The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó in Colombia's northwestern Antioquia department reported on Oct. 31 that right-wing paramilitaries were threatening to murder community members. A joint operation of paramilitaries and the army's 17th Brigade murdered eight people in San José de Apartado on Feb. 21, 2005; retired colonel Guillermo Armando Gordillo confessed this year that his troops participated in the massacre. Peace communities refuse to collaborate with any armed forces, including rebels, paramilitaries and the army.

President Evo Morales, speaking before a cheering crowd of coca-growers, announced Nov. 1 that he is suspending "until further notice" the operations of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Bolivia, accusing the agency of spying and encouraging anti-government protests. He did not say whether DEA staff would expelled from the country, as demanded by coca-growers.

Colombia's FARC guerrillas agreed in principle Oct. 28 to meet with 150 prominent Colombian intellectual and political figures to discuss a release of hostages. The meeting had been suggested in a Sept. 11 letter by the group, which includes relatives of hostages. In a response posted to the Internet, the FARC stated: "This letter is the beginning of an exchange to discuss the issues surrounding a political end to the conflict, the humanitarian exchange and peace... Eternal war cannot be the destiny of the country." The statement, dated October 16 and datelined "Mountains of Colombia," was signed by the group's seven-man General Secretariat.

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe announced Oct. 29 the sacking of 25 soldiers and officers—including three generals and four colonels—in connection with the deaths of 11 young men from the town of Soacha, in central Cundinamarca department. The move followed a probe of suspected extrajudicial executions falsely reported as combat deaths.

The nearly 40,000 indigenous Colombians who marched on Cali in a two-week cross-country trek to meet with President Alvaro Uribe in a dialogue on land reform and human rights issues are preparing to return to their homes in Cauca department to the south, after being stood up by the president for a meeting scheduled over the weekend. Indigenous representatives arrived the morning of Oct. 26 at Cali's municipal building for the meeting, but kept waiting three hours they finally decided to leave.

Conservative Colombian congressman Oscar Tulio Lizcano is free Oct. 26 after more than eight years as a hostage of the FARC guerillas—their longest-held captive. But news accounts diverge widely on the details of his liberation. CBS says he was "freed" by the Colombian army. RTT News reports he was "rescued" by the armed forces. But Reuters writes that Lizcano "escaped through the jungles with one of his captors," and they "traveled for three days before reaching an army post where the guerrilla surrendered."

Some 30,000 indigenous protesters arrived in the Colombian city of Cali Oct. 25, where President Álvaro Uribe pledges to meet with their leaders this weekend for a dialogue on land conflicts and investigations into 1,240 indigenous Colombians who have been killed in the six years he has been in power.

Colombian authorities announced Oct. 21 they've broken up a drug and money laundering ring in an international operation that included the capture of three suspected of shipping funds to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. More than 100 suspects were arrested in Colombia and overseas on charges that they trafficked drugs and laundered cash for Colombia's Norte del Valle cartel.