Bolivia's government said Sept. 17 it had recovered full control of the country's network of natural gas pipelines after 17 days of anti-government protests. Protesters who occupied the Vuelta Grande natural gas processing plant and a pipeline control station in the southern Chaco region of Chuquisaca department surrendered the facilities early Wednesday after the government signed a deal to start talks with opposition leaders. "Today, the pipeline to Argentina has been reopened and full pumping levels will be reached starting on Friday," an Energy Ministry said in a statement.

Bolivian soldiers arrested the opposition prefect of Pando department, Leopoldo Fernández, on Sept. 16. He was flown to La Paz to face genocide charges in connection with last week's massacre of at least 16 peasant supporters of President Evo Morales. In response to Bolivia's political crisis, the US evacuated its 2,500 Peace Corps volunteers from the country. (AP, Sept. 17)

On Aug. 25, the workers of the sugar cane industry in the Colombian departments of Cauca and Valle del Cauca held an assembly in the town of Candelaria, Valle, attended by more than 7,000, where the decision was taken to strike to press demands that the owners of the sugar industry and their Asocaña business chamber negotiate on a list of grievances presented on July 14. Since the Candelaria meeting, the sugar mills of the region have been completely militarized; the workers are being followed by motorcycles with armed men wearing balaclavas, and several have been threatened.

As South America's presidents converged on Chile Sept. 15 for an emergency summit on the crisis in Bolivia, President Evo Morales accused his political foes in the eastern lowlands of mounting a "civic coup," and inciting "crimes against humanity by groups massacring the poorest of my country." Military troops are attempting to enforce martial law in Pando department, but prefect Leopoldo Fernández says he remains at his post—despite an order for his arrest.

The opposition prefect of Bolivia's eastern Pando department, Leopoldo Fernández, is facing an order for his arrest from the national government following violence at Porvenir, 30 kilometers east of the department's capital, Cobija, that left 16 dead Sept. 11. Interior Minister Alfredo Rada said the 16 peasant supporters of President Evo Morales were killed in a clash with an armed opposition group. At least two opposition supporters were killed the next day as government troops opened fire to disperse protesters who had occupied Cobija's airport. Rada accused Fernández of orchestrating a "massacre," and said his supporters had brought in sicarios (hired assassins) from Brazil. Morales has declared martial law in Pando, and dispatched his presidency minister, Juan Ramón Quintana, to the department—but the minister remains confined to the airport by ongoing violence in the city.

The US Sept. 12 announced it will expel the Venezuelan ambassador, and declared that Venezuela's top two intelligence officials have supported "narco-terrorist activities" in the region. The Treasury Department accused the intelligence officials of aiding Colombia's FARC, "even as it terrorized and kidnapped innocents." In response, Venezuela's Exterior Minister Nicolás Maduro said in a statement that "Venezuela has decided to submit its entire relations with the United States to an intense review process."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez told a crowd of thousands of supporters in the city of Puerto Cabello Sept. 11 that he is giving US Ambassador Patrick Duddy 72 hours to leave the country—saying he issued the order in solidarity with his Bolivian ally President Evo Morales, who took the same measure the previous day. In the expletive-laden speech, Chávez said he is also recalling Venezuela's ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Álvarez. "Go to hell, Yankees," he said as the crowd cheered in support. Chávez added that "when there's a new government in the United States, we will send an ambassador, a government that respects the people of Latin America, the America of Simón Bolívar." (WP, Sept. 12)

Two Russian Tu-16 bombers landed in Venezuela Sept. 10 as part of military maneuvers. President Hugo Chávez said he hopes to "fly one of those things" himself. The maneuvers mark the first time Russian strategic bombers have landed in the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War. Chávez called the deployment part of a move toward a "pluri-polar world." "The Yankee hegemony is finished," he said in a televised speech. Although the bombers were not armed, Chávez warned that their arrival puts the US "on notice." NATO fighters escorted the two bombers on their 13-hour trip to Venezuela over the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, the Russian Defense Ministry said. (WP, Sept. 12; AP, Sept. 10)