Over a dozen killed in Mexico in a day

Gun fights between state forces and presumed criminals in two districts of Mexico killed nine including a soldier on 18 November, while 10 policemen were arrested for suspected collusion with organized crime, Proceso reported. The shootouts occurred in the northern district of Indé and in Ocampo in the north-western state of Michoacán; in Ocampo 10 local policemen were arrested after the shootout, including the district police chief and deputy-head. A gang boss or perhaps local representative of one of the cartels - dubbed El Constans - was killed in this shootout. Three men were separately shot dead on a road near Ciudad Juárez by the US frontier; 150 bullets were fired into them from AK-47 assault rifles, Proceso reported. The three were identified as from the nearby district of Guadalupe, and were driving a car without a licence plate. A university lecturer was separately shot dead in the district of Chihuahua on 18 November; he was named as Adolfo Zuñiga de la Torre, a member of the chemistry department at the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Proceso reported. A policeman died in hospital in the northern city of Saltillo, after he was injured in a car chase and shootout with suspects in that city, Milenio reported on 19 November, citing Notimex.

Colombian negotiators set to resume talks with rebels

Colombian negotiators left Bogotá for Havana in Cuba on 18 November, and were set to resume on 19 November talks to end decades of fighting with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), although this round of talks was initially planned for 15 November, El Espectador reported. Colombia's chief negotiator Humberto de la Calle Lombana told the press at Bogota's airport that Colombia knew "clearly and without ambiguities" what it wanted from talks and reminded the FARC that the polity and economics of Colombia were not being discussed. "the Government and the guerrillas have separately said what we both agree on: we are not arriving in Havana to negotiate Colombia's model of development nor government policies, likewise we are not asking the FARC to abandon or negotiate their ideas," he said. He reiterated the government's position that there would be no ceasefire nor any concession to the guerrillas during talks, as he said this had given the FARC advantages in previous parleys. De la Calle said the talks were to last months not years and should yield "practical, possible" results, not "disappointments." He boarded a Colombian airforce plane accompanied by other "plenipotentiary" negotiators, the Colombian High Commissioner for Peace Sergio Jaramillo, the former armed forces chief Jorge Enrique Mora, former Peace Commissioner Frank Pearl and the industrialist Luis Carlos Villegas. Former police chief Oscar Naranjo, another plenipotentiary negotiator, was expected in Havana on 20 November. Meanwhile the FARC and the other leftist guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), continued their violent activities inside Colombia. The FARC were attributed a bomb explosion on 11 November near a police station in Suárez in the southern Cauca department, which  injured 25 people. On 17 they were suspected to have blown up a part of the Transandino pipeline in the southern Nariño department, causing crude oil to pour into the nearby Sucio river, which flows into the larger Putumayo, El Colombiano reported. The ELN were separately the suspected authors of a bomb attack that killed one person and injured two on 17 November, in the district of El Tarra in northern Colombia, El Espectador reported.

Mexican anti-crime coordinator removed from post

Mexican dailies reported on 16 November the resignation "for strictly personal reasons" of the head of the prosecutor's office dealing with organized crime - SEIDO - while indicating that the departure came at the request of Mexico's Prosecutor-General Marisela Morales Ibañez. She was said to have sought the removal of José Cuitláhuac Salinas Martínez as well as the deputy-prosecutor in charge of assaults and car thefts, for "anomalies" found within that office and "possible indications" of criminal conduct by members of its staff, the dailies El Informador and El Universal reported on 16 November. According to CNN Salinas Martínez had resigned weeks before but was provisionally kept in his post. His office, like other public institutions in Mexico, was feared infiltrated and corrupted by drug cartels. Salinas, who took office on 1 November 2011, was also reported to have refused to dismiss officials as requested by the Prosecutor-General. The prosecutor-general's office appointed Rodrigo Archundia Barrientos as acting head of SEIDO (Procuraduría Especializada en Investigación de Delincuencia Organizada).

