Venezuela's government "temporarily" seized a pasta factory owned by US food giant Cargill May 15 in the coastal state of Vargas. Flanked by soldiers at the plant, Vice-Minister of Food Rafael Coronado said the government will run the factory for at least 90 days, having found it guilty of violating price controls. The move further increases President Hugo Chávez's hold on the economy, after a series of recent take-overs of private and foreign-owned businesses—including a Cargill rice plant. (La Reforma, Mexico, Radio Netherlands, May 16; BBC News, May 15)

Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez sent troops to seize companies that service the oil industry May 8. "This is a revolutionary offensive," he told workers near Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela's main oil area. Military vehicles were used as the state oil company PDVSA seized supply boats and two US-owned facilities. The move, taken a day after a measure was approved by Venezuela's Congress, places hundreds of boats, several ports and an estimated 8,000 workers under state control.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez April 30 defied the request of his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe to help catch FARC guerrillas that apparently killed eight Colombian soldiers and then fled to Venezuelan territory. Chávez said he had been "very clear with President Uribe and with Colombia: we do not support the Colombian guerrillas...but it is also not our war, it is Colombia's war." He added: "We will not interfere in that war. And there is no point in any kind of pressure. This is what President Uribe knows and what Colombia knows very well."

Caracas has recalled its ambassador from Lima in response to Peru's decision to grant political asylum to wanted Venezuelan opposition leader Manuel Rosales. Rosales, who lost the 2006 Venezuelan presidential race to President Hugo Chávez, is accused of illegally enriching himself while governor of Zulia state. In an April 27 statement, Venezuela's foreign ministry charged that Peru's decision "constitutes a mockery of international law." (Press TV, Iran, April 28)

Bolivian authorities say the dismantling of a commando made up mainly of foreign mercenaries could lead to the people behind around a dozen different attacks carried out since 2006 in the city of Santa Cruz. Bolivian Vice President Álvaro García Linera said the attacks were aimed at destabilizing the government of Evo Morales and were to culminate in the assassination of the president. He said business leaders and landowners in the eastern province of Santa Cruz were financing the clandestine operations by the five alleged terrorists, three of whom were shot and killed by the police.

Extradited paramilitary warlord Diego Fernando "Don Berna" Murillo appealed for a commission of Colombian congressmen to visit him in his US prison so he can continue his collaboration with Bogotá on bringing justice. Don Berna—sentenced to 31 years for drug trafficking April 22—appealed in a letter to Colombian lawmakers to visit him to "guarantee transparency, accuracy and efficiency" in his cooperation with the special Justice and Peace tribunal that seeks to clarify the crimes committed by paramilitaries before the "demobilization" of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

President Evo Morales said three men shot dead by an elite National Police squad in the eastern city of Santa Cruz on April 16 were involved in a foiled plot to assassinate him. Police officials said the three men—identified as a Romanian, an Irishman and a Bolivian—were killed after they opened fire on commandos who tried to enter their room on the fourth floor of the Hotel Las Américas. A Hungarian and a Bolivian were taken into custody in connection to the shootout. Bolivia's official news agency described the five men implicated as mercenaries belonging to a "terrorist cell."

Manuel Rosales, mayor of Maracaibo, Venezuela's second largest city, is missing—in what the opposition is calling the latest instance in wave of persecution by the government of President Hugo Chávez. After Chávez vowed on national TV to have Rosales imprisoned, the government filed corruption charges against the 56-year-old mayor. Two weeks ago, Rosales dropped out of sight, and his supporters say he is in hiding. (Fox News, April 14)