The governments of Brazil and Venezuela are leading efforts to create a NATO-style South American Defense Council, which could be formed by the end of the year. The regional body would coordinate defense policies, deal with internal conflicts and presumably wane Washington's influence in its "backyard."

Diego Alexander Pulgarín, press-ganged into the Colombian military through the "Campesino Soldier" anti-guerilla militia program on Jan. 5, was released from the Rionegro Battalion military base in Antioquia department April 14, after declaring himself a conscientious objector. Pulgarín was held at the base against his will after refusing to take part in military training. The Medellín anti-militarist group Red Juvenil (Youth Network) held a demonstration in his support outside the base where he was held in the town of La Union March 27. (Red Juvenil, April 2, 14)

Venezuela's government announced April 9 it will nationalize the country's largest steel maker following months of tense negotiations between the foreign-owned Sidor and its workers, who have been demanding better salaries and benefits. Days earlier, President Hugo Chávez announced a state takeover of leading cement companies.

Residents from the southern Ecuadorian province of Azuay used rocks and burning tires to block a stretch of the Panamerican Highway on April 2 to protest a planned industrial-sized goldmine, which they say will contaminate the local water supply. Canadian gold giant Iamgold has been eyeing entry into the region.

On March 30, local campesino leader Gerardo Antonio Crio was assassinated near his home in the community of Vereda El Jordán, Cocorna municipality, in easter Antioquia department. The killers apparently used a gun with a silencer, as nobody in the community heard the shot. Local rights leaders call this evidence that the killing was a pre-planned assassination. Crio was a leader of the Eastern Antioquia Association of Small Producers (ASOPROA), which works to secure land rights and farm aid for campesinos displaced by the conflict. Local rights group Corporación Jurídica Libertad has for two years been calling for international action to defend the lives of ASOPROA's leaders following mounting threats from paramilitaries. (Corporación Jurídica Libertad, via DHColombia, April 2)

The Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) said the medical mission sponsored by the French government is inappropriate and will not be granted access to ailing hostage Ingrid Betancourt, in a communiqué issued by the guerilla General Staff April 9. The communiqué said that if President Uribe had agreed to rebel demands and pulled the army from the municipalities of Pradera and Florida (Valle del Cauca department) for 45 days earlier this year, Betancourt and other hostages would have been released. The medical mission has been waiting in Bogotá for FARC approval to fly into the jungle where Betancourt is held. French Exterior Minister Bernard Kouchner responded by accusing the FARC of a "great deception" for denying access to Betancourt, and pledged that France "will not abandon Ingrid." (EFE, April 10; Prensa Latina, April 9)

President Bush announced April 7 that he is sending the Colombia free trade agreement to Congress, and called for its speedy ratification, saying, "The need for this agreement is too urgent." Legislators will have 90 business days to approve or reject the FTA. Bush conceded the pact could have some harmful effects at home, but he said the benefits would far outweigh them. The US imports grains, cotton and soybeans from Colombia, much of it duty-free under temporary accords already in place. But US exports to Colombia remain subject to tariffs. "I think it makes sense to remedy this situation," Bush said. "It's time to level the playing field." Trade between the US and Colombia amounted to about $18 billion in 2007. (NYT, April 7)

More than three years after a brutal massacre of two families in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, Colombian prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 15 Army soldiers for participating in the killing and for terrorism. (Fiscalía press release, March 27)