A new blue-and-green-throated hummingbird species, dubbed the gorgeted puffleg, has been discovered in a threatened cloud forest of southwest Colombia. The name comes from the iridescent emerald green and electric blue patch on the throat—or gorge—of the males, and from tufts of white feathers at the top of the legs, a characteristic of puffleg hummers. The new species is easily twice as big as the thumb-sized hummingbirds found in the eastern United States.

From the International Crisis Group, May 10:

Colombia’s New Armed Groups
The disbanding of the paramilitary United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) between 2003 and 2006 is seen by the administration of President Alvaro Uribe as a vital step toward peace. While taking some 32,000 AUC members out of the conflict has certainly altered the landscape of violence, there is growing evidence that new armed groups are emerging that are more than the simple “criminal gangs” that the government describes. Some of them are increasingly acting as the next generation of paramilitaries, and they require a more urgent and more comprehensive response from the government.

Colombian National Police chief Gen. Jorge Daniel Castro and his intelligence boss Gen. Guillermo Chaves were forced to retire May 14 following cliams that police illegally tapped calls of opposition political figures, journalists and members of the government. "The procedure is totally unacceptable, illegal and contrary to the policy of the government," President Alvaro Uribe‘s office said in a statement. The scandal broke over the weekend when newsweekly Semana reported the interception of phone conversations revealing that imprisoned paramilitary leaders continue to operate their networks from behind bars. The scandal is being dubbed the "Colombian Watergate." Castro's replacement was named as Oscar Naranjo, director of the police investigative agency DIJIN. Also May 14, the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of 20 politicians and business leaders, including four senators and one lower house representative, on criminal conspiracy charges for signing the 2001 "Rialto Pact" with paramilitary leaders. (El Espectador, Radio Caracol, AP, May 14)

On May 14 at 7 AM, Francisco Puerta, a leader of the Colombian "peace community" of San José de Apartadó, was assassinated by paramilitaries outside the bus terminal in the town of Apartadó, the municipal seat. Two para gunmen approached him in the store where he sitting and fired several times—then calmly walked away and escaped, despite the presence of numerous police in the vicinity.

Nine National Police officers on a coca eradication mission were killed near Landazuri in Colombia's northeast Santander department May 9, when a roadside bomb exploded, destroying their truck. Six other officers were injured. All were members of a mobile unit operating out of Bucaramanga. Authorities immediately blamed the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC). Police Sgt. Alberto Cantillo told reporters: "Where there's coca, you'll find guerillas." Among the dead was the brother of top Colombian football star Luis Yanes, who plays for Santa Fe in Bogota. The attack is another blow for President Alvaro Uribe, who has vowed to crush the FARC by the end of his term in 2010. Last year, 26 military and police officers were killed while on coca eradication missions. (BBC, AlJazeera, May 10)

Argentine President Néstor Kirchner made a telephone call over the weekend to his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez, asking him not to nationalize Sidor, Venezuela's biggest steel mill. The head of Argentina's Techint Group, which owns Sidor, is ex­pected to fly to Caracas next week for urgent talks with Chávez.

Colombian prosecutor general Mario Iguarán confirmed that several foreigners, at least three from Ecuador, are among the 105 presumed paramilitary victims whose bodies were exhumed from a mass grave near La Hormiga, Putumayo department, May 5. Another 106 bodies were exhumed from 65 common graves in the area over the past ten months. Ecuadoran families had been inquiring about loved ones who had disappeared across the border. Most of the victims, who investigators believe were killed between 1999 and 2001, had been dismembered before burial. With these finds, the number of bodies of presumed paramilitary victims exhumed nationwide since the beginning of 2006 to 900. Iguaran’s office estimates 10,000 Colombians lie in unmarked graves across the country, now in its fifth decade of civil war. "It has surprised us, despite the fact that we are in the middle of a conflict," said Iguarán, adding that his office has reports of 3,000 common graves from victims' families and other sources. The investigation is being carried out by the Judicial and Investigative Police Directorate (DIJIIN). Radio Caracol cited an internal report it said identified those responsible for the Putumayo graves as Carlos Mario Jiménez, alias "Macaco," leader of the Central Bolívar Bloc of the United Colombian Self-Defense Forces (AUC), and his second-in-command Arnolfo Santamaría Galindo, alias "Pipa." (El Espectador, Bogota; AP, May 6)

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa announced last week that he will increase military and security forces around oil facilities and allow the use of force to remove protestors. "We will not allow any more invasions of oil installations or the blockage of roads," said Correa while visiting the Amazon, which contains the country’s largest oil reserves. [Reuters, April 27]