Peru is set to overtake Colombia as the world's top coca producer, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its World Drug Report 2010 released this week. The agency cited a 6.8% increase in areas of Peru under coca cultivation in 2009 compared with 2008—despite an overall 5% decrease from 167,000 hectares in 2008 to 158,000 hectares in 2009 across the Andean region generally. This brought Peruvian territory under coca cultivation to 59,900 hectares. There was a 16% decline in areas under coca cultivation in Colombia for the same time period, to 68,000 hectares, and an increase of 1% in Bolivia. About 55% more coca is grown in Peru now than a decade ago, the report found. In 2009, Peru produced 119,000 tons of coca, representing about 45.4% of the Andean region's production, UNODC found. Colombia produced 103,100 tons, about 39.3% of the region's coca production, and Bolivia produced 40,200 tons, or 15.3% of the total.

The number of trade unionists murdered around the world increased by 30% in 2009, according to an annual survey released on June 9 by the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The majority of the 101 murders cited in the report took place in Latin America, with 48 in Colombia, 16 in Guatemala, 12 in Honduras, six in Mexico, four in Brazil and three in the Dominican Republic.

The Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Fedecámaras) filed a complaint at a meeting of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva on June 11 against the labor and business policies of President Hugo Chávez's leftist government. In addition to protesting the nationalization of businesses, the group charged that the government was "criminalizing protest" by labor unions and that the murders of some 200 unionists over the past five years had gone unpunished. On June 15 pro-government unionists protested in front of the Fedecámaras office in Ciudad Guayana in the eastern state of Bolívar, denying that there was repression of labor and charging that the business group, which supported a 2002 coup against Chávez, was trying to destabilize the government. (El Nacional, Caracas, June 11 from EFE; El Diario de Guayana, Venezuela, June 16)

Colombia's president-elect Juan Manuel Santos announced after his victory in the second-round vote June 20 that outgoing President Alvaro Uribe is to thank for his victory, and pledged to hit the FARC guerillas even harder than his predecessor. "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants," Santos said, quoting Isaac Newton while addressing thousands of supporters who gathered in Bogotá to celebrate his victory. "While [the FARC] insist on terrorist methods, while they insist on attacking the people there will be no dialogue, and we will continue to confront them with total toughness, with total firmness," Santos said.

To mark the conviction of Col. Alfonso Plazas Vega—the first ever in Colombia's infamous 1985 Palace of Justice case—the National Security Archive in Washington DC posted a selection of key declassified documents pertaining to the case June 11. Included was a 1999 US Embassy cable finding that soldiers under the command of Col. Plazas Vega had "killed a number of M-19 members and suspected collaborators hors de combat [outside of combat], including the Palace's cafeteria staff."

Social movements in Peru's Southern Macro-region held a general strike June 17 through 18, to demand a halt to the natural gas contract with the Camisea LNG consortium. Roads were blocked and businesses shut throughout the affected areas. Parts of Cuzco, Arequipa, and Tacna regions held a 24-hour paro, or protest campaign, while organizations in Puno, Madre de Dios and Apurimac extended the campaign to 48 hours, to press for cancellation of the Inambari hydro-power plant. Cuzco's provinces of La Convención, Espinar and Canchis also extended the strike to 48 hours.

Peruvian National Police clashed June 14 with protesting workers of the troubled US-owned Doe Run Peru metal smelter at La Oroya, Junín region. Police attacked workers who were blocking roads, paralyzing traffic throughout the central city of La Oroya and the surrounding area. Schools and businesses remain closed in solidarity with the strike, as most La Oroya residents work for Doe Run, which suspended operations last year amid severe financial problems and the firm's failure to comply with a government-mandated clean-up program.

Colombian presidential candidates Antanas Mockus and Juan Manuel Santos both went on record supporting the Colombian army's successful rescue of four hostages held by the FARC guerillas June 13. In an interview with W Radio Jun 15, Green Party candidate Mockus the called rescue mission "admirable" and said that he would "enthusiastically" support any future rescue plans. Santos called the operation a triumph for President Alvaro Uribe's "democratic security" policy, and highlighted the need to maintain the initiative. Observers speculate that the execution of "Operation Chameleon" a week before the second round election may have been a strategy to tilt the election to hardliner Santos. (Colombia Reports, June 15)