Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced on live television Nov. 27 that he would not permit "foreign commandos" to be contracted by opposition politicians, in response to rumors that the newly elected governor of Miranda state, Henrique Capriles Radonski, is planning to bring in Israeli military advisors to train the local police. In a telephone interview with the state TV program Dando y Dando, Chávez asserted that to take such a move without permission of the national government would violate the constitution. (Apporea.org, Venezuela, Nov. 27)

In a ceremony capping the first visit of a Russian president to Venezuela, Hugo Chávez met with Dmitri Medvedev aboard a Russian warship moored off the port of La Guiara Nov. 27, four days before joint military exercises between the two nations were set to begin. Hundreds of Russian sailors in white uniforms stood at attention as the two men boarded the ship to sign accords pledging cooperation in nuclear energy and oil exploration, as well as the purchase two Russian Ilyushin II-96 300 jets, a model often used for travel by Russian presidents. In recent years, Chavez's government has bought more than $4 billion in Russian arms, including Sukhoi fighter jets, helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles.

Bolivian President Evo Morales ended martial law in the northern department of Pando Nov. 23, more than two months after government supporters were killed in the region amid strikes and protests by the opposition. The decision by Morales clears a legal barrier for the government to hold a Jan. 25 referendum on a new constitution. "As of midnight, martial law was lifted," said government minister Alfredo Rada. Earlier this month, Bolivia's electoral court warned it would not allow the referendum to go forward if martial law was still in effect in the remote department of Pando. The prefect of Pando at the time martial law was declared, Leopoldo Fernández, remains under detention. (Reuters, Nov. 23)

President Hugo Chávez's Venezuelan United Socialist Party (PSUV) scored a string of victories in key state and municipal elections Nov. 23. "A new stage is beginning. For me, as the leader of the Venezuelan socialist project, the people are telling me: 'Chávez, keep on the same path,'" he said after the results were announced the next morning. But in what Colombia's El Tiempo called a "hard blow" to Chávez, the opposition won in Zulia and Miranda, the country’s two most populous states, as well the mayoral race in Caracas. Some 45 percent of the population will now be governed by policitians from the opposition. The PSUV, whose candidates won 21 out of 23 state elections in 2004, still controls 17 governorships. (AFP, Notimex, Bloomberg, Nov. 24)

Despite an intense rain, some 12,000 indigenous marchers from southern Cauca department arrived in the Colombian capital of Bogotá Nov. 21, and established an encampment in the central Plaza de Bolívar. Leaders declared that they would not return to their lands until they were heard by the government. On Nov. 24, the marchers started to return, after the government agreed to establish a commission for what Luis Evelis Andrade, leader of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), called "a dialogue table" with the government to arrive at accords to improve the life conditions of the indigenous." A core of indigenous leaders is to stay in Bogotá for talks on land reform, rural development, and the pending free trade agreement with the US. (El Pais, Cali, Nov. 24; Colprensa, Nov. 22)

The leaders of the 21 nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) met in Lima over the weekend, where George Bush continued to push free-trade prescriptions—prompting demonstrations at the US Embassy, where protesters in black hoods and orange jumpsuits representing Guatánamo detainees chanted "¡Bush fascista, tú eres el terrorista!" (Bush, fascist; you are the terrorist!). A large banner at the head the protest read in Spanish, "APEC is hunger and unemployment." (La Nación, Chile, Nov. 24)

The president of a failed Colombian financial firm suspected of laundering drug profits and bilking thousands of mostly poor investors of millions of dollars was arrested in Panama and promptly deported Nov. 20. David Murcia Guzmán, 28, founder of the DMG financial services firm, was detained near Panama City as he prepared to flee to Costa Rica, which has no extradition treaty with Colombia.

From the BBC News, Nov. 18:

UK drug users 'damaging Colombia'
Drug users in the UK are causing an environmental catastrophe in Colombia, the country's vice-president has told a meeting of police chiefs.