Colombia's FARC guerrillas agreed in principle Oct. 28 to meet with 150 prominent Colombian intellectual and political figures to discuss a release of hostages. The meeting had been suggested in a Sept. 11 letter by the group, which includes relatives of hostages. In a response posted to the Internet, the FARC stated: "This letter is the beginning of an exchange to discuss the issues surrounding a political end to the conflict, the humanitarian exchange and peace... Eternal war cannot be the destiny of the country." The statement, dated October 16 and datelined "Mountains of Colombia," was signed by the group's seven-man General Secretariat.

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe announced Oct. 29 the sacking of 25 soldiers and officers—including three generals and four colonels—in connection with the deaths of 11 young men from the town of Soacha, in central Cundinamarca department. The move followed a probe of suspected extrajudicial executions falsely reported as combat deaths.

The nearly 40,000 indigenous Colombians who marched on Cali in a two-week cross-country trek to meet with President Alvaro Uribe in a dialogue on land reform and human rights issues are preparing to return to their homes in Cauca department to the south, after being stood up by the president for a meeting scheduled over the weekend. Indigenous representatives arrived the morning of Oct. 26 at Cali's municipal building for the meeting, but kept waiting three hours they finally decided to leave.

Conservative Colombian congressman Oscar Tulio Lizcano is free Oct. 26 after more than eight years as a hostage of the FARC guerillas—their longest-held captive. But news accounts diverge widely on the details of his liberation. CBS says he was "freed" by the Colombian army. RTT News reports he was "rescued" by the armed forces. But Reuters writes that Lizcano "escaped through the jungles with one of his captors," and they "traveled for three days before reaching an army post where the guerrilla surrendered."

Some 30,000 indigenous protesters arrived in the Colombian city of Cali Oct. 25, where President Álvaro Uribe pledges to meet with their leaders this weekend for a dialogue on land conflicts and investigations into 1,240 indigenous Colombians who have been killed in the six years he has been in power.

Colombian authorities announced Oct. 21 they've broken up a drug and money laundering ring in an international operation that included the capture of three suspected of shipping funds to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. More than 100 suspects were arrested in Colombia and overseas on charges that they trafficked drugs and laundered cash for Colombia's Norte del Valle cartel.

Maria del Pilar Hurtado, director of Colombia's DAS intelligence agency, resigned Oct. 23 following revelations her secret police had been spying on opposition Sen. Gustavo Petro, as part of a probe of his Polo Democrático party's supposed links to the FARC guerillas. President Álvaro Uribe accepted the director's resignation. Both Uribe and del Pilar deny the spying was undertaken on direct orders from the president. (Colombia Reports, Oct. 23)

No more paras in Colombia?On Oct. 15, a group calling itself the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC) shut down the entire region of Urabá, ordering all businesses from Mutata to Necoclí to close, and prohibiting transportation between these communities. This is the zona bananera, the focus of a US court case against Chiquita Brands, and for the last ten years one of the strongholds of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC).