Colombia extradited top kingpin "Don" Diego Montoya, 47, to the US Dec. 12, where he faces charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and murder. Officials say he exported tons of cocaine and was responsible for killing at least 1,500 people in a two-decade career. With a $5 million US price on his head, Montoya was captured by the Colombian army at a finca in Zarzal, Norte del Valle department, in September 2007. Transfered to Bogotá by helicopter from his prison cell in Cómbita, Boyacá, Montoya was flown to Miami in a DEA plane. National Police chief Gen. Óscar Naranjo said the extradition "closes the chapter of the government's offensive to dismantle the Norte del Valle cartel." (El Tiempo, Bogotá; NYT, Dec. 12)

About 20,000 peasant families in La Paz department have been affected by drought for months, the Bolivian Information Agency reports. If there is no rain in the next 30 days, there will be a massive loss of livestock, warned Victor Saravia of Bolivia's Early Warning and Risk Prevention Bureau. "We traveled to four regions: Camacho, Ingavi, Pacajes and Loayza, and found that there is a shortage of water for both human consumption and for animals'," said Saravia. He also named Ixiamas district in the north of La Paz as at risk, saying that 6,000 head of cattle could die in the department in the weeks to come. Meanwhile, hailstorms have wiped out crops in lowland Cochabamba department. Civil defense authorities are considering declaration of a state of emergency. (Xinhua, Dec. 8; Prensa Latina, Dec. 5)

Bolivian President Evo Morales, defending his decision to expel the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said the agency was actually involved in the drug traffic, and "did not respect the police, or even the [Bolivian] armed forces." Announcing that the staff from the US agency has three months to leave the country, he added: "The worst thing is, it did not fight drug trafficking; it encouraged it." He said he had "quite a bit of evidence" backing up his charges. Morales said that after a 1986 operation in Huanchaca National Park, it was determined that the largest cocaine processing plant "was under DEA protection." He also accused the agency of spying on and even killing cocaleros and other opponents of US policies.

Unions and social organizations held a commemoration Dec. 6 at Ciénaga, in the Colombian Caribbean coast department of Magdalena, marking the anniversary of the 1928 "Masacre de las Bananeras," carried out by the army against hundreds of striking workers of the United Fruit Company. Hundreds gathered in what is now called Plaza of the Martyrs to hear speeches and testimony from aging survivors and descendants of the massacre victims. Up to a thousand were killed by some estimates when the army surrounded and opened fire on a union rally in Ciénaga's central plaza in the midst of a strike over collective bargaining rights—although the official death toll was put at nine. (Radio Caracol, Dec. 6)

On Dec. 2 Venezuelan interior and justice minister Tarek El Aissami announced the arrest of Julio Cesar Agrinzones (also given as "Arguinzones") Romero the night before on charges of killing three leftist Venezuelan unionists—Richard Gallardo, Carlos Requena and Luis Hernández—the night of Nov. 27 in the city of Cagua, southwest of Caracas in Aragua state. Although El Aissami said the government had not established who was behind the killing, he implied it was "over a job," hinting at internal conflicts in the pro-government National Workers Union (UNT), in which the victims were leaders.

Efforts by the US to fight its own financial crisis may cut Latin American governments off from access to credit at a time when they need an estimated $250 billion for financing their 2009 budgets. The US has been issuing huge volumes of Treasury bonds and is running a fiscal deficit that could top $1 trillion next year. The Latin American Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (CLAAF)—a group of economists including former Argentine finance minister Roque Fernandez and former Venezuelan central bank president Ruth de Krivoy—warns that the massive borrowing by the US government may "crowd out" Latin American and other emerging economies from the credit markets."

Colombia recalled its top diplomat in Venezuela's second largest city last week after President Hugo Chávez threatened to expel the official for allegedly expressing support for his political opponents. Chávez criticized Colombia's consul in Maracaibo, Carlos Galvis, for privately welcoming the opposition victory in Zulia state, which borders Colombia, in the recent gubernatorial elections. In a secretly recorded telephone conversation broadcast on state TV, Galvis called the opposition's electoral gains "very good news." Chávez demanded Colombia recall Galvis, adding, "If not, I'll expel him."

Former FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt met with Ecuador's President Rafael Correa in Quito Dec. 3 on her tour of South American capitals to line up leaders' support for her campaign to free those still being held by the Colombian guerillas. Said Correa: "Ecuador will do everything it can, everything in our power to ensure these people are freed." Betancourt next headed to Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela. (AFP, Dec. 3)