About 30 killed, found dead in Mexico over three days

More than 30 people were reported killed or found dead from apparent criminal incidents around Mexico on 14-16 November, including gangsters, civil servants and policemen and children, Proceso reported on 15 and on 16 November. The victims included: an official of the state prosecutor's office gunned down while driving in the north-central district of Guanajuato, seven shot dead in the western resort of Acapulco, and two policemen shot dead, in the south-central state of Morelos and in Piedras Negras near the US frontier. The decomposing body of a 12-year-old boy was found on 15 November in Madera in the north-western state of Chihuahua; police believed he was strangled or suffocated to death 30 days earlier. Eleven or 12 of the dead were suspected gangsters shot dead in gun battles with troops in different parts of the country. In one incident gunmen in a convoy of 10 cars began firing on a military patrol in the north-eastern district of Tamaulipas; in another late on 16 November troops shot dead four suspected gangsters on a road in the northern state of Zacatecas, El Universal reported on 17 November. The troops were said to have fired after coming under attack. The former mayoress of Tiquicheo in the western state of Michoacán was found dead on 15 November, in Cuitzeo in the same state, El Universal reported on 17 November. María Santos Gorrestieta Salazar was twice the target of attempted assassinations when she was mayoress in 2008-11, in 2009 when a gun attack killed her husband and in 2010.

Mexican president blames crime for thousands of deaths

Mexico's outgoing president, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, defended his six-year administration's war on drug cartels and said it was "irresponsible" to blame the state or himself for the thousands of violent deaths reported since 2006. He was responding in an interview with the daily Milenio published online on 15 November, to critics who have blamed some 50-60,000 deaths on his decision to fight crime using federal police and the armed forces. One of these was his predecessor Vicente Fox Quesada, who said on 14 November that this had been "a lost war." Calderón told Milenio the dead were to do with "criminals who are killing people, some innocent others probably linked to rival cartels." Violence in Mexico he said "is not a consequence of the Federal Government's actions" but "of violence which we have seen rising in many states," because he said cartels were no longer just sending drugs outwards but seeking to control Mexican territory. This was "a change in the dimension of criminality that was never understood," he said. Mexico he said now had "powerful" armed and police forces, and he praised the intelligence services that had helped catch 25 of Mexico's 37 most wanted criminals, during his term. He said he found Mexican intelligence "totally devastated" when he succeeded Fox, as it had been dismantled. This had been done for the perception that it had been used before 2000 as a "political instrument" to "spy on opponents", and there "was something in that" Calderón admitted. Mexico was governed from 1929 to 2000 by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), a centrist party that became increasingly authoritarian and is set to recover the presidency on 1 December. The conservative National Action Party (PAN) to which Fox and Calderón belong, won elections in 2000 and Fox became president. But aside his later criticisms of Calderón, he angered the PAN by backing the PRI candidate in the 2012 general elections. Calderón told Milenio he had not spoken to Fox for some time. Fox in turn told the broadcaster Univisión on 14 November that he had "time and again" advised Calderón not to use the army to fight cartels, but "he did exactly the opposite and we are seeing the consequences today." The only way to win against drugs he said "is by being with our children, educating and informing them and taking responsibility for our children's behaviour." He said the state could not be expected to protect "our children and prevent them from accessing drugs." He also chided the United States for allegedly doing little to curb the habits of its "60 million" drug users. "We are doing all the work for them," he said.

