorities announced the arrest of eight Colombians suspected of paramilitary activities in western Tachira state near the border between the two countries.
The International Criminal Court warned both the Colombian government and illegal armed groups that it will not hesitate to prosecute those who commit war crimes in the country’s conflict.
Ambassador William Brownfield and Colombian ministers signed a pact to expand Washington’s military presence in the Andean country, but said the US Congress would have to ratify it.
Prosecutors have re-opened an investigation into charges that Colombia’s Vice President Francisco Santos attempted to organize illegal paramilitary groups.
Tens of thousands of indigenous people marked 517 years since the arrival of Christopher Columbus by protesting around current issues such as the seizure of traditional lands.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said that Iran is helping his country explore for uranium—but insisted that Venezuela would only use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe called for kidnapping charges against 22 students arrested on the National University campus after they detained the rector for five hours during a protest.
Colombia’s top prosecutor ordered the detention of an army lieutenant as the presumed author of the August 2006 massacre of five members of the Awá indigenous people in Nariño department.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe demanded that his ministers investigate the jailbreak that freed guerilla leader Gustavo Anibal Giraldo Quinchia AKA “Pablito.”
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales denied that his government is engaged in a regional arms race, insisting the purchase of six Chinese military jets is only for drug enforcement.
Some 1,000 workers at Shougang Hierro, Peru’s only iron ore producer, have gone on strike demanding higher wages and better working conditions.
