Lisandro Tenorio Troche, a traditional elder and healer of the Nasa indigenous people in Colombia's southwestern department of Cauca, was shot dead by two gunmen on a motorcycle Aug. 12 at vereda (hamlet) Pílamo in resguardo (indigenous reserve) López Adentro, Caloto municipality. Community leaders said they believe the assassins weref rom the FARC rebels, who had threatened Tenorio and his family in recent days. The Nasa communities have in recent weeks stepped up their campaign to demand that all armed actors—government troops, paramilitaries and guerillas alike—respect their constitutionally protected autonomy and refrain from operating on their lands.

Erikson Vargas AKA "Sebastian"—purported leader of the Medellín-based crime syndicate Oficina de Envigado—was captured by Colombian National Police on Aug. 8. in Copacabana, a town just outside the country's second-largest city. Police said one of Sebastian's bodyguards was killed when police stormed his hideout. President Juan Manuel Santos praised the arrest as a "super-blow" against organized crime and promised a "gold medal to the police" for the capture. (Colombia Reports, BBC News, Aug. 8) That same day, Luis Fernando Jaramillo Arroyave AKA "Nano"—a top commander of Los Urabeños paramilitary group—was extradited to the US on drug trafficking charges. Nano, also said to have founded Los Paisas paramilitary group, was captured in Medellín in February 2011 and later sentenced nine months on charges of murder, drug trafficking and conspiracy. (Colombia Reports, Aug. 8)