Colombia recalled its top diplomat in Venezuela's second largest city last week after President Hugo Chávez threatened to expel the official for allegedly expressing support for his political opponents. Chávez criticized Colombia's consul in Maracaibo, Carlos Galvis, for privately welcoming the opposition victory in Zulia state, which borders Colombia, in the recent gubernatorial elections. In a secretly recorded telephone conversation broadcast on state TV, Galvis called the opposition's electoral gains "very good news." Chávez demanded Colombia recall Galvis, adding, "If not, I'll expel him."

Former FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt met with Ecuador's President Rafael Correa in Quito Dec. 3 on her tour of South American capitals to line up leaders' support for her campaign to free those still being held by the Colombian guerillas. Said Correa: "Ecuador will do everything it can, everything in our power to ensure these people are freed." Betancourt next headed to Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela. (AFP, Dec. 3)

A worldwide slump in zinc prices threatens Bolivia'ss second-largest export as companies reduce output and close mines, officials said. "We're worried about zinc not only because of falling prices but because it's the principal mineral that we mine in Bolivia," Freddy Beltran, director of Bolivia's Mining and Metallurgy Ministry, said told Bloomberg. Zinc "has traditionally been our top mining export," he said.

Bolivian opposition leaders Dec. 4 accused an international commission of bias toward President Evo Morales in its report on a September jungle "massacre." The new report by the Union of South American Nations names 19 people confirmed killed in the clash in Pando province, including 17 Morales supporters and two opponents. Opposition leaders accused investigators of favoring Morales supporters’ testimony over that of pro-autonomy groups, and of reporting unsubstantiated allegations—including charges that anti-Morales factions raped young girls.

BPZ Resources of Houston received a permit from Lima's Energy Ministry to build a gas plant in northern Peru near the border with Ecuador this week. The plant, to be supplied by BPZ's offshore Bloc Z-1 field, will fuel a 135-megawatt power plant after $120 million in financing is procured from the World Bank's International Finance Corp. The project is part of $10  billion in energy investment commitments expected in Peru over the next seven years, including a $3.8 billion export project by Dallas-based Hunt Oil Co. (Bloomberg, Dec. 4)

Peru's President Alan García declared that his nation's long dispute with Chile was over Dec. 5 after removing his army chief Gen. Edwin Donayre, who caused outrage with an anti-Chilean tirade that surfaced on YouTube. In the video, Donayre told a social gathering: "The Chilean that enters [Peru] doesn't leave, or he leaves in a coffin; if there aren't enough coffins, they'll leave in plastic bags." Chile initially said it would accept an apology from García, but Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley later demanded Donayre's removal. Donayre defended his comments, telling local media they were made in private and "only express the feelings of every soldier who loves his homeland."

The Russian destroyer Admiral Chabanenko passed through the Panama Canal Dec. 5 following joint naval maneuvers with Venezuela. It marked the first Soviet or Russian military ship to traverse the 80-kilometer waterway since World War II. Panamanian Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis portrayed the Russian canal crossing as business as usual, saying "Here there is no other message than that the canal is open to all of the world's ships."

Another missile strike by a suspected US drone on Mir Ali village (North Waziristan) killed at least three presumed militants Dec. 5. (AFP, Dec. 5) That same day in Peshawar, a car-bomb attack on a crowded market near a Shi'ite mosque killed at least 27, including a 12-year-old boy, and wounded 100. The mosque and adjacent buildings were wrecked. The bazaar was crowded with shoppers in the run-up to the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. (AlJazeera, Dec. 6)