Venezuelan Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega July 30 proposed legislation to limit the media's freedom of expression in certain circumstances, citing the importance of national security. Under the proposed law, journalists could face up to four years in prison for "threatening the social peace, security and independence of the nation, public order, stability of state institutions, mental health, and public morals and for generating a climate of impunity or insecurity. The law would also punish those who disseminate false information, resulting in public panic. Ortega later stressed to the media that the measures are essential for balancing freedom of expression with safety and security concerns.

President Hugo Chávez withdrew his ambassador from Bogotá and threatened to break diplomatic relations to protest "irresponsible declarations" by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe that weapons found in the hands of the FARC guerrillas had been sold by the Swedish government to Venezuela in 1988. Stockholm has asked Venezuela to explain how Swedish-made weapons ended up in the hands of the guerillas.

In a minga (popular mobilization) called in response to growing violence on their territories, some 10,000 indigenous residents of Colombia's Cauca department marched 140 kilometers between the towns of Santander de Quilichao and Corinto July 23-4. On July 19, Corinto was the scene of a clash between FARC guerillas and government forces in which three local residents were killed and 17 wounded. Jorge Arias of the Association of Indigenous Cabildos of North Cauca (ACIN) told the crowd in Corinto at the march's end: "We come here to honor the memory of our dead, and to say to the armed groups, legal and illegal, enough with all this violence!" (El Tiempo, Bogotá, July 24)

Traditional indigenous authorities in Antioquia department issued a statement protesting that three residents of the Embera Eyabida reserve Jaidezabi, in Tarazá municipality, were killed by men identified as members of the FARC's Front 18. Luis Orlando Domicó Majore, 32, was killed near his home July 20. The gunmen announced they were seeking other residents. Two days later, Ana Luz Soto, 40, of the indigenous pueblo of Senú, was was shot in the back numerous times in the center of the nearby village of El Bagre.

Community leaders in Vistahermosa, a village in Colombia's eastern Meta department, reported to local human rights observors the disappearance of campesino Luis Enel Moreno Romero on July 22. He was last seen near his lands in the vereda (settlement) of Caño Animas. Vistahermosa has seen 65 extrajudicial executions by paramilitary groups, sometimes acting in overt concert with the army, since 2005. Over the past three months, a strong presence of the Águilas Negras paramilitary, dubbed by the authorities as an "emergent criminal band," has been reported in the zone. (Comisión de Seguimiento a los Derechos Humanos, Meta, July 24, via Anarcol, Bogotá)

Speaking at a military ceremony in Caracas July 21, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez accused neighboring Colombia of making an "unfriendly gesture" towards his country with its plan to open its territory to permanent US military bases. Accusing the US of attempting to foment a coup in Venezuela, while staging destabilization efforts on its borders in Colombia's Guajira region, Chávez addressed Bogotá: "You are opening your house to an enemy of your neighbor." (El Observador, Caracas, Prensa Latina, July 23)

US production of marijuana now equals that of Colombia, according to the annual report of the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The report finds that the US and Colombia each produced some 4,000 metric tons of cannabis last year. Morocco is the world leader at 44,000 metric tons, followed by Paraguay at 16,500 metric tons and Mexico at 15,800. Production in Mexico is down from 25,800 metric tons in 2007, when it occupied second place after Morocco. The Mexican government boasts of eradicating 18,652 hectares of marijuana in 2008. A much higher proportion of the US crop is indoor—an estimated 430,000 plants, compared to 6.6 million outdoor. (El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, July 17)

A videotape that appears to link Colombia's FARC guerillas to President Rafael Correa of Ecuador was broadcast on Colombian TV July 18. The video allegedly shows FARC commander Jorge Briceño AKA "Mono Jojoy" claiming the guerilla organization helped fund Correa's 2006 election. Ecuador's government has strongly denied any ties with the FARC. The two countries severed relations last year after Colombian troops raided a guerilla base across the border.