Five agents were killed Aug. 2 when some 50 Shining Path guerillas attacked a base of the Peruvian police National Directorate of Special Operations (DINOES) at San José de Seque, Huanta province, Ayacucho region, in the Ene and Apurimac River Valley (VRAE). (RPP, Aug. 2) Legislator Elizabeth León (Bloque Popular) protested the recent closure of a nearby military base, charging that the government is withdrawing support for Plan VRAE. (RPP, Aug. 3)

Bolivian President Evo Morales spoke out Aug. 3 in defense of his colleagues Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, saying the charges of their links to Colombia's FARC guerillas are an "montage to discredit revolutionary presidents." Last month, he likewise defended Guatemala's Álvaro Colom against charges of involvement in the murder of lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg, saying the country's "oligarchy" of scheming to "invent a death" to create conflict. (EFE, Aug. 3)

The Bolivian government has started implementing provisions outlined in the new constitution that give indigenous people the right to govern themselves. On Aug. 2, President Evo Morales enacted a decree setting out the conditions for indigenous communities to hold votes on autonomy. These referenda will take place in December, along with presidential and congressional elections. The provisions allowing for votes on indigenous autonomy were presented in a ceremony in Camiri, the eastern region of Santa Cruz. Morales called it "a historic day for the peasant and indigenous movement."

A judge sentenced 15 members of Colombia's military to between four and 30 years in prison for killing two civilians they tried to disguise as guerillas killed in combat, prosecutors said Aug. 1. An officer, three of his subordinates and six rank-and-file troops were found to have overseen or participated in the plot to kill the two young men in Medellín in May 2006. Five other troops were found to have covered up details in the case, for which they were sentenced to four years. The young men were restaurant workers who went missing on their way home from work; their bodies turned up the following day, labelled as killed in combat by an infantry battalion. The case was one of the highest profile of a series of so-called "false positive" scandals. (AFP, Aug. 1)

Venezuelan Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega July 30 proposed legislation to limit the media's freedom of expression in certain circumstances, citing the importance of national security. Under the proposed law, journalists could face up to four years in prison for "threatening the social peace, security and independence of the nation, public order, stability of state institutions, mental health, and public morals and for generating a climate of impunity or insecurity. The law would also punish those who disseminate false information, resulting in public panic. Ortega later stressed to the media that the measures are essential for balancing freedom of expression with safety and security concerns.

President Hugo Chávez withdrew his ambassador from Bogotá and threatened to break diplomatic relations to protest "irresponsible declarations" by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe that weapons found in the hands of the FARC guerrillas had been sold by the Swedish government to Venezuela in 1988. Stockholm has asked Venezuela to explain how Swedish-made weapons ended up in the hands of the guerillas.

In a minga (popular mobilization) called in response to growing violence on their territories, some 10,000 indigenous residents of Colombia's Cauca department marched 140 kilometers between the towns of Santander de Quilichao and Corinto July 23-4. On July 19, Corinto was the scene of a clash between FARC guerillas and government forces in which three local residents were killed and 17 wounded. Jorge Arias of the Association of Indigenous Cabildos of North Cauca (ACIN) told the crowd in Corinto at the march's end: "We come here to honor the memory of our dead, and to say to the armed groups, legal and illegal, enough with all this violence!" (El Tiempo, Bogotá, July 24)

Traditional indigenous authorities in Antioquia department issued a statement protesting that three residents of the Embera Eyabida reserve Jaidezabi, in Tarazá municipality, were killed by men identified as members of the FARC's Front 18. Luis Orlando Domicó Majore, 32, was killed near his home July 20. The gunmen announced they were seeking other residents. Two days later, Ana Luz Soto, 40, of the indigenous pueblo of Senú, was was shot in the back numerous times in the center of the nearby village of El Bagre.