A group calling itself the "Juárez Citizens Command" issued a manifesto this week setting a deadline of July 5 for authorities to restore order in the violence-plagued Mexican border city before it will begin following through on its threat to kill a criminal a day. The 10-point manifesto issued Jan. 27 was the second communication from the organization that was unknown prior to its initial threat made on Jan. 15. "The CCJ declares war on the thieves, kidnappers and extortionists that have put in risk the rights of citizens and reiterates its plan to terminate the life of a criminal every 24 hours for the good of all Juarenses," the document stated in Spanish.

An Anglo-French oil company hoping to drill for oil on uncontacted tribes' land in the Peruvian Amazon may be forced to abandon the project after the government threatened to withdraw investment in it. The project depends on the construction of a billion-dollar pipeline to transport the oil from the remote Amazon to the Peruvian coast. Perupetro, the state oil company, is currently "reevaluating" investing in the project after the recent fall in global oil prices. "Everything seems to indicate that [the pipeline] has to be reevaluated," said Peru's Energy Minister Pedro Sanchez at a news conference.

In an official statement, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hailed the "peaceful climate" in Bolivia during the Jan. 25 constitutional referendum. The statement said he "congratulates the people of Bolivia for this demonstration of civic responsibility," and urges "all political leaders in Bolivia to work together henceforth to build a prosperous and inclusive future for their country." (Xinhua, Jan. 27)

Bolivia’s new constitution was passed in a national referendum Jan. 25, as thousands gathered in La Paz to celebrate. Standing on the balcony of the presidential palace, President Evo Morales addressed a jubilant crowd: "Here begins a new Bolivia. Here we begin to reach true equality... The colonial state ends here. Internal colonialism and external colonialism ends here. Sisters and brothers, neoliberalism ends here too." Polls conducted by Televisión Boliviana determined that the document passed with 61.97% support from some 3.8 million voters. By region, the charter was voted up in La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro, Potosí, Tarija, and Pando; it was rejected in Santa Cruz, Beni, and Chuquisaca. (Upside Down World, Jan. 26)

Latin American leaders were generally cautious in their assessment of Barack Obama, who was sworn in on Jan. 20 as US president. On Jan. 19, during his weekly radio show, "Breakfast with the President," Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said: "I think if he wants to, Obama can improve the bilateral relations" between Brazil and the US. He urged the new president to end the US trade embargo against Cuba since "there is no scientific and political explanation for the embargo to continue." (Xinhua, Jan. 20)

On Jan. 21 Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Castro met with former Cuban president Fidel Castro Ruz during a brief visit to Havana. In a column published the same day, Castro said his discussion with Fernández was "intense and interesting, as I expected." Fernández told reporters afterwards that Castro seemed to be "very well." This was apparently Castro's first meeting with a visiting leader since Nov. 18, when he was photographed with Chinese president Hu Jintao; the article was his first statement in 20 days. There had been speculation that Castro was seriously ill.

Colombian president Alvaro Uribe and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez met in Cartagena in the northern Colombian department of Bolívar on Jan. 24 to discuss economic cooperation in response to the global crisis. They set up an economic commission which started working immediately "to design a package of new tools, to review the ones that exist and to strengthen them," Chávez said during a press conference after the meeting. The two presidents also agreed to create a $200 million joint fund to extend credits to small and medium businesses and to stimulate trade between the two countries; in addition, they plan a fund for infrastructure work in the areas along the Colombia-Venezuela border.

On Jan. 21 the Colombian Attorney General's Office reported that Julio César Ardila Torres, the former mayor of Barrancabermeja, Santander department, had been found guilty of ordering the April 6, 2003 murder of local journalist José Emeterio Rivas. Judge Nelly Vallejo Aranda sentenced Ardila to 28 years and eight months in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of 1.192 billion pesos (about $530,000). The court also convicted two former municipal employees, Fabio Pajon Lizcano and Abelardo Rueda Tobon, and sentenced them to 26 years and eight months.