On Feb. 25, Bolivia was partially paralyzed in a national strike by independent bus and taxi operators to demand the government permit a fare hike to keep up with the cost of living. Confederación de Chóferes leaders noted that fares have been frozen for five years, and that concerns over the cost of living had sparked the recent "gasolinazo"—a protest wave that led to the cancellaiton of government plans to lift fuel subsidies. Some 40% of inter-city bus service was shut by the strike, with near total compliance in the twin cities of La Paz and El Alto. (EFE, Feb. 25)

The Colombian navy announced the seizure Feb. 15 a submarine believed to be used by drug runners to smuggle cocaine to Mexican shores. Powered by twin diesel engines, the 31-meter fiberglass vessel was found hidden in a jungle area in Timbiqui (Cauca department). Capable of traveling nine meters below water surface, it was the biggest and most sophisticated narco-submarine yet uncovered. Navy officials said the craft could carry four people and up to eight tons of cargo. According to Adm. Hernando Wills Velez, commander of the Pacific Naval Force, said it was equipped with navigational gear that would have allowed the crew to sail as far as Mexico without surfacing. (RTTNews, Feb. 15)

China and Colombia are planning to build a railway linking the South American country's Atlantic and Pacific coasts, President Juan Manuel Santos announced Feb. 14. Chinese ambassador Gao Zhengyue said his government sees Colombia as its chief port of entry to Latin America. The planned 138-mile long rail line will run from the port of Cupica on the Pacific to the Gulf of Urabá on the Caribbean, then continuing along the coast to a new port to be built near Cartagena.

Bolivian President Evo Morales hastily left the southern mining city of Oruro on Feb. 11 after protesters angered by rising food prices and shortages jeered him and set off dynamite. Morales canceled plans to lead a march in the city commemorating an 1871 anti-colonial uprising there, and retreated back to the capital, La Paz. "The government took the decision not to respond to shameful provocations of this kind," presidential spokesman Ivan Canelas said. Protesters were especially upset about a near-doubling in the price of sugar after the government lifted subsidies. The march was led by the regional labor federation, the Departmental Workers Central (COD).

Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez threatened to throw Coca-Cola out of the country if the company does not settle a pay dispute with striking workers. In comments broadcast on state TV Feb. 4, Chávez said his government would support the strikers in their "fight against capitalism." He added: "If Coca-Cola doesn't abide by the constitution and laws then we can live without Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is not indispensable. Who said you need Coca-Cola to live? Sugar cane juice is really good, or guava juice—I just had one."

Since early December, hundreds of private contractors of multinational banana corporation Banacol have illegally invaded and occupied the lands of Afro-Colombian "peace communities" in the Curvaradó river basin of Chocó department, in order to clear the area for banana cultivation. The lands are part of a "humanitarian zone" declared by the local communities, where all armed actors in Colombia's civil conflict are unwelcome. Since the new wave of land invasions began, there has been a visible presence within this zone of right-wing paramilitary groups.

The North Cauca Association of Indigenous Councils (ACIN) in Colombia's Cauca department has implemented its own re-immersion program for demobilized guerillas, helping them through the interview process required by the government and assisting them in finding homes and employment.

A Peruvian appeals court announced on Jan. 24 it had rejected the government's petition to overturn a lower court's decision to grant parole to Lori Berenson, a US citizen held since 1995 for collaboration with a Marxist rebel organization. According to Berenson and her lawyer, the ruling was final and cannot be appealed, representing a major setback to the government's efforts to return her to prison. Berenson's release last year sparked angry reaction in Peru, where she is widely remembered for her tirades in court during her televised trials in 1995. Berenson is obliged to stay in Lima for the remaining five years of her 20-year prison sentence, unless her sentence is commuted by President Alan García. If her sentence is commuted, Berenson would be deported immediately, allowing her to return to her native New York.