Energy investments in Peru, which is working to become an exporter of oil and natural gas, are expected to hit $1.5 billion in both 2009 and 2010 despite the recent wave of protests, PeruPetro president Daniel Saba told Reuters. After an initial delay, PeruPetro plans to auction more than a dozen lots this year. Energy outlays last year totaled some $1.48 billion. "In spite of [oil] prices having fallen...no investor has left Peru," said Saba. "All of them continue working and what's more, there are new investors arriving, and wanting to participate in the market."

The 18,000-year-old Chacaltaya glacier overlooking La Paz has vanished six years earlier than scientists predicted, ending the world's highest ski run—and threatening water supplies to the Bolivian capital. The World Bank says water could be diminished imminently to the 2 million people in La Paz and neighboring El Alto. Chacaltaya—"bridge of ice" in the Aymara language—has been a barren slope devoid of permanent snow for some six months as the Southern Hemisphere's summer came on. Scientists had forecast for its disappearance for 2015. The World Glacier Monitoring Service at the University of Zurich says that from the Andes to the Alps, glaciers have retreated for 18 years—and twice as fast now as a decade ago. (Bloomberg, Aug. 5)

At least 185—mostly Lou Nuer tribespeople—were killed in South Sudan's Jonglei state Aug. 2 when their fishing camps were attacked by Murle fighters. Eleven SPLA soldiers, who were guarding their camp, were among those killed. Thousands of others have been displaced in Jonglei following an attack on Mareng village by Murle tribesmen. There have been several such attacks since March, resulting in a food crisis as displacement has disrupted agriculture. The fighting has claimed several hundred lives this year—more than in Darfur, the UN says.

Five agents were killed Aug. 2 when some 50 Shining Path guerillas attacked a base of the Peruvian police National Directorate of Special Operations (DINOES) at San José de Seque, Huanta province, Ayacucho region, in the Ene and Apurimac River Valley (VRAE). (RPP, Aug. 2) Legislator Elizabeth León (Bloque Popular) protested the recent closure of a nearby military base, charging that the government is withdrawing support for Plan VRAE. (RPP, Aug. 3)

Bolivian President Evo Morales spoke out Aug. 3 in defense of his colleagues Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, saying the charges of their links to Colombia's FARC guerillas are an "montage to discredit revolutionary presidents." Last month, he likewise defended Guatemala's Álvaro Colom against charges of involvement in the murder of lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg, saying the country's "oligarchy" of scheming to "invent a death" to create conflict. (EFE, Aug. 3)

The Bolivian government has started implementing provisions outlined in the new constitution that give indigenous people the right to govern themselves. On Aug. 2, President Evo Morales enacted a decree setting out the conditions for indigenous communities to hold votes on autonomy. These referenda will take place in December, along with presidential and congressional elections. The provisions allowing for votes on indigenous autonomy were presented in a ceremony in Camiri, the eastern region of Santa Cruz. Morales called it "a historic day for the peasant and indigenous movement."

The Mexican newspaper Milenio finds that July was the bloodiest month in the country since President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006. According to Milenio, 854 people were killed in narco-violence in the country in July alone. Hardest hit is Ciudad Juárez, where 250 people were killed in July. Between January and July 4,300 people were killed in drug-related violence in Mexico, compared to 2,651 killed in the same period in 2008. By government figures, over 7,700 have been killed in drug-related violence since 2006, but Milenio said the actual figure was closer to 13,000. Milenio also found that kidnapping has increased by 154% over 5 the past five years.

A judge sentenced 15 members of Colombia's military to between four and 30 years in prison for killing two civilians they tried to disguise as guerillas killed in combat, prosecutors said Aug. 1. An officer, three of his subordinates and six rank-and-file troops were found to have overseen or participated in the plot to kill the two young men in Medellín in May 2006. Five other troops were found to have covered up details in the case, for which they were sentenced to four years. The young men were restaurant workers who went missing on their way home from work; their bodies turned up the following day, labelled as killed in combat by an infantry battalion. The case was one of the highest profile of a series of so-called "false positive" scandals. (AFP, Aug. 1)