On Feb. 17 the Agencia de Noticias Nueva Colombia (ANNCOL) published a Feb. 11 communiqué from the Antonio José de Sucre column of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) taking responsibility for the killing of eight people on Feb. 6 at Río Bravo, Barbacoas municipality in the southwestern department of Nariño. The communiqué charges that the eight victims had collaborated with the military and that due to "their responsibility in the death of numerous guerrilleros and their undeniable active participation which involves them in the conflict, they were executed." The FARC didn't specify the ethnicity of the victims but insisted that the "action was not against indigenous people." The communiqué didn't comment on any other recent killings of indigenous people attributed to the FARC in the same area. (ANNCOL, Feb. 17)

Revelations in the Colombian newsweekly Semana that the Department of Administrative Security (DAS) illegally listened in on the telephone conversations of judges, politicians and journalists prompted the resignation Feb. 23 of DAS deputy director Jorge Alberto Lagos—and denials of involvement by President Alvaro Uribe. "I have never given a single order to monitor these people's private lives," Uribe said. The president blamed the eavesdropping on a "mafia gang" within the DAS. (AFP, Feb. 23)

Via a statement issued by the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) Feb. 19, traditional indigenous authorities in southern Colombia and Ecuador made an "ultimatum" to the FARC guerillas to return the bodies of slain members of the Awá ethnicity by Monday Feb. 23 so that they can buried according to ancient custom. The statement warns that if the bodies are not returned, indigenous communities in the region will organize a "Humanitarian Minga" to enter the conflicted territory and recover the bodies themselves. The statement called on "All armed actors, legal and illegal, to immediately withdraw from Awá territory" and allow an international team into the region to clear landmines. The statement emphasized that the Humanitarian Minga will not accept accompaniment from the Colombian army.

Ecuador expelled US diplomat Mark Sullivan Feb. 19, accusing him of trying to handpick officials of the National Police. On Feb. 7 President Rafael Correa told another US diplomat, Armando Astorga, to leave on similar charges that he sought to manipulate appointments in police programs receiving United States aid. Correa, is in a re-election campaign and has stressed his credentials as a leader determined to stand up to foreign influence. Correa charges Astorga with conditioning $360 million in US aid on his ability to intervene in appointment of police commanders. "We regret this decision by the government of Ecuador," said a State Department spokesman, Gordon Duguid. "We also reject any suggestion of wrongdoing by embassy staff." Ecuador's media cited anonymous diplomatic sources saying Sullivan is an agent of the CIA. (NYT, El Comericio, Feb. 20; InfoBae, Argentina, Feb. 18)

On the eve of the international London Conference on Anti-Semitism, Venezuelan Jewish community leader Sammy Eppel, director of the human rights commission of B'nai B'rith and columnist for the Caracas daily El Universal, accused President Hugo Chávez of leading a state-sanctioned campaign against the country's Jews. Eppel said the campaign of anti-Semitism that hit world headlines with this January's Venezuelan synagogue attack actually began with a raid on a Jewish school in Caracas in 2004. The police were looking for weapons and explosives, but he pointed out that the raid coincided with a high-profile visit to Iran by Chávez. "It was, if you like, a gift for Ahmadinejad, to say that 'this is how I treat my Jews,'" Eppel said.

Late on the evening of Feb. 15, Venezuela's National Electoral Council announced that a proposal to end term limits had won with 54% of the vote in a referendum held that day. The government of President Hugo Chávez Frias, whose second six-year term ends in 2012, had pushed hard for the measure. "The doors of the future are wide open," Chávez, a former lieutenant colonel, shouted from the balcony of the Miraflores presidential palace after the results were announced. "In 2012 there will be presidential elections, and unless God decides otherwise, unless the people decide otherwise, this soldier is already a candidate."

Peru's President Alan García said Feb. 13 the government will launch an auction for rights to build a new pipeline to connect the massive Camisea gas field in the Amazon region to Chimbote on the country's north coast. Currently, the only pipeline from Camisea runs to the southern Pacific coast. The new pipeline would branch off to the north near the city of Cuzco. (Reuters, Feb. 13)

Bolivian President Evo Morales flew to Moscow Feb. 14 to discuss cooperation in energy and counter-narcotics efforts with the Russian leadership. The visit comes a week after Russia's Gazprom and the Bolivia's state hydrocarbons company YPFB signed a memorandum on drafting a plan for the joint development of the Bolivian gas industry up to 2030. Construction of hydropower stations in Bolivia by the Russian company Tekhnopromexport is said to be under consideration as well. Before his departure for Moscow, Morales also said that he would discuss with the purchase of Russian planes and helicopters for drug enforcement. (ITAR-TASS, Feb. 15)