While the US Embassy in Bogotá says the new agreement for expanded US access to Colombian military bases enters into force immediately, a Colombian court ruling finds the agreement is "broad and unbalanced" in favor of the United States and not based on any previous treaty, so therefore must be reviewed by Colombia's Congress and Constitutional Court. The agreement puts no limits on the number of US personnel to be deployed in Colombia nor on the number of military bases they will use.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Nov. 3 threatened to completely close the border with Colombia following the murder of two members of the Civil Guard by an alleged Venezuelan ally of Colombian paramilitaries. The two officials were shot by men on motorbikes just feet away from the border the previous day. Authorities on the Venezuelan side of the border near Cucuta immediately closed two main checkpoints connecting Colombia's Norte de Santander department and Venezuela's Tachira state. These were opened temporarily the next day to allow stuck travelers to cross. Trucks were not allowed to pass. "One of the measures we are studying is to declare an emergency at the border and, well, close it." Chavez said. (Colombia Reports, Nov. 4)

Venezuelan authorities Oct. 30 announced the arrest of eight Colombians and two local residents suspected of paramilitary activities in western Táchira state near the border between the two countries. Interior Minister Tarek El Aissami said the detained Colombians included a known paramilitary leader. Two firearms were captured with them, he said. "All these people were intimidating the local population and especially threatening local businessmen," he told state TV. "These people were handing out pamphlets, as the paramilitaries do, saying social cleansing was going to start—that is to say murders and disappearances." (Reuters, Oct. 30)

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)