After a regional strike had shut down Colombia's central Andean department of Huila for 15 days, the protest campaign was suspended Jan. 17 when the central government agreed to public hearings on the controversial Quimbo hydro-electric project. The pact signed by protest leaders, the Huila regional government and national Environment Ministry calls for hearings to convene the first week of February in Garzón municipality, one of those affected by the project. The paro (civil strike) was called by the Association of the Affected by El Quimbo Dam (ASOQUIMBO), the Regional Indigenous Council of Huila (CRIHU) and other popular organizations. Protesters blocked equipment at the construction site, bringing work to a halt, as well as blocking the central highway through the region.

An indigenous leader who 11 years ago escaped kidnappers from the FARC rebel group, was gunned down in the southwestern Colombian department of Cauca Jan. 12, according to the regional indigenous alliance ACIN. Milciades Trochez Conda was shot 10 times by two assailants on a motorcycle who intercepted him on a road near the hamlet of Caloto, ACIN said, citing witness accounts. A member of the indigenous council at the village of Jambaló, Trochez Conda, 39, was a father of seven and a leader in efforts to secure the autonomy of the region's resguardos (indigenous reserves) against armed groups. He was killed on his way to Santander de Quilichao, the nearest market town.

Ricardo Soberón, the anti-drug chief who last year briefly suspended coca eradication in Peru, resigned under pressure from the administration of President Ollanta Humala Jan. 10. The Council of Ministers (cabinet) appointed Carmen Masías Claux, a psychologist who is an advocate of eradication, to replace Soberón as head of the National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (DEVIDA). The Council of Ministers is now led by the man who was interior minister at the time of Soberón's suspension of the program, Oscar Valdes—who publicly disagreed with the suspension, and ordered the program's resumption within a week.

The State Department on Jan. 9 officially expelled a Venezuelan consul general over an alleged plot involving Venezuela, Iran and Cuba to launch a cyber-attack against Washington. The department said it gave Livia Acosta Noguera, Venezuela's consul general in Miami, 24 hours to leave the United States after declaring her persona non grata—the most serious form of censure a country can apply to a foreign diplomat. The move comes after recent claims on the US-based Spanish-language TV network Univision that Acosta was involved in plans three years ago, with a group of diplomats based in Mexico to attack the computer systems of the White House, FBI, CIA, Pentagon, National Security Agency and several nuclear power plants. The report also claimed Acosta was seeking the aid of hackers to uncover incriminating information on US political figures, including Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Iran's former ambassador to Mexico, Mohammad Hassan Ghadir, appeared on Univision last month to deny the accusations. The network tied Acosta to Venezuela's espionage agency, the Bolivarian Intelligence Service.

The Bolivian government is currently studying a bill to ban the sale of land to foreigners, Vice Minister of Land Edgar Apaza said Jan. 8. The proposal came from a social summit held in Cochabamba last month, which brought together lawmakers and representatives of popular movements. Apaza endorsed the proposed law, which would include penalties for those who attempt to disguise land ownership to skirt the ban. He stressed that Bolivia is obliged to pass such a law by Article 396 of the new constitution, which denies the acquisition of national lands by foreigners. Many of the best lands in the east and south of the country are in the hands of Brazilians and Argentines. (Prensa Latina, Jan. 7)

Colombia's National Police have mobilized 500 troops as well as a team of the elite Judicial Police (DIJIN) to northern Urabá region following the declaration of an "armed strike" (paro armada) by a paramilitary group known as Los Urabeños. Gunmen left leaflets in towns throughout the region, threatening residents and business owners—warning them to honor the strike or face arson attacks. Authorities have arrested 12 armed men who were distributing the leaflets and painting threatening graffiti in the municipalities of San Pedro de Urabá, Apartadó, Uramita, Cañas Gordas y Briceño, all in Antioquia department. Despite the police presence, the streets of several local towns have been completely cleared. The strike was apparently declared in response to the slaying of an Urabeños leader named "Giovanni." (El Tiempo, Bogotá, Jan. 5)

More than 950 relatives of inmates launched a protest occupation of a Venezuelan prison over the New Year holiday, saying they will refuse to leave the facility until authorities agree to their demand for faster trials for their loved ones. Prisons Minister Iris Varela sad the relatives decided to "kidnap themselves" at the Yare I and II prison about 70 kilometers southwest of Caracas. They include 800 women and 150 children and youth, as well as a few men. Varela said President Hugo Chávez has told authorities to negotiate peacefully. But, while Venezuela's prisons are dangerously overcrowded, Varela also alleged that human rights groups financed by the CIA are trying to use the occupation "to destabilize the country." (AP, Jan. 4)

Protests in Peru's north-central region of Cajamarca resumed on Jan. 2, with a thousand gathering in the city square to demonstrate against the Conga gold mining project. "We will mobilize in a peaceful protest in Cajamarca, in Hualgayoc, and in Celendín," said Wilfredo Saavedra, head of Cajamarca's Environmental Defense Front, referring to the municipalities to be impacted by the project. Canal N television reported that regional leaders are expected to decide whether to launch a new indefinite strike in the coming days. With negotiations with the administration of President Ollanta Humala at a stalemate, Cajamarca's regional council in the closing days of 2011 voted to declare the Conga project to be "unviable." The declaration stated the project "could cause irreversible damage to fragile ecosystems, in turn generating economic and social damage of incalculable magnitude, which clash directly with the fundamental rights of people living in these jurisdictions…" (Peru This Week, Jan. 3)