Lev L. Dassin, acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and John P. Gilbride, special agent-in-charge of the New York Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), announced the arrests March 19 of José Joaquin Montes-Ovalles and Maria Lilian Castellanos-Poveda, accused cocaine brokers for the 10th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), on charges of conspiring to import ton-quantities of cocaine into the US.

Colombia's Supreme Court approved a request by the Fiscalía (attorney general's office) to reopen the investigation of former army general Rito Alejo del Rio, who is suspected of having collaborated with illegal paramilitaries. The Fiscalía asked for the reopening after testimony by several demobilized paramilitaries linked the retired general to the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). Hebert Velosa, Salvatore Mancuso, Jorge Ivan Laverde and Elkin Casarrubia are among those who testified on del Rio's ties to the AUC.

The Bolivian government has applied for approval from the US State Department to purchase six L-159 light warplanes from the Czech Republic. Defense Minister Walker San Miguel told the daily La Prensa the planes, to be bought for $58 million, contain electronic parts made in the US, and their sale to a third party therefore requires US authorization. San Miguel said the planes would be used for drug enforcement. (AFP, March 11)

Bolivia's Vice-Ministry of Lands issued a decree March 11 against US rancher Ronald Larsen for illegally allowing the French oil major Total to explore for hydrocarbons on his sprawling property in Santa Cruz department. The decree nullifies Larsen's 2004 contract with Total allowing an exploration well on his Caraparicito hacienda, finding it had not received approval from the national government. Last year, Total announced that the well, Incahuasi X1, was producing 1 million cubic meter a day. (UPI, March 11)

Bolivian President Evo Morales, empowered by his country's new constitution, began redistributing land to indigenous peasants March 15. In a ceremony on part of the land seized by the government from large owners, Morales turned over about 94,000 acres to Guaraní indigenous communities in the Chaco region of southern Santa Cruz department. Morales harshly criticized the treatment of workers on large farms and called upon rich landowners to embrace equality by voluntarily giving up some of their holdings.

Bolivian President Evo Morales ate a coca leaf in front of delegates at the Vienna meeting of the UN Commission for Narcotic Drugs (CND) March 12, to press his demand that the crop be removed from the UN's list of prohibited drugs. "We're for the coca leaf but against cocaine," Morales said. "The coca leaf should no longer be vilified and criminalized!"

In the Peruvian village of Huanta, Ayacucho region, forensic workers March 9 began exhuming the remains of 49 people from a mass grave, thought to be victims of a massacre during the nation's 1980-2000 conflict with Maoist guerillas. Some 200 relatives of the disappeared gathered at the site, chanting "We demand justice," as the exhumation began on orders of the local prosecutor's office. A lawyer for the relatives, Karim Ninaquispe, said the victims went missing in July and August of 1984. Investigators believe they were taken to Huanta's municipal stadium, where the Peruvian navy had established a base. "In that place they were tortured, executed and their bodies were later made to disappear," Ninaquispe said.

Bolivia's President Evo Morales expelled a US diplomat March 9, accusing him of conspiring with opposition groups. Last week, Morales accused the diplomat, Francisco Martinez, of "coordinating contacts" with a former Bolivian national police captain, Rodrigo Carrasco, who is in turn accused of infiltrating the state oil and gas company on behalf of the CIA. Morales said that "deep investigations" had determined that Martinez "was in permanent contact with opposition groups." The State Department rejected the allegations and called the move "unwarranted and unjustified."