After seven months in captivity, Mexican politician Diego Fernández de Cevallos was released last month, saying after his reappearance that he was well but giving no indication of who his captors were. During his captivity, his apparent abductors issued three statements, calling themselves "The Mysterious Kidnappers" and later the "Network for Global Transformation," demanding money in exchange for the release of the former senator. A week after his release, on Jan. 1—anniversary of the 1994 uprising by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in southern Chiapas state—a fourth statement was issued purporting to be from the abductors. Entitled "The ex-Mysterious Kidnappers: The truth comes to light," the communique was signed by "el Guerrero Balam," a "faithful member of the insurgent forces of the EZLN," subordinated to "Subcomandante Marcos and the wise Mayan Zapatistas." The writer said that Fernández de Cevallos is "one of the main enemies of our project," an apparent reference to the EZLN's demand for indigenous autonomy.

Late last month, the Guatemalan government declared a state of siege in the northern department of Alta Verapaz near the jungle border with Mexico, and sent hundreds of troops to the area in response to the supposed presence there of Los Zetas, the ultra-violent Mexican narco gang. President Álvaro Colom announced that the emergency rule in Alta Verapaz will last 30 days, allowing the military to detain suspects without a warrant. "It is to bring peace to the people and recover their confidence in the government," Colom said. (Latin America News Dispatch, Dec. 20)

Colombian authorities brought charges against a Maj. Juan Carlos Del Río Crespo and four other troops in the December 2002 slaying of three members of the Agudelo family in Campamento village, Antioquia state. Crespo is accused falsely presenting their bodies as those of FARC guerilla fighters who were killed in combat—a widespread practice in the Colombian military known as "false positives."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on Jan. 15 raised the possibility of surrendering his special powers to rule be decree more than a year earlier than expected in response to accusations that he is becoming a dictator. In a televised address before the National Assembly, Chávez said he could put in place by May the decrees necessary to relieve the crisis caused by floods that have displaced 130,000 in western Zulia state. "To accuse me of being a dictator because the previous assembly voted for an Enabling Law—how is that a dictatorship?" Chávez asked.

Spanish prosecutors on Nov. 14 charged an alleged member of the Basque separatist group ETA with training members of the Colombian guerrilla group FARC in computer skills. Iraitz Guesalag was arrested in France days earlier and will be extradited to Spain. The FARC training allegedly took place in Venezuela, and was arranged by Arturo Cubillas, an ETA operative in the Venezuelan Ministry of Agriculture. Spain issued an extradition request for Cubillas in March 2010, charging the official for his ties to ETA, which the Venezuelan government denies. (Colombia Reports, Jan. 14)

Protesters in the southern Chile region of Magallanes y Antártica Chilena have erected road blockades, halting traffic and leaving hundreds of foreign tourists stranded. The strike was triggered by a government plan to increase gas prices in southern Chile by nearly 17%. On Jan. 11, two young Chilean women were killed when a truck smashed through one of the blockades. Protesters have repeatedly clashed with police, who have used teargas to restore order. The crisis has prompted a cabinet shake-up, with energy minister Ricardo Raineri removed by President Sebastian Piñera for mis-handling talks with the protesters. (BBC News, LAHT, Jan. 15; BBC Mundo, Jan. 12)

After years of waiting—during which they suffered from violent attacks and the degradation of their ancestral lands—the Ingaricó, Macuxi, Patamona, Taurepang and Wapichana indigenous peoples of Raposa-Serra do Sol in Brazil's Roraima state have received a favorable decision by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). During its last session at the end of October, the IACHR issued an admissibility decision in their case against the government of Brazil. The decision signaled that the government's treatment of indigenous peoples in Raposa may constitute a violation of their human rights. The IACHR is next set to issue a formal judgment on the matter.

As oil companies with pending contracts in the Peruvian Amazon continue to deny the existence of indigenous "peoples in isolation" in remote forest areas, new evidence has emerged. In November, Peru's National Institute of Development of Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvians (INDEPA) released video footage of a newly "discovered" tribe in the Kugapakori Nahua Nanti reserve (Upper Camisea River, Cuzco region).