The US Department of Justice announced Sept. 17 that a US scientist and his wife have been indicted for conspiring to sell nuclear weapons information to an individual they believed worked for the Venezuelan government. Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni and his wife, Marjorie Mascheroni, were arrested that day by the FBI and appeared before the US District Court for the District of New Mexico. The defendants used to work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and possessed classified nuclear weapons knowledge. According to the indictment, between March 2008 and August 2009, Pedro Mascheroni, who is a naturalized US citizen, negotiated a deal with an undercover FBI agent he believed to be a Venezuelan official in which he would help the country develop a nuclear weapon in exchange for over $700,000. No actual members of the Venezuelan government have been charged in the case. If convicted, the couple faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Colombia's Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD), backed up by two armored personnel carriers, invaded the campus of the University of Antioquia in Medellín, where students were holding protests against the imposition of new ID cards Sept. 15. The ESMAD used tear gas, and some students responded with hurled rocks and bottles. At least one student was seriously injured. On Aug. 26, ESMAD forces invaded the poor Medellín district of Comuna 13, briefly battling with residents who fought back with machetes and clubs. Two were injured and two arrested. (Rebelión, Mexico, Sept. 17; El Pais Vallenato, Valledupar, Sept. 15; El Heraldo, Barranquilla, Aug. 26)

Quito's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño said Sept. 12 that the dramatic attack two days earlier by FARC guerillas on the border town of San Miguel in Colombia's Putumayo department was not launched from Ecuador. Patiño stressed that the attack, in which at least six Colombian National Police officers were killed, "has nothing to do with us." The foreign minister's statement came in reaction to the expressed concerns of the Colombian government that FARC fighters may have crossed into Colombia from Ecuador to launch the offensive and then fled back to hide in the neighboring country.

Twelve people were injured Sept. 8 when a bomb went off in front of the local office of the Administrative Security Department (DAS), Colombia's secret police agency, in the southern city of Pasto, capital of Nariño department. According to a witness, the bomb was in a package placed in front of the agency's offices. Three suspects were arrested by DAS officials just after the bomb exploded at 4 PM. Among the injured are a young boy and a pregnant woman. Authorities have not said if any of the country's known illegal armed groups are believed responsible for the attack. (Colombia Reports, Sept. 8)

The US military pact with Colombia faces an uncertain future following a ruling of the Andean nation's Constitutional Court last month. On Aug. 17, in a case brought by opposition politicians, the court sent the agreement back to President Juan Manuel Santos to seek congressional approval for the pact. The government of Santos, who took power 10 days earlier, has a majority in the country's congress. (Reuters, Aug. 17)

From SOA Wacth, Sept. 2:

Keep Colombian Ex-President Alvaro Uribe out of Georgetown and send him packing to La Picota prison in Colombia!
Georgetown University has recently announced that former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe will be named a "distinguished scholar in the practice of global leadership," and will soon begin giving seminars at the university's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS). Uribe has said it is a "great honor" for him, and that his "greatest wish and happiness is to contribute in the continuous emergence of future leaders."

Private security firm Blackwater violated US arms trafficking regulations when training Colombian military personnel in 2005, a State Department report indicates. The controversial firm, renamed Xe Services LLC in 2009, is to pay $42 million for violating US law, including the unauthorized military training of Colombian soldiers—evidently for private service in Iraq and Afghanistan—in April and May 2005.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Aug. 28 promised to return 6 million hectares of farmland stolen by paramilitary groups after the original owners were forcibly displaced. The president said he will soon present congress with a Land Restitution Law aimed at restoring lands to the displaced, who now number more than 3 million. (Colombia Reports, Aug. 28)