At least 20 killed in Mexico mid-week

"At least" 20 were reported killed or found dead around Mexico on 12-14 November, presumed victims of criminal violence and most likely of organized crime. These included: a bus driver shot before a bus-full of passengers in Acapulco on the western coast, four gunned down outside a brewery in Ciudad Valles near the eastern port of Tampico, five bodies found at the back of an estate car in Ecatepec outside Mexico City and two including a journalist shot dead in Tehuacán, in the eastern state of Puebla, Proceso reported on 13 and 14 November. The journalist was shot while driving from an assignment; the other victim was a former policewoman, CNN reported. In the north-eastern state of Nuevo León, police arrested on 10 November, 22 suspects identified as members of the Gulf Cartel and working in a team led by a 19-year-old, Proceso reported on 14 November. The "cell," including three members aged 15-17, was thought involved in drug trafficking, kidnapping and murders in the district of China where the suspects were arrested, Nuevo León's security spokesman Jorge Domene Zambrano said. Authorities revealed on 13 November the arrests of three other presumed members of cartels, Proceso reported. These were identified as Mario Arturo Zurita, head of The Zetas in the northern district of Saltillo arrested on 12 November, and two members of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, detained on 9 November in the eastern port of Veracruz. Separately the mayor of El Bosque in the southern state of Chiapas and two municipal offficials were shot and injured in an ambush, while driving to nearby Simojovel on 13 November, Proceso reported.

Colombian police arrest gang bosses at "summit"

Police forces arriving in helicopters bust a meeting of criminal bosses on an estate in western Colombia on 9 November, arresting 27 leading members including the two chiefs of Los Rastrojos, a gang involved in drug trafficking, extortion and murders, EFE reported on 11 November. Members of this gang recently gunned down 10 farm workers, apparently for their employer's failure to pay protection money. The gangsters were meeting outside the town of La Virginia in the Risaralda department to discuss strategies in south-western Colombia, EFE cited Colombia's police chief José Roberto León as saying. The detained included Nelson Mauricio Taborda or Mascota (Pet), who led the Rastrojos following the arrest last July of their chief Diego Pérez Henao, and his deputy dubbed Picante (Spicy), whom the police chief described as "extremely dangerous." He said Picante was thought involved in several murders that included brutal methods like the dismemberment of victims, a practice apparently learned from unspecified Mexican cartels. The gang's chiefs for seven or eight departments of Colombia were reportedly among the 27 held, EFE and El Espectador reported.  The daily cited President Juan Manuel Santos as saying on 10 November that the state had ever-improving intelligence on the workings of such gangs and would keep arresting new leaders "as they emerge."

Kirchner opponents repeat protests in Argentina

"Tens of thousands" of Argentinians protested on 8 November in Buenos Aires and other cities against insecurity, inflation, corruption and the policies of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, repeating the protests organized in September, the daily Clarín reported on 9 November. It observed that these protests were "directed principally against" Kirchner, who many Argentines suspect may wish to serve a third presidential term. She is not allowed by law to serve a third consecutive term and the government has said nothing about plans to alter the constitution to allow this, but suspicions evidently persisted. Police reportedly counted some 30,000 people outside the presidential palace in Buenos Aires in the evening, while Clarín, a daily unsympathetic to Kirchner, reported "massive demonstrations" not just in the capital but in cities including Córdoba, Mendoza and San Miguel de Tucumán, without citing figures. The government noted the support of some opposition politicians for the protests including of the mayor of Buenos Aires Mauricio Macri who was reportedly in the crowd. The speaker of Argentina's lower legislative chamber Julián Domínguez observed on 9 November that mobilisations "for negative sentiments are not good for" Argentina and would not strengthen institutions, the state agency Telam reported. Kirchner in turn defended her policies at a gathering in the presidential palace on 9 November, as a "political project of inclusion, even of those who disagree," Telam reported. On 7 November, a power outage left some 1.5 million residents of central Buenos Aires without electricity for over two hours, also halting the metro and utilities and causing traffic jams, Europa Press reported on 8 November. Work in parliament and government offices was also affected. The planning minister Julio de Vido said on 8 November that the government would investigate prior to possible legal action, and insisted there had been "no problem with energy supplies or generation," Europa Press reported. He said "we cannot blame the heat...we notice the hour, the place and the demand, which was half what that line could convey." November is late spring in Argentina.

