On Sept. 30 the National Refugee Commission of Argentina (Conare) granted political asylum to Sergio Galvarino Apablaza Guerra, a former leader of Chile's rebel Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR). Chile is seeking Apablaza's extradition to stand trial for the assassination of Chilean senator Jaime Guzmán, a close ally of dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, in 1991, a year after the end of Chile's 1973-1990 military dictatorship. Apablaza is also charged with the 1991 kidnapping of Cristián Edwards del Río, the son of one of the owners of the Santiago daily El Mercurio.

On Sept. 27 Colombian inspector general Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado announced that he was removing Senator Piedad Córdoba from her position and barring her from public office for 18 years because of what he said were her links to the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Córdoba, a member of the centrist Liberal Party, has mediated in negotiations which led to the release of 14 prisoners held by the FARC. She is also a member of Colombians for Peace, formed in 2008 by politicians, intellectuals, artists, journalists and former FARC prisoners to seek solutions to the armed conflicts in the country.

At a press conference in Tegucigalpa on Sept. 29, a reporter asked conservative Honduran president Porfirio ("Pepe") Lobo Sosa about calls from unions and grassroots organizations for a constituent assembly to rewrite the country's 1982 Constitution. "But what's the problem with that?" Lobo responded. "What's the problem?" The president said he considered it his "moral duty…to invite the sectors that promote it to hold a dialogue... Let's sit down and discuss [these things]. That isn't the problem."

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman prompted the Palestinian mission to walk out of a UN General Assembly meeting Sept. 28 by saying "a long-term intermediate agreement...could take a few decades." He also called for redrawing the borders of the West Bank. Citing the "utter lack of confidence between Israelis and Palestinians," Lieberman told UN that any durable solution in the Middle East, as in the Balkans and East Timor, would require the separation of populations. "We should focus on coming up with a long term intermediate agreement, something that could take a few decades... To achieve final status agreement, we must understand that the primary obstacle is the friction between the two nations." Lieberman added that "the guiding principle for a final status agreement must not be land-for-peace but rather, exchange of populated territory. Let me be very clear: I am not speaking about moving populations, but rather about moving border to better reflect demographic realities." This notion, he claimed, has been accepted as a "virtual truism" in the academic community, which has coined the term "re-sizing the state." (Press TV, Sept. 29; Checkpoint Washington blog, WP, Sept. 28)

Israeli commandos intercepted a boat carrying Jewish activists who hoped to breach the blockade of the Gaza Strip on Sept. 28. Israeli navy boats blocked the catamaran Irene—dubbed the "Jewish Boat to Gaza"—which was carrying 10 passengers and crew, and diverted it to Israel's Ashdod seaport. The boat's cargo of medical equipment was intended for delivery to the Gaza Community Mental Health Program. Activists on board say they were shoved, manhandled—and in one case shocked with a Taser by the commandos. Yonatan Shapira—a former Israeli helicopter pilot who is well known locally for refusing to carry out his military duties—received Taser shocks while passively resisting arrest by sitting down and embracing another passenger, his brother Itamar Shapira said. (AP, JTA, Sept. 30)

From Human Rights Watch, Sept. 26:

Israel: Extend Settlement Freeze
Renewed Construction Would Have Severe Human Rights Consequences
JERUSALEM — Israel should make permanent and total the partial "freeze" on construction in West Bank Jewish settlements, Human Rights Watch said today. Israel's construction of settlements and their infrastructure violates its obligations as an occupying power and the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank, including unjustly limiting their ability to build homes and access their lands, Human Rights Watch said.

Ecuador's military staged a rescue late Sept. 30 to free President Correa, who was holed up in a hospital for more than 12 hours by the police uprising. As TV cameras rolled and pro-Correa crowds at the scene cheered, some 40 special operations troops who arrived in two trucks entered the hospital, and hustled Correa out and back to the presidential palace. Sporadic gunfire could be heard and five soldiers were reported injured. A defiant Correa appeared minutes later on the balcony of the presidential palace, where he told the crowd: "It's a day of profound sadness that I never thought would happen during my government. The police have been infiltrated by well-known political parties that want to conspire."

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa declared a state of emergency Sept. 30 as the National Police launched a rebellion over austerity measures that cut their benefits, erecting roadblocks with burning tires on the highways, occupying their barracks in all the major cities, and seizing the landing strips at the Quito airport. When Correa approached a police barracks to attempt to negotiate, officers shoved him and fired tear gas at him. Video footage showed men, including uniformed officers, manhandling the president and attempting to yank a gas-mask from his face. Correa, who recently underwent knee surgery, was still walking with a crutch. "This is a coup attempt," Correa said in a TV phone interview from a hospital, where he was taken for the effects of gas inhalation. "They're trying to get into my room, maybe to attack me. I don't know. But, forget it. I won't relent. If something happens to me, remember my infinite love for my country, and to my family I say that I will love them anywhere I end up." Correa later appeared at an upper floor window, shouting to a crowd of supporters who had gathered below, "I'm not taking one step back!" Ripping his necktie loose to reveal his chest, he added, "Gentlemen, if you want to kill the president, here he is—kill him if you have the guts!"