Venezuelan National Guard troops in Maracaibo Sept. 4 captured fugitive former Colombian senator, César department governor and national agriculture minister Alvaro Araujo Noguera, 75. Araujo Noguera, who had been wanted for a year and a half, is expected to be extradited shortly. He is accused of collaborating with paramilitary warlord "Jorge 40" in the kidnapping of a rival, businessman Víctor Ochoa Daza. The scandal has embroiled Araujo Noguera's family and prompted his daughter María Consuelo Araujo to step down as foreign minister. His son, ex-senator Alvaro Araujo Castro, was imprisoned last year on charges related to the case. (AP; El Tiempo, Bogotá; El Espectador, Bogotá, Sept. 5)

President Hugo Chávez announced a measure to nationalize wholesale gasoline distribution in Venezuela—despite the lobbying of British Petroleum, Exxon Mobil and Chevron, whose local subsidiaries currently control the business. Under the measure, which received initial approval in the National Assembly Aug. 27, the state company PDVSA will control Venezuela's fuel distribution network, although privately owned gas stations will not be nationalized. Dominated by Chávez allies, the National Assembly is expected to give its final approval to the legislation soon.

President Evo Morales announced Aug. 24 he has put all of Bolivia's gas and oil installations under military protection, as protesters in Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca and Tarija departments prepare new actions to resist national control of the hydrocarbon resources. "I've spoken with armed forces commander in chief, General Luis Trigo, who has precise instructions to safeguard and defend the Bolivian people," Morales told a meeting of pro-government labor unions in Cochabamba. "The government will protect the pipelines and valves." (AFP, Aug. 25)

A 24-hour general strike in Bolivia's opposition-controlled departments of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, Tarija and Chuquisaca Aug. 19 paralyzed a large swath of the country's east. Clashes broke out in the city of Santa Cruz, where protesters armed with sticks and stones fought with loyalists of President Evo Morales, and police fired tear gas. Young strike enforcers were reported to be patrolling the streets of Santa Cruz with baseball bats, while Morales supporters stood guard outside the working-class district of Plan 3000. Schools, shops, airports and private vehicular traffic were largely shut down in the five departments. Morales accused opposition leaders of using demands for the return of funds from the Direct Hydrocarbon Tax (IDH) as a "pretext" to try to divide the National Police force. But Cabinet Minister Juan Ramon Quintana lauded authorities in Tarija and Chuquisaca for not supporting the strike, despite being part of the regional opposition alliance, the National Democratic Council (CONALDE). (LAT, Aug. 21; InfoBae, Argentina, Prensa Latina, Aug. 20)

On Aug. 8 the Colombian Attorney General's Office arrested sociologist Liliana (or Liliany) Patricia Obando Villota in Bogotá on charges of organizing events and managing money for the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). On Aug. 9 the Attorney General's Office announced that police had also arrested Dr. Cesar Augusto Arango Garcia, the director of a public hospital in the indigenous municipality of Planadas in Tolima department; Arango was described as the personal physician of Alfonso Cano, who has led the FARC since the death of longtime leader Manuel Marulanda in March. The Attorney General's Office says it is also seeking William Parra, a journalist now working with the left-leaning Venezuelan-based Telesur television network.

The government of Colombian president Alvaro Uribe continues to be plagued by the parapolítica ("parapolitics") scandal, in which some 60 members of Congress have been linked to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary group that is now officially demobilized. The majority of these politicians are in Uribe's governing coalition, and some are in the president's extended family. On Aug. 12 a former paramilitary, Luis Adrian Palacio ("Diomedes"), gave testimony to the Attorney General's Office linking Gen. Mario Montoya, the head of the military, to the AUC. Diomedes said that in April 2002 Montoya, who then commanded the Army's Fourth Brigade, personally delivered a "present" of six AK-47 rifles and an M-16 rifle to the AUC's Bloque Mineros. Montoya denies the charge.

Five opposition governors are declaring a strike next week in Bolivia, vowing to "radicalize" tactics after talks with President Evo Morales broke down. The governors are asking Morales to refund state shares of oil and natural gas income that his government has used to give stipends to elderly citizens. Hours after the Aug. 10 recall referendum, Morales called for regional governors (prefects) that were ratified in their posts to negotiate. Department leaders from Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, Tarija and Chuquisaca first announced they wouldn't attend the talks at the presidential palace. On Aug. 12, holding their own meeting at Santa Cruz, the prefects capitulated and agreed to meet with the president. But talks broke down over demands for the repeal of the Direct Tax on Hydrocarbons. (AP, Prensa Latina, Aug. 15; AP, Aug. 13)

Colombia's decades-long civil war, US-backed anti-drug measures and resource-hungry multinational corporations are pushing the country's indigenous peoples towards "extinction," local leaders warn. War alone uproots 20,000 Indians from their ancestral homes each year, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Most of Colombia's 84 indigenous groups have been forced at some time to flee political violence over the past decades. "We lose our identity when we're displaced," said Luis Evelis Andrade, president of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC). "We feel lost in the big cities and it's an alien habitat for us. Our ties and traditions are with our Mother Earth. Once we leave (our lands), our language and family structures begin to break down."