Ten reported killed around Mexico, traffickers held

Ten people were reported killed or found dead in six states around Mexico on 8 November, the review Proceso reported. One of the dead, apparently strangled and beaten to death, was found in the morning in the very busy Distribuidor Juárez intersection of the north-central city of San Luis Potosí, where public messages from unspecified drug cartels were also displayed. In Sonora a 17-year-old schoolboy was injured in the face as gunmen fired shots at the family car driving to school; he was reportedly recovering in hospital. Separately, a day after she was kidnapped, the mother of a regional legislator from Guerrero in western Mexico was freed; she was left by a building on the road between Zihuatanejo and Acapulco in Guerrero, though it was not immediately clear if a ransom had been paid, Proceso reported on 8 November. Authorities also announced the arrests of three drug traffickers on 7 November, one of whom was already reported as detained the previous summer. They were identified as the head of The Zetas cartel in the northern city of Saltillo where he was arrested, a presumed member of The Zetas dubbed El Chikano detained in the city of Aguascalientes, and a leader of the Cartel del Centro named as Benicio Flores Hernández - El Benny.  He was detained in Tlalnepantla in Estado de México where the cartel works, Proceso reported. It was not immediately clear why he was arrested twice. Flores reportedly ran the cartel's trafficking in the districts of Tlalnepantla, Atizapán and part of Ecatepec in Estado de México from 2011, the year the cartel's chief was reportedly arrested.

Colombian gangsters murder 10 peasants

Suspected gangsters murdered 10 workers on a fruit farm in northern Colombia on 7 November, firing "indiscriminately" before throwing a grenade at them, The Associated Press reported, citing police statements. The police were reportedly told that three gunmen gathered a group of workers on an estate in the district of Santa Rosa de Osos in the Antióquia department, and asked if the business was paying protection money; the workers apparently did not know or would not say, whereupon the gunmen began shooting. The massacre was attributed to the Rastrojos gang, the broadcaster Caracol reported on 8 November. Colombia's Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón said in Bogotá on 8 November that "such barbaric acts have no explanation," though police commanders would travel to the zone to investigate, El Espectador reported. Pinzón said in an interview with Blu Radio that the incident was of concern as authorities had recently detained the presumed local head of the Rastrojos, dubbed 18. The governor of Antióquia Sergio Fajardo Valderrama also spoke to Blu Radio, lamenting that "the criminal phenomenon" continued even as leading criminals were caught. Separately a Venezuelan beauty queen and two Colombians were among five arrested in Venezuela at an unspecified date and being questioned for suspected ties to the Colombian drug trafficker Daniel "Crazy" Barrera, arrested last September. The detained, including Gabriela Alexandra Fernández Ocando - beauty queen for the Venezuelan state of Zulia in 2008 - may be charged with money laundering and criminal conspiracy, Caracol reported on 8 November.

Eight killed around Mexico, drug cash found

"At least" eight people were reported to have been killed or found dead on 7 November in different parts of Mexico, including one in the form of a severed head found on a road outside Ríoverde in north-central Mexico. Others included suspected criminals killed in shootouts with the police, Proceso reported. Criminals were also reported that day to have kidnapped the mother of a regional legislator in western Mexico. Sandra Luz Ríos Ríos was abducted from her bakery in a village in the Benito Juárez district of the state of Guerrero, Proceso reported. Her son Ricardo Ángel Barrientos Ríos was elected last July to the state parliament of Guerrero for the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party; he was mayor of Benito Juárez in 2009-12. Guerrero has in past months witnessed regular violence as cartels fight to control its territory. In the northern state of Nuevo León, authorities presented to the press on 7 November four presumed members of the Gulf Cartel likely involved in murders and kidnappings, detained on a state highway on 22 October, Proceso reported. They were said to have confessed to their roles in 13 killings including of policemen, and 16 kidnappings in southern Nuevo León. Separately the explosion of a house for a gas leak in the north-western city of Tijuana led police to find there about 1.8 million USD thought to belong to the Sinaloa Cartel, Proceso reported on 7 November. Five children or teenagers were injured by the explosion as was a woman identified as niece of the trafficker and cartel member Raydel López Uriarte, jailed in 2010. In Coatzacoalcos in the eastern state of Veracruz the army arrested a "criminal cell," confiscating from them items including six cars, 500 doses of cocaine, cash worth about 20,000 USD and arms including a machine gun and a rocket launcher, Proceso reported.

