The International Criminal Court (ICC) Oct. 30 warned both the Colombian government and illegal armed groups that it will not hesitate to prosecute those who commit war crimes in the country's violent conflict. "There are many crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC, including forced displacement, disappearances, the use of child soldiers, sexual violence, torture, killings and hostage-taking," Marcelo Pollack, head of Amnesty International Colombia, told the Bogotá daily El Espectador.

In a private ceremony, US Ambassador William Brownfield and three Colombian ministers signed an agreement Oct. 30 to expand Washington's military presence in the Andean country. Officials said the plan will increase US access to seven Colombian bases for 10 years for "counterterrorism and counternarcotics" operations—without increasing the number of personnel beyond the cap of 1,400 now specified by US law. A Colombian government statement said the pact "respects the principles of equal sovereignty, territorial integrity and nonintervention in the internal affairs of other states."

Prosecutors have re-opened an investigation into charges that Colombia's Vice President Francisco Santos attempted to organize illegal paramilitary groups, the office of the Fiscalía announced Oct. 19. The Fiscalía opened an initial investigation in 2007 after a former paramilitary boss, Salvatore Mancuso, testified that Santos had proposed creating the Bloque Capital paramilitary group in the late 1990s.

On Oct. 12 tens of thousands of indigenous people in the region marked 517 years since the arrival of European colonizer Christopher Columbus by protesting around current issues such as the seizure of traditional lands by businesses and the damage to the environment from mining and oil drilling.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said Oct. 17 that Iran is helping his country explore for uranium. "We're working with several countries, with Iran, with Russia," Chavez told reporters during a visit to Bolivia. But he emphasized that Venezuela is taking the lead in the exploration: "We're responsible for what we're doing, we're in control." He also insisted that Venezuela would only use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes: "What we propose is for nuclear bombs to be eliminated. Venezuela will never build a nuclear bomb." (Reuters, Oct. 17)

On Oct. 16, 22 students were arrested on the National University campus in Bogotá after they detained the university rector for five hours during a demonstration. Some 300 students were protesting lack of funds for the public university. During the protest, the rector was surrounded by students and held while attempting to leave the campus. The arrests came after President Alvaro Uribe ordered anti-riot police into the campus. Seven of the detained were released for being minors. Uribe called on prosecutors to charge the students with kidnapping. (Colombia Reports, Oct. 17)

Colombia's top prosecutorial office, the Fiscalía General, ordered the detention of army lieutenant Alberto Williams Echeverry as the presumed author of the Aug. 9, 2006 massacre of five members of the Awá indigenous people at Ricaurte, Nariño department. Investigators from the Fiscalía's human rights department found that the killings were "false positives"—slain civilians reported as guerillas killed in battle. Other army personnel are said to be under investigation in the incident. (RCN Radio, Colombia, Oct. 17)

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Oct. 8 demanded that his interior and defense ministers investigate how an imprisoned guerilla leader escaped in the northeastern city of Arauca. Gustavo Anibal Giraldo Quinchia AKA "Pablito" was freed the previous morning when a group of gunmen attacked a convoy transporting him to the local airport for a court hearing. One guard was killed and two injured in the incident. Giraldo is a high-ranking leader of the National Liberation Army (ELN) who opposed peace talks with the Colombian government. He was arrested in January 2008. "There is no explanation for this escape," Uribe told reporters. "There are signs of corruption around this that are very troubling."