The administration of Peru's President Ollanta Humala last week introduced a bill to the country's congress that would criminalize "Denial of Terrorist Violence," imposing a prison term of up to eight years for publicly "approving, justifying, denying or minimizing" acts committed by "terrorist organizations." Interior Minister Wilfredo Pedraza said the "Law of Denialism" was necessary to "protect society," citing the threat of  "nuevo senderismo"—meaning the recent resurgence of activity by surviving factions of the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, or SL) guerilla movement, with new civil front groups such as the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights (MOVADEF) supposedly mobilizing in their support. He said the law would "avoid this process of justification of these behaviors, of this epoch of 20 years which was so hard for the country, which I reiterate has meant 70,000 deaths." (Radio Programas del Peru, RPP, Aug. 28)

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos rejected a proposal Sept. 6 by the FARC rebels for a bilateral ceasefire during talks set to begin in Norway next month, aimed at bringing an end to the country's long civil war. In an address at Tolemaida military base outside Bogotá, Santos pledged that the counter-insurgency campaign would continue across "every centimeter" of the country. "I have asked that military operations be intensified, that there will be no ceasefire of any kind," Santos said. "We won't cede anything at all until we reach the final agreement. That should be very clear."

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos announced Sept. 4 that his government and the FARC guerrilla organization have signed an agreement to start peace negotiations. In a televised speech, Santos said the talks will consist of three phases. In phase one, which has been concluded, "we defined a closed agenda, rules and procedures to move forward," Santos said. The second phase, to begin now, "will be a discussion, without interruptions and without intermediaries, about agreed points to reach the final agreement." The third, post-conflict phase will consist of "the simultaneous implementation of all agreements, with the appropriate safeguards, verification mechanisms and citizen participation." Five points for the talks have been outlined: rural development, guarantees for political participation, an immediate end of the armed conflict, drug trafficking, and victims' rights. Santos said these points "constitute an integral formula for the effective termination of the conflict and to advance the construction of a stable and lasting peace."

A retired Colombian army general accused by prosecutors of forming a "macabre alliance" with illegal paramilitary groups was sentenced to 25 years in prison Aug. 24 in connection with the 1997 murder of a peasant leader. The sentencing of former general Rito Alejo del Río Rojas brings closure to a case that has long languished in the Colombian justice system and focuses renewed attention on the collaboration between top military officers and paramilitaries affiliated with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Colombia's Prosecutor General said Aug. 28 that judicial authorities are weighing whether to request that the US extradite back a former top-ranking army and National Police officer who one week earlier was arraigned before a federal court in Virginia. Gen. Mauricio Santoyo, security chief to Colombia's then-president Álvaro Uribe from 2002-2006, pleaded guilty to collaborating with the outlawed AUC paramilitary network, while pleading not guilty to drug trafficking charges. Santoyo is accused of providing the AUC with intelligence from wiretaps and other sources about suspected guerilla collaborators.The AUC, officially demobilized in 2006, is considered a terrorist organization by the US. Support of terrorist organizations holds a maximum penalty of 30 years. Santoyo, who arranged his surrender to the DEA in Bogotá in June, will be sentenced in November. He still faces no charges in Colombia.

A massive gas leak explosion at Venezuela's sprawling Amuay refinery on Aug. 25 killed 48 people and badly damaged 1,600 homes—the worst industrial disaster in the country's history, and the worst refinery accident anywhere on Earth in over a decade. The refinery on the Paraguana Peninsula (see map) is South America's largest and one of the world's largest, run by the state oil company PDVSA. Hundreds of residents of the poor Alí Primera and La Pastora districts near the facility have been left homeless. As the inferno blazed for four days, prompting an exodus from the stricken districts, gangs of looters descended, breaking into the still-standing homes to carry away refrigerators and TV sets. Opposition critics charge that PDVSA failed to carry out maintenance work or improve safety standards following a string of accidents and unplanned outages at the refinery in recent years.

A reconstituted paramilitary group, "Los Rastrojos Urban Commandos," made a series of death threats the week of Aug. 13 against members of four human rights organizations and one union in Barrancabermeja in the northern Colombian department of Santander. The first threats came in a manila envelope found on Aug. 14 at the home of human rights activist Himad Choser. The envelope contained a 9 mm bullet and a pamphlet by "Los Rastrojos" declaring Choser an enemy because he had been "denouncing and attacking our economic structure, based on drug trafficking in the region." The pamphlet described Choser as "at the service of the FARC," the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The pamphlet also named four organizations and the National Union of Food Industry Workers (SINALTRAINAL) as collaborators with Choser.