The ten communities of the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve in Peru's rainforest region of Madre de Dios announced a decision Aug. 25 rejecting the operations of the Hunt Oil company on the ancestral territory of the Harakmbut, Yine and Matsigenka peoples. The decision was made at a meeting of regional indigenous leaders at Diamante, Manu province, Madre de Dios region. It was issued in the name of the council leaders of the Amarakaeri Reserve and the Native Federation of the Río Madre de Dios (FENAMAD).

Carlos Navas, mayor of Imazita in Peru's Amazonas region and spokesman for the indigenous aliance AIDESEP, hailed the government's formation of an investigative comission on the Bagua massacre as "an important step" towards reconciliation in the wake of June's deadly unrest. Agriculture Minister Adolfo De Córdova announced Sept. 2 that seven members of the comission have been chosen—three elected by AIDESEP, three chosen by the Executive Branch, and one to represent Peru's regional governments.

Bolivia's President Evo Morales called upon the government of Peru Sept. 3 to suspend the political refuge status that it has granted three former Bolivian cabinet ministers who face criminal charges in their home country. "I don't understand how asylum can be given to delinquents," he said at a press conference in La Paz. Bolivia is seeking the return of Mirtha Quevedo, Javier Torres Gotilla and Jorge Torres Obleas, who served in the cabinet of Gonzalo "Goni" Sánchez de Lozada, himself exiled in the US. "Goni" and the three ex-ministers are all wanted on "genocide" charges in Bolivia for their role in the deadly repression of protests in October 2003. (La Primera, Lima, Sept 4)

Peruvian Defense Minister Rafael Rey Sept. 1 denied reports that he is seeking US military bases in the country, saying his words had been distorted. Rey caused a media splash when he spoke to RPP radio news earlier that day in defense of US plans for military bases in Colombia, saying that they did not pose a threat to the region, and adding: "In Peru, the collaboration with the North Americans against narco-trafficking is very positive, and unfortunately we cannot count on North American aid for the anti-subversive struggle, which is now mixed with the narco-traffic in the zone of the VRAE." (RPP, Sept 1)

A Peruvian air force M-17 helicopter crashed Sept. 2 in the coca-growing region known as the Apurímac and Ene River Valley (VRAE) after being hit with rifle fire from presumed Sendero Luminoso insurgents, killing the pilot and co-pilot and gavely wounding an army solider on board. The attack occurred at San Antonio de Carrizales, Santo Domingo de Acobamba district, Huancayo province, Junín region, where the crew were attempting to rescue three soldiers wounded in a confrontation with presumed senderistas that morning. A second helicopter on the mission returned to the military base at Pichari, Cusco region. The rescue operation was abandoned. (El Comercio, La Republica, Lima, Sept. 3)

A hip-hop artist who works with youth cultural programs in the violence-torn Medellín district of Comuna 13 was killed Aug. 25 by gunmen on a motorbike in the city's barrio of Eduardo Santos. Identified only as "Colacho," the youth rapped with the group C15, according to the Medellín anti-militarist group Red Juvenil (Youth Network). The group states that hundreds of youth have been assassinated this year in Medellín's popular barrios. (Red Juvenil, Aug. 28)

South American leaders met a special UNASUR summit in Buenos Aires at the end of August to discuss Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's proposal for permanent US military bases on his teritory, after Uribe refused to attend the UNASUR sumit in Quito earlier in the month. The Argentina summit failed to produce an explicit declaration rejecting the US bases, only stating broadly that "the presence of foreign military forces cannot threaten the soveriegnty of any South American country." (PTS, Argentina, Sept 3) The regional group also extended an invitation to Washington to attend the next summit and put forth its case on the issue. US amabassador to Colombia William Brownfield said the US will accept the invitation. (Colombia Reports, Sept. 2)

Gunmen stormed El Aliviane drug rehab center in Ciudad Juárez Sept. 3 and executed at least 16 people, lining the victims up behind the building and shooting them one by one. (LAT, Sept. 3) Meanwhile in Michoacán, the state sub-secretary for Citizen Protection, José Manuel Revueltas López, was assassinated in a two-truck drive-by shooting just outside the state Public Security Secretariat in Morelia, the capital. Two body-guards and a by-stander were also killed in the attack. (La Jornada, Sept. 3)