Maria del Pilar Hurtado, director of Colombia's DAS intelligence agency, resigned Oct. 23 following revelations her secret police had been spying on opposition Sen. Gustavo Petro, as part of a probe of his Polo Democrático party's supposed links to the FARC guerillas. President Álvaro Uribe accepted the director's resignation. Both Uribe and del Pilar deny the spying was undertaken on direct orders from the president. (Colombia Reports, Oct. 23)

No more paras in Colombia?On Oct. 15, a group calling itself the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC) shut down the entire region of Urabá, ordering all businesses from Mutata to Necoclí to close, and prohibiting transportation between these communities. This is the zona bananera, the focus of a US court case against Chiquita Brands, and for the last ten years one of the strongholds of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC).

Since Oct. 12, indigenous and other social organizations in southwestern Colombia have been protesting the militarization of their lands, the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and the failure of the government of President Alvaro Uribe to comply with agreements relating to indigenous land, education, and healthcare. [Minga de Resistencia Social y Comunitaria, ONIC, Oct. 14] Over 12,000 indigenous activists and other social justice activists are congregated on the Territory of Peace and Coexistence in La Maria Piendamo, in Cauca, resisting the hostile and massive presence of state security forces who have been ordered to remove them. On Oct. 13, the communities participating in the indigenous protest blocked a portion of the Pan American Highway in Cauca, in an act of civil disobedience meant to force the government to meet with them to discuss their demands.

From Human Rights Watch, Oct. 16:

The administration of President Álvaro Uribe is jeopardizing efforts to secure justice for crimes committed by paramilitaries and their accomplices in Colombia, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 140-page report, "Breaking the Grip? Obstacles to Justice for Paramilitary Mafias in Colombia," assesses Colombia's progress toward investigating and breaking the influence of paramilitaries' mafia-like networks. It also describes government actions that pose serious obstacles to continued progress. The report is based on interviews with prosecutors and investigators, case files, witness testimony, and other material collected over the course of more than one year of research in Colombia.

Venezuelan Justice Minister Tarek El-Aissami said Oct. 16 that six, including three army intelligence officials and a police officer, have been detained in the killing of an opposition student leader. El-Aissami said that the presumed murder weapon was also recovered and that the authorities were investigating two additional suspects. The student leader, Julio Soto of the University of Zulia, died Oct. 1 when his vehicle was sprayed with gunfire. He had helped organize protests with the COPEI opposition party against constitutional amendments proposed by President Hugo Chávez last year. (AP, Oct. 16; AP, Oct. 6)

Thousands of relatives of inmates staged sit-ins Oct. 14 at prisons across Venezuela to protest poor conditions and rights abuses. Hundreds of inmates die each year in prison violence—including 500 last year. This has fueled complaints that President Hugo Chávez has done too little to address the situation and improve the judicial system—which often allows people to languish in prison for years without a trial. The protest, which began last week with a hunger strike at Yare prison outside Caracas, has spread across the country, according to Venezuelan Prison Observatory, a nonprofit group that monitors prisons. The Interior Ministry said 6,500 participated in sit-ins at eight prisons. (Reuters, NYT, Javno, Croatia, Oct. 14)

On Oct. 15, Bolivian President Evo Morales voiced defiance in the face of Washington threats to remove Bolivia's trade preferences as a punitive measure for failing to meet US narcotics enforcement standards. "We can't kneel down for $63 million," said Morales during the opening in La Paz of a textile factory that will be run by workers. The US Congress voted last week that Peru and Colombia—South America's top coca producers—will benefit for another year from the trade preferences. Bolivia and Ecuador were provisionally approved for only six months, which can be extended for another six with Congressional approval.

Bolivian President Evo Morales Oct. 13 led the opening rally at a cross-country march from the city of Caracollo, Oruro department, to La Paz in support of a referendum on the country's pending new constitution. "If from here we begin with 5,000 demonstrators, for sure we will arrive in La Paz with more than one million," Morales said, adding that the march would "persuade that small group of opposition to allow us to change the country." The president called on farmers along the route to provide food and accommodations for the marchers, who are expected to arrive in La Paz on Oct. 20 after traveling some 200 kilometers. Representatives of social organizations from all nine of Bolivia's departments are participating in the march. (Xinhua, Oct. 14; Prensa Latina, Oct. 13)