Millions marched in cities across Colombia July 5 to demand the release of all the estimated 300 captives in the hands of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) and other armed groups, and that the remains be turned over of 11 lawmakers recently killed while in the FARC's hands. At midday, nearly the entire country came to a halt for five minutes as bells, sirens and cries sounded in unison. The protests were led by President Alvaro Uribe.

Some 10,000 Colombians marched through Bogota's main avenues on July 1 as part of the worldwide celebrations for International Pride Day (June 28). The march, which went from the National Park to the Plaza de Bolivar, was organized by the Diverse Colombia foundation, and was backed by a number of politicians, including Carlos Gaviria, president of the center-left Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA), and Senator Piedad Cordoba of the Liberal Party. The march was given a somber note by two events in June: the death of 11 legislative deputies held hostage by the FARC in a June 18 incident and the failure of a civil union law to get final approval before Congress recessed on June 20. Some marchers wore black in memory of the deputies; one sign read: "They too deserved to be free." (Milenio, Mexico, July 1 from Notimex; Terra Espana, July 2 from EFE)

On the evening of June 26, hundreds of people vigiled in Lima, Peru, to protest the efforts of the ruling Aprista party majority in Congress to push through the "addenda" of a free trade treaty between the US and Peruvian governments. Last year on June 27, Peru's outgoing Congress approved the original version of the TLC. The addenda were recently negotiated in secret between US authorities and Peru's foreign trade minister, Mercedes Araoz, and were given fast-track treatment by the Peruvian Congress, bypassing the usual committee process to go straight to the plenary for approval. The revised text is designed to appease concerns of Democratic lawmakers in the US Congress, which has yet to approve the pact.

On June 27, hundreds of police agents used tear gas in an effort to break up a blockade of Peru's central highway by miners carrying out a regional strike. The miners struck back with rocks, and one police agent was killed when he was hit in the head with a rock. Following the agent's death, the miners lifted the blockade.

Raúl Reyes, secretary of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), issued a call June 29 for the suspension of military operations in the southwest of Colombia to allow for the transfer of the bodies of 11 lawmakers who died in guerilla captivity on the 18th. The call came in an open letter to the relatives of the legislators and former cabinet minister Alvaro Leyva Durán, who led the failed peace dialogue wiith the FARC in 1998 and has since been involved in efforts to free the hostages. The letter comes a day after the FARC's Joint Western Command (Comando Conjunto de Occidente) e-mailed a communique to the Colombian media asserting the legislators had been killed in crossfire between the guerillas and an "unidentified military group." (La Jornada, Mexico, June 29)

In response to years of activist pressure, Congressional Democrats have proposed amendments to the Bush administration's annual foreign aid appropriations request for Colombia. If the Democrats have their way, overall funding will be cut by 10%, while 45% of the total package will now be devoted to economic and humanitarian assistance, the remainder to the military. Yet, the majority of aid would still be directed at Colombia's military, regularly implicated in horrendous human rights abuses. Moreover, despite the proposed cuts, Colombia is "expected to get an additional $150 million in purely military and police assistance through a separate appropriation in the defense budget bill," as the Houston Chronicle reported June 7. Nor do the Democratic proposals appear to include any new mechanisms for ensuring that remaining military aid is not used to commit human rights abuses. (Jake Hess for Upside Down World, June 27)

ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips have opted to abandon their heavy crude oil projects in eastern Venezuela's Orinoco Belt rather than cede majority ownership and operating control to the state-owned oil company PDVSA, Venezuelan officials announced June 26. President Hugo Chavez had set that day as the deadline for the six foreign owners of four projects in the region to agree to new terms, a part of his program to "re-nationalize" the energy sector, along with banks and telecommunications.

Two people were killed, including a three-year-old girl, and seven wounded June 24 when presumed leftist guerillas detonated a bomb in a tourist area of Colombia's main Pacific port, Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca department), the latest in a series of attacks over the weekend. Seven bombs or grenades exploded at commercial centers around the city and a police station in the previous attacks, which began June 22, leaving 23 injured. Authorities blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest guerilla group. "This is retaliation from the FARC for the killing of one of their key leaders," Interior Minister Carlos Holguin told local Caracol Radio. "These bandits have decided to attack the civilian population and create acts of terror." (Reuters, June 24)