Policemen ambushed, murderers caught in Mexico

Three policemen killed in an ambush were among six reported victims of violence around Mexico on 6 November. The three members of the state police were shot while driving in the district of Arcelia in the western state of Guerrero, Proceso reported. A suspect was separately shot dead by police in the northern city of Torreón, after refusing to stop his car; a gun was later found inside. Another victim identified as a local drug dealer, was shot dead by police in Tulum on Mexico's Caribbean coast. He and two others were sought out when police received a phone call that "three armed men were beating" someone in a karaoke bar. They escaped toward a house whence they fired on police coming after them; one was arrested. Proceso separately reported an "attack" on police late on 5 November in the Pánuco district of the eastern state of Veracruz, apparently without casualties. Authorities announced also the arrest, apparently in the western city of Guadalajara, of two presumed members of the cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (JNG) who confessed to killing three public-transport employees in neighbouring Zapopan on 11 October. They said they had been ordered to kill the drivers to avenge the death of a relative of one of the cartel's leaders by a bus driver, though it was not immediately clear if this had been an accident, Proceso reported on 6 November. The JNG cartel reportedly killed five transport workers in Zapopan that day. The detained confessed to taking part in 14 other killings, including of a three-year-old accidently killed in a shootout.

Sandinistas win Nicaraguan local polls

Nicaragua's ruling National Liberation Sandinista Front (FSLN), the party of President Daniel Ortega, won most city governments in the municipal elections of 4 November, amid the skepticism of some observers and post-election clashes in five municipalities. The United Alliance (Alianza Unida, AU) led by the Sandinistas was officially declared to have won 134 of 153 municipal governments including 14 of 17 departmental capitals and the capital Managua, Europa Press reported on 6 November citing reports of official declarations. The officialist mayoress of Managua Daysi Torres retained her post, reportedly winning some 230,000 votes more than her challenger Alfredo Gutiérrez. The head of the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) Roberto Rivas reportedly gave 57.7 per cent as the participation rate of eligible voters and 75.69 per cent as the share of votes won by AU. The opposition Independent Liberal Party (PLI) won 12 municipal governments and Yatama, an indigenist party allied to the government, three, EFE reported. The agency added that three were killed in clashes in five districts in northern and western Guatemala; unspecified opposition offices were destroyed in one municipality, it reported. Not all observers were as delighted with the results as the government: the civic association Ética y Transparencia, which seeks strictly democratic institutions in Nicaragua, deplored the polls as a "farse" and alleged a "structure" parallel to the state had handled ballots unsupervised, EFE reported. The US State Department observed in turn that the elections had not been transparent enough to assure that "the process faithfully reflected the will of the Nicaraguan people." Its spokeswoman Victoria Nuland cited on 5 November reported irregularities including individuals being prevented from voting and "cases of voters being allowed to vote multiple times." The Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) sent by the Organization of American States suggested specific improvements to the electoral process, but stated it had observed a generally "civic atmsophere," Europa Press reported.

Other Colombian rebels urged to start peace talks

The president of the Colombian Senate Roy Barreras Montealegre urged the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) on 3 November to start talking to the state "soon," emulating the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and help end decades of civil conflict in the country. His comments, made in Pasto in the south-western Nariño department, followed the ELN's own recent proposals about possible talks. Barreras suggested separate talks with the ELN as they were part of a "different story" and had differing interests from the FARC, El Espectador reported. The ELN are Colombia's second guerrilla force in terms of numbers. Barreras was attending an event in Pasto to collect citizen's opinions on negotiations with the FARC. He said addressing the FARC that Colombians wanted an end to kidnappings before their could be peace; "we want a peace without traps. I especially hope before agreements are signed in coming months that there will be no more kidnappings nor children recruited by the guerrillas," he said. On 5 November Colombia asked Pope Benedict XVI to bless the incipient peace process with the FARC. The request was made by the new ambassador to the Holy See, Germán Cardona Gutiérrez, while presenting his credentials to the Supreme Pontiff, El Espectador reported. "Fierce fighting" was reported in contrast on 4 November between Colombian troops and the FARC, in the south-western district of Corinto. Five including an eight-year-old child were injured as gun shots and mortar fire were exchanged in hilly country around the town of Corinto in the Cauca department, the broadcaster Caracol reported. The army said one guerrilla was captured and another surrendered.

