Bolivian President Evo Morales flew to Moscow Feb. 14 to discuss cooperation in energy and counter-narcotics efforts with the Russian leadership. The visit comes a week after Russia's Gazprom and the Bolivia's state hydrocarbons company YPFB signed a memorandum on drafting a plan for the joint development of the Bolivian gas industry up to 2030. Construction of hydropower stations in Bolivia by the Russian company Tekhnopromexport is said to be under consideration as well. Before his departure for Moscow, Morales also said that he would discuss with the purchase of Russian planes and helicopters for drug enforcement. (ITAR-TASS, Feb. 15)

An analysis this week by the Council for Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), "Venezuelan Synagogue Vandalizing Takes New Turn: The Culmination of a Number of Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel Incidents," accuses President Hugo Chávez and his government of creating a climate that fostered the Jan. 31 attack on the Tiferet Israel Sephardic temple in Caracas.

The Colombian government has not done enough to stem the rising violence against labor union leaders or address the backlog of labor union leader killings, witnesses told the US House Education and Labor Committee Feb. 12. A leading Colombian labor think tank, the National Labor School, also testified that killings of union members jumped by 25% in 2008.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees called upon Colombia to investigate the killings of a group of indigenous people last week that raised fears of a mass exodus. UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva Feb. 10 that "an irregular armed group" carried out an attack on the Awá people in a remote jungle region of Nariño department, killing 17 people. Nariño's socialist governor Antonio Navarro, citing witness accounts, said the attack had been carried out by the FARC guerillas.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) released former Meta governor Alan Jara to a humanitarian mission on Feb. 3 in Guaviare department; the rebels had held him as a hostage for more than seven and a half years. On Feb. 5 the group released former legislative deputy Sigifredo López in Cauca department; López, who had spent almost seven years in captivity, is the only surviving member of a group of 12 deputies from Valle del Cauca department captured by the FARC in April 2002.

Venezuelan investigators announced Feb. 8 the arrest of seven police agents and four civilians in connection with the Caracas synagogue attack. The Venezuelan public prosecutor's office said the civilians included at least one security official from the synagogue. "These people were apprehended during raids carried out between Saturday and the early hours of Sunday in different parts of Caracas. They will all be charged by the Public Prosecutor's office," the office said in a statement.

President Hugo Chávez condemned the Jan. 30 attack on Venezuela's main synagogue in a Feb. 5 statement—but warned it was being used to fan unrest ahead of a referendum next week on his bid for unlimited re-election. "They accuse me of being anti-Semitic. I don't hate Jews, and I call on all Venezuelan Jews not to let themselves be used," Chávez said during a military parade in Maracay.

Survival International has received reports that indigenous communities of the Sierra de Perijá in Venezuela are being threatened by Colombian rebels. Survival reports that members of the FARC, Colombia's largest rebel group, have been settling among Barí and Yukpa indigenous communities in the border area. The rebels bring in weapons and drugs, entice young people to their ranks, and squat on indigenous land.