US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice visited Colombia on Jan. 24 and 25, meeting with right-wing president Alvaro Uribe in Medellín at the end of the trip. The high-level delegation, including US legislators, was intended to show support for Uribe and to push for ratification by the US Congress of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA, or TLC) between the two countries. In Medellín, Rice also met with former right-wing paramilitaries who had demobilized under a plan sponsored by Uribe; she visited a flower cultivation business where ex-paramilitaries are employed. At a meeting between the delegation and Colombian unionists, Carlos Rodriguez of the Unitary Workers Confederation (CUT) said 40 leaders of the union federation had been murdered in 2007, bringing the number of unionists murdered in the last 22 years to 2,574. Many were killed by paramilitaries. (La Jornada, Jan. 26 from AFP, DPA, Reuters)

There is real possibility for peace between the Colombian government and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), according to Antonio Navarro Wolf, a former rebel who is now governor of the southern department of Nariño and a leader in the center-left Democratic Alternative Pole. Following the FARC's release of two hostages on Jan. 10, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez Frias has pushed for the Colombian government to advance the peace process by designating the FARC a "belligerent force" rather than "terrorists."

Simón Trinidad [nom de guerre of Ricardo Palmera Piñeda], the FARC's well-known prisoner-exchange negotiator, was today sentenced to 60 years in prison in Federal District Court in Washington, DC. Several months ago, Trinidad was found guilty of conspiracy to take three [US] military contractors as hostages, a crime occurring back in 2003. The sentence was determined in a separate proceeding held today.

At least five were killed in Beirut Jan. 27 in clashes between Lebanese soldiers and young Shi'ite residents protesting electricity cuts. Hezbollah issued a statement holding "the de facto authorities" fully responsible for "every drop of blood shed," and demanding that the army identify "who opened fire on innocent citizens demanding their social rights." Meanwhile, the 14 March coalition, which supports the western-backed government, accused "forces of the Syrian-Iranian axis" of "detonating the situation and stirring up dangerous disturbances." It said the opposition were "acting on the orders of the Syrian-Iranian axis, which is openly inciting disorder, and exploiting economic problems..." (BBC, Jan. 28)

Freedom's on the march. From the Winston-Salem Journal, NC, Jan. 26:

An inmate claiming widespread harassment of Muslims in U.S. prisons cannot sue prison guards who he says took his Qurans and prayer rug, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

From the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), Jan. 28:

Accountability for Suharto's Crimes Must Not Die With Him
Indonesia's former dictator General Suharto has died in bed and not in jail, escaping justice for his numerous crimes in East Timor and throughout the Indonesian archipelago. One of the worst mass murderers of the 20th century, his death tolls still shock:

Spain's Justice Minister Mariano Fernandez Bermejo said Jan. 23 he will ask the Spanish cabinet to outlaw Basque Nationalist Action (ANV) and the Communist Party of the Basque Lands (EHAK) on grounds that they are part of Batasuna, the nationalist party banned in 2003 for its supposed links to the Basque armed group ETA. The move to ban the parties would have to be upheld by the courts. (EiTB24, Jan. 24)

Some 1,000 anti-fascist activists gathered on Jan. 19 in Pilsen, Czech Republic, to commemorate the victims of Nazi terror. The date marked the 66th anniversary of the deportation of Pilsen's Jews. The night before, local "anti-fa" in Pribram, Jan Kucera, 18, was knifed to death by neo-Nazi Jiri Fous, 20. The incident occurred after skinheads marched in Pribram, giving the Nazi salute and provoking a group of young punks and anti-fascist skinheads, to which Kucera belonged. (Antifa.cz, Jan. 20)