A Colombian judge overturned the conviction of a FARC commander March 29 for his alleged role in a 1998 massacre in which 17 civilians were killed. The judge in northeastern Arauca department ruled it was unlawful to sentence Germán Suárez Briceno AKA "Grannobles" for the deaths of civilians in a Colombian Air Force (FAC) response to the slaying of nine soldiers by Grannobles and his men. Grannobles continues to face charges for the killings of the soldiers. Authorities investigated the bombing, known as the Santo Domingo Massacre, and the FAC was ordered to pay compensation to the victims' families. The Colombian government has appealed a decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) to force the state to compensate the victims, claiming the FARC was guilty of the civilian deaths. (Colombia Reports, March 30)

It made at least brief international headlines March 26 when Colombia's military announced it had killed 36 FARC fighters in the pre-dawn bombing of a guerrilla camp in Vista Hermosa, Meta department. Five days earlier, the armed forces claimed to have killed 33 fighters in ground fighting and air attacks in Arauca—near the area of Arauquita municipality where 11 soldiers had been killed in a FARC ambush on March 17. The claimed deaths come just as the FARC says it is preparing to free its last hostages. Armed forces chief Gen. Alejandro Navas dismissed suggestions that the military attacks could delay the releases, saying the strikes fall within the "rules of the conflict." (AP, March 26; WSJ, March 21; Secugo, March 18)

On March 20, Peru's Nobel Laureate in literature and sometime right-wing politician Mario Vargas Llosa gave the opening address at an elite forum, "Latin America: Opportunities and Challenges," convened at the University of Lima by the Fundación Internacional para la Libertad, making proud front-page coverage in Lima's La Republica. Vargas Llosa intoned against the "temptation of populism [and] dictatorship"—as if the two are inevitable concomitants. He called for solidarity with the (right-wing) opposition in Venezuela, and hailed the presidential candidacy of Mexico's (right-wing) Josefina Vázquez Mota, who was in attendance. Taking open glee in the ill health of Hugo Chávez, he acclaimed the "light at the end of the tunnel" in Venezuela. That much is all quite predictable...

On March 22, World Water Day, the "March for Water, Life and Dignity," more than 1,000 strong, reached Ecuador's capital after a two-week, 700-kilometer cross-country trek to oppose plans for large-scale mining projects on indigenous lands. Carrying the rainbow-colored indigenous flag, marchers were joined by thousands of supporters in Quito. Some demonstrators clashed with police outside the National Assembly building. Police repelled rock-throwing youth with tear gas, and at one point charged the demonstrators on horseback.

On March 20, Colombia's Committee-Foundation for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (FCSPP) informed the press that 500 prisoners in several of the country's facilities had initiated an indefinite hunger strike. The strikers are mostly imprisoned FARC guerillas who undertook their action to demand that they be recognized as "political prisoners of war and conscience," and to protest the government's denial of a request by the group Colimbians for Peace (CCP), led by ex-senator Piedad Córdoba, to visit the prisoners and verify "the actual conditions of human rights that they face." The strike started at El Barne prison in Cómbita (Boyacá department), and quickly spread to other facilities. Some have decided to lift their strike since the announcement, but at last report 417 were still refusing all food. The strike follows the FARC's recent pledge to release hostages and abandon abductions. (Antifa Bogotá, Adital, Radio Nederland Internacional, March 22; EFE, March 21; Semana, AVN, March 20)

Colombia is enjoying an oil boom, its output of crude having nearly doubled in the past six years, from 525,000 barrels a day in 2005 to a daily average of 914,000 last year. But as exploration expands in the country's eastern lowlands, oil companies continue to confront armed groups. In February, the ELN guerrillas kidnapped 11 workers in Casanare department who were building the Oleoducto Bicentenario, slated to be Colombia's largest oil pipeline. The 11 were released in early March. Simultaneously, Interior Minister Germán Vargas Lleras warned that he was "not going to tolerate" more road blockades in the region. Local peasants and residents have in recent weeks repeatedly blocked arteries through the region to protest the lack of benefit to their communities by the oil operations, facing down troops of the elite National Police riot squad, ESMAD. Leaders have denied government claims that the guerillas are behind the protest campaign.

On Feb. 28, Peru's government sent a protest note to Chile, claiming an unauthorized incursion by Chilean troops into its territory five days earlier. The Chilean soldiers reportedly entered the country while performing landmine-clearing work, after heavy rains shifted anti-personnel mines in the area. "The findings suggest the presence of Chilean troops in an area of Peruvian territory, between Milestone [Hito] No. 1 and the sea, carrying out signaling work of the land shift that reached the territory of Peru," a government press statement said. This set off a flurry of press accounts of further such incursions over the next month, prompting that Foreign Ministry to release a statement March 26 denying any new incursions. The dispute comes as the International Court of Justice at The Hague has scheduled oral arguments in Peru's case against Chile over their longtime maritime border dispute. (Peruvian Times, March 23; RPP, March 16; Peru This Week, Feb. 28)

The US State Department's 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy report contains harsh words for Peru, lamenting the country's "slow advance" in coca leaf eradication. The report says the country has 53,000 hectares under coca cultivation. Colombia has 100,000 hectares—but Peru's total has increased in recent years, while Colombia's has dropped. (Although Peru has challenged these claims.) The report calls out Peru's Customs Service, Coast Guard, Port Authority and Public Ministry as blocking progress in the anti-narcotics struggle. State Department analyst Pedro Yaranga told Lima's La Republica that "there does not exist a decision to attack the coca source areas [cuencas cocaleras]." He particularly named the Upper Huallaga Valley and Apurímac-Ene River Valley (VRAE).