Various river ports have been blocked for the past week by some 2,000 indigenous protesters in Peru's northern region of Loreto, effectively cutting off traffic on the Tigre and Corrientes rivers, to press demands for the titling of native lands and payment to local communities for use of the waterways by oil companies. Local commissioners from the Defensoría del Pueblo (rights ombudsman) have been dispatched to the caserío (settlement) of Paraíso to negotiate with the protesters, who are led by the Federation of Indigenous Communities of Bajo Tigre (FECONABAT). Pluspetrol, Talismán, ConocoPhilips, Cares Perú and Perupetro are among the companies with operations in the area. (Diario La Primera, Lima, July 29)

Nine US human rights activists are holding a vigil at the Tolemaida military base near Bogotá with a 12-foot banner that reads "U.S. MILITARY OUT OF COLOMBIA." The Tolemaida base is one of seven in Colombia to which the US military has been granted access for 10 years under the US-Colombia Defense Cooperation Agreement signed in October 2009.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on Aug. 2 issued a statement strongly condemning the murder of Colombian indigenous leader Luis Alfredo Socarras Pimienta. The IACHR, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), "urges the State of Colombia to investigate the crime committed against the indigenous leader Socarras Pimienta and to prosecute and punish those who perpetrated and planned the crime." The statement adds that "the IACHR also urges the State to attend to the needs for protection and security of those who defend the rights of the indigenous peoples of Colombia, to ensure that crimes such as this one do not happen again."

Peru will cancel the operating license of the US company Doe Run for a large smelter complex at La Oroya, Junin region, as the company failed to meet a deadline for submitting a new environmental protection plan, President Alan García announced July 28. The law will be enforced and the permit canceled, said García during his address to the nation on Peru's Independence Day.

Mexican army Special Forces troops on July 29 killed Ignacio Coronel Villarreal AKA "Nacho"—a top leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. After a manhunt across several Mexican states, elite forces closed roads in Zapopan, part of the Guadalajara metropolitan area in Jalisco state, surrounded at least three houses, and cut off communications in the area. Many soldiers arrived by helicopter, and fierce gun-battle ensued. After Coronel, 56, was killed, several of his men were arrested. One soldier was killed, and one injured. (e-consulta, Aug. 2; BNO News, July 30)

A report released July 29 by the interfaith peace group Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) details how US aid to the Colombian military has been supporting army units whose members have killed hundreds of civilians. Drawing on extensive data from the offices of Colombia's Prosecutor General (Fiscalía), Inspector General (Procuraduría) and armed forces, as well as the US State Department and 20 human rights organizations, the report shows that billions of dollars provided under the rubric of Plan Colombia have abrogated US human rights law and contributed to the killing of thousands of civilians by the Colombian army.

On July 27, the eve of Peru's Independence Day, much of the southern regions of Cusco, Puno, Madre de Dios and Apurímac were paralyzed by a paro, or general strike, to call a halt to the export of natural gas from the Camisea field in the rainforest of Cusco region. Called by peasant and indigenous groups organized in regional Defense Fronts, and supported by many local municipalities, it is the second general strike in as many months to halt traffic and business in Peru's Southern Macro-Region—and this time the strike has been declared open-ended. Violence was reported at various locales around Cusco region on the strike's opening day, as National Police used horses, clubs and tear gas to disperse protesters and clear roadblocks. Attacks were also reported on local residents who refused to observe the strike.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will evict some 300 squatter camps in a crackdown on Roma immigrants and "Travellers." People in the camps found to be living illegally in France will be expelled, Sarkozy said announcing the move. The order is a response to riots last week in which Travellers armed with hatchets and iron bars attacked the police station in the Loire Valley town of Saint Aignan. The riot erupted after a gendarme shot and killed a Traveller youth who had driven through a checkpoint. Sarkozy pledged that those responsible for the violence will be "severely punished." The announcement came in a meeting between Sarkozy and top law enforcement officials at the Elysee Palace. Groups representing Travellers and Roma were not invited.