The Amazon is being destroyed more than three times as fast as last year, Brazilian officials said Sept. 29, acknowledging a sharp reversal after three years of decline in the rate of deforestation. Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc said upcoming nationwide elections are partly to blame, with governors in the Amazon region turning a blind eye to illegal logging in hopes of gaining votes locally.

Farmers in Argentina began a six-day strike Sept. 3, halting delivery of grain crops and beef and holding public assemblies by the side of roads in several areas around the country. The strike comes after farmer leaders broke off talks with government over a new policy for the agriculture sector, hard hit by a severe drought. "All of us are Argentina," Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner complained. "That is why no single sector can hold the rest of society hostage, least of all at times like these."

President Evo Morales said Oct. 4 that he has rejected a request from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to fly over Bolivian territory. "Two days ago I received a letter...asking a government institution for permission to fly over national territory," the Bolivian Information Agency quoted the president. "I want to say publicly to our authorities: They are not authorized to give permission so that the DEA can fly over Bolivian territory... No DEA or American [agency] can be overflying our national territory. Under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking, under the pretext of monitoring coca leaf crops they want to overfly, and we are going to make it clear that we monitor domestically. We don't need anyone spying." (BBC, AFP, Oct. 4)

In the first six months of 2008, the "desplazados," or internally displaced persons from Colombia's conflict, reached a record number of 270,675—about 41% more than the same period in 2007. "The national rate shows an average of 632 desplazados for every 100,000 inhabitants; between January and June, 1,500 new refugees left their homes each day. This is the highest number since 1985", said Jorge Rojas, director of Colombia's non-governmental Consulting Group on Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES).

"Post-conflict" is a buzz-word these days in Colombia. Since the demobilization of 30,000 paramilitaries, Colombian officials celebrate the country's "transition"; many Washington policymakers are convinced Colombia is now on the right track. In this phase, there are only "emerging criminal networks." Officials say these networks are not the same paramilitaries who terrorized the civilian population for many years. But the Fellowship of Reconciliation Colombia Program points out that September brought further evidence that politically motivated threats and violence still abound.

A former paramilitary fighter testified in special judicial proceedings that Colombia's armed forces chief, Gen. Mario Montoya, delivered weapons to a paramilitary death squad when he was a commander in Medellín, and the Colombian prosecutor general has opened an investigation into the charges, the Washington Post revealed on Sept. 17.

Latin American leaders who came to New York the week of Sept. 22 for the annual opening session of the United Nations General Assembly suggested that the US and European countries should use economic models from the South to resolve the growing financial crisis in the North.

According to exit polls, Ecuadoran voters overwhelmingly backed a proposal for a new Constitution in a referendum held Sept. 28. The Santiago Pérez Investigación y Estudios polling firm showed 66.4% of voters supporting the measure, while Cedatos-Gallup put the proportion at 70%. President Rafael Correa, who had called for the new charter, said the vote was a "new historic triumph" and led supporters in chanting: "The people united will never be defeated." The center-left president got the results while visiting his hometown, Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest and most prosperous city.