A Spanish National Court judge on March 1 accused the Venezuelan government of aiding two rebel groups in a plot to assassinate members of the Colombian government in Spain. Judge Eloy Velasco charged six members of the Basque separatist group ETA and seven members of the Colombian guerilla organization FARC with collaborating to assassinate Colombian officials, including President Alvaro Uribe and his predecessor Andres Pastrana. The indictment accuses Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and his administration of assisting the collaboration. Velasco found that Arturo Cubillas Fontan, former director of the Venezuelan Ministry of Agriculture, served as a key link between the groups, introducing members of ETA to FARC personal in Venezuela. A Spanish magistrate has ordered the Colombian and Venezuela governments to surrender the accused individuals to Spain.

The US House of Representatives on Feb. 25 approved a measure to extend expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act with no new privacy measures. Representatives voted 315-97 in favor of the measure, which would allow federal authorities to conduct "roving" wiretaps; to compel the production of business, medical, and library records; and to track so-called "lone wolf" suspects who are not affiliated with an organization or country, so long as they are not US citizens. The vote came just one day after the Senate approved the extension.

The top Venezuelan human rights official on Feb. 25 criticized a new report issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Ombudsman Gabriela Ramírez, head of Venezuela's Defensoria del Pueblo, said that the report makes unfair characterizations and undermines Venezuelan democracy. Refuting the report's claim that Venezuela is "punishing people based on their political convictions," Ramírez said that the data actually show an improved rights record. In a related statement, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez reaffirmed his belief that the IACHR, which has seven members elected by the OAS General Assembly, is an instrument of US imperialism.

Four Guantánamo Bay detainees have been transferred to Albania and Spain, the US Department of Justice announced Feb. 24. Three detainees, Tunisia native Aleh Bin Hadi Asasi, Egypt native Sharif Fati Ali al Mishad, and Libya native Abdul Rauf Omar Mohammad Abu al Qusin, were transferred to Albania; the fourth, an unidentified detainee from the Palestinian territories, was transferred to Spain. The transfers, approved with unanimous consent by the Guantanamo Bay Task Force, add to the more than 580 Guantánamo detainees transferred to other nations since 2002. There are still 188 remaining at the Guantánamo facility in Cuba.

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Feb. 24 that the government can continue to hold indefinitely two Yemeni Guantánamo Bay detainees, even though the men had been cleared for release by the Bush administration two years ago. Judge Gladys Kessler denied the petitions for habeas corpus filed by Fahmi Salem Al-Assani and Suleiman Awadh Bin Agil Al-Nahdi. The men had been notified of their release in 2008, but the decision was suspended when President Barack Obama took office. Full text of the opinions explaining Kessler's reasoning will be made public after passing a security clearance. Nearly half the 188 prisoners remaining at Guantánamo are from Yemen.