Peru's national government pledged to establish formal talks between Southern Copper and the regional government of Tacna region to resolve a dispute over scarce water resources. Authorities in Tacna say they want Southern Copper to stop using groundwater that it relies on to operate two of its copper mines, at Toquepala and Cajone. Tacna's president, Guillermo Chocano, said mines in the desert region should rely on desalinated seawater instead. The regional government has called for a halt to protests to give the government time to respond to its demand that approval of an environmental impact study on the planned expansion of operations at the Toquepala be suspended. But he and provincial mayors promised a strike to shut down the region next week if their demand is not met. "We are ready to open a working group on this," Prime Minister Salomon Lerner told reporters. "The strike won't go forward." He suggested the use of desalinated sea water rather than scarce groundwater for operations at the mines. (Reuters, Sept. 28; RPP, Sept. 27)

An operation by the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) of Colombia's National Police in Pamplona University in the northern department of Norte de Santander on Sept. 20 set off a confrontation between police and students that left four students and two police agents injured; two students were arrested. The students had started blocking the school's main entrances on Sept. 16 to protest high tuition costs, to demand improvements in the school's program and infrastructure, and to oppose a national education "reform" bill. The riot police reportedly used tear gas in an effort to remove the protesters, who responded with rocks and sticks.

At least 25 were injured on Sept. 25 as National Police fired shotguns and tear-gas bombs on protesters blocking access to the Toquepala copper mine in Peru's southern region of Tacna. Some 100 were also detained. Campesinos from the nearby villages of Huaytire, Camilaca and Cairani gathered at the mine site following public hearings for an environmental impact statement on plans to expand operations at the mine. In a paro, or civic strike, called to protest the expansion plans, schools and public transportation in the city of Tacna were also shut down for 48 hours. The mine is owned by Southern Peru Copper Corporation, a holding of the giant Grupo Mexico, and hopes to expand operations in order to begin exports to China. (RPP, Sept. 22; Mariátegui blog, Lima, Sept. 21; Reuters, Sept. 14)

A federal judge in Miami on Sept. 23 sentenced Bolivia's former top anti-drug official, Gen. Rene Sanabria, to 14 years in prison for cocaine trafficking—although the "Colombian drug lords" he thought he was dealing with were really undercover DEA agents, and the "conspiracy" to smuggle 300 pounds of coke via truck to Chile for export to the US was controlled by the DEA from start to finish. Sanabria's role in the pseudo-conspiracy was to assure that the shipment would be unmolested. Sanabria was President Evo Morales' chosen director of the Bolivian Center of Anti-Drug Information since 2009, and before that served as leader of the Special Force for Struggle Against Narco-trafficking (FELCN), an elite unit of the National Police. He was arrested in August 2010 in Panama and extradited to the US.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on Sept. 17 criticized the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) for ruling in favor of presidential hopeful Leopoldo López, thereby allowing him to run for office. A Venezuelan anti-corruption official had barred López from running for office after conducting a corruption investigation in 2005. Chávez called the IACHR, a body of the Organization of American States (OAS), part of an international system that "protects the corrupt and obeys the mandate of the imperial power and the bourgeoisie." He added: "What value can that court have? For me, it's worthless... One of my haircuts is worth more than this court"— a play on the fact that the Spanish corte means both "court" and "cut."

Days ahead of the release of a White House report singling out Venezuela for insufficient narcotics enforcement efforts, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) accused four close allies of President Hugo Chávez of assisting Colombia's FARC guerillas. "Today's action exposes four Venezuelan government officials as key facilitators of arms, security, training and other assistance in support of the FARC's operations in Venezuela," said OFAC director Adam Szubin. "OFAC will continue to aggressively target the FARC's support structures in Venezuela and throughout the region."

The international price of copper has soared this week as strikes halted operations at two of the world's largest mines, both owned by the multinational Freeport McMoRan. At Cerro Verde, in Peru's Arequipa region, some 1,200 workers walked out Sept. 14, following through on their threat to launch an indefinite strike to demand higher wages. The next day, 10,000 workers walked out at the company's flagship Grasberg mine in West Papua, Indonesia, demanding that their pay be raised from the current $1.50 to $3 an hour to the global standard of at least $17 an hour. "We are disappointed that union workers decided to implement an illegal work stoppage," local subsidiary PT Freeport Indonesia said in a statement, asserting that the company "has negotiated in a diligent good-faith manner" with the union FSP-KEP, an affiliate of the ICEM. Freeport McMoRan president James Moffett earned $21.5 million last year. (WSJ, Dow Jones, Bloomberg, BBC News, Sept. 15; Rebanadas de Realidad, Argentina, Sept. 12)

A diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks sheds light on why the United States opposed passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Jan. 28, 2008 cable, from the US embassy in La Paz and entitled "Bolivia: Repercussions of UN DRIP," states: "Although most indigenous leaders seem to view the UN Declaration as a 'feel good' document that will give them more inclusion in the public sector, some leaders are citing the Declaration in support of concrete aims like self-governance and control over land and resources. Post will watch for further developments, particularly with regards to property rights and potential sovereignty or self-rule issues."