Cartel suspect detained in Mexico, four killed

Four men were found dead in eastern Mexico on 4 November with indications they had been "executed" by a cartel or gang, Proceso reported. Their bodies were found outside the town of Tierra Blanca with heads covered, hands tied and showing "signs of torture," the review reported. Authorities were reported that day to have made several arrests around Mexico. On 1 November soldiers arrested a suspect identified as "one of the most important" members of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Mexico's leading cartel though challenged by rivals, Proceso reported on 4 November. Jesús Alfredo Salazar Ramírez - El Muñeco (Doll) - was stopped in Huixquilucan in the Estado de México state. He headed Los Salazar, a gang said to be part of the Sinaloa cartel, and was sought for his suspected in role in "numerous" executions around northern Mexico and in the capital, including of the anti-crime activist Nepomuceno Moreno Núñez in November 2011. A Texas court had separately issued an arrest warrant for him, for charges of criminal association and drug trafficking. On 3 or 4 November police arrested three Guatemalans "wearing military uniforms" thought to have participated in "one of the shootouts" reported on 3 November in the northern city of Reynosa, Proceso reported. They were detained after they began shooting at a police patrol near their purported hideout; arms, ammunition and hand grenades were found in the house. Proceso reported another shoutout in Reynosa on 4 November, in a shopping centre and apparently without casualties.

Twenty six reported killed around Mexico

It was one of Mexico's more violent days: more than 25 were reported killed or found dead on 1-2 November, including four whose dismembered bodies were left outside a police station with a warning message. Presumed cartel members left the bodies in a car boot outside a federal police station in the northern city of Torreón, with a message to the "asshole" police to "keep still" or there would be more violence, the review Proceso reported on 2 November. Also in Torreón, gunmen fired on a congregation attending a "service" or ceremony in honour of the figure of Holy Death, killing six in the group. The cult of Holy Death (Santa Muerte), depicted as a squeleton clad in robes not unlike those of the Virgin Mary, has in recent years emerged as a pseudo-religion followed mostly by the lower classes and criminals. In the west-coast state of Guerrero, four members of a family were shot dead at home late on 1 November, in the countryside of the Coyuca de Benítez district; a decapitated body was also left in a car in the nearby district of Acapulco, Milenio reported. In the state's Ajuchitlán de Progreso district, troops rescued a man kidnapped by a gang on 31 October and arrested nine suspects including four teenagers, Milenio reported on 2 November. The purported gang of kidnappers included four members aged 16 and one aged 19. In Cancún on Mexico's Caribbean coast, a 15-year-old boy and suspected thief was shot dead outside his home, at dawn on 1 November. The boy was reputedly "very violent" and had been reported several times to the police for thieving and assaults, Milenio reported. Police detained his mother, an uncle and a brother for questioning. His mother said she came out of the house and found his lifeless body, after she heard gun shots then her son "muttering."

Mayoress sends marines onto streets of Monterrey

Ninety Mexican marines began patrolling downtown Monterrey in northern Mexico on 1 November, in one of the new mayor's first moves to boost the crime-ridden city's security and to enhance, or restore, public trust in local security forces. Residents and drivers were said to have watched in surprise - or admiration - as armed and masked navy troops "slowly drove around" central Monterrey, stopping to inspect suspect vehicles, Guadalajara's 1070 Radio reported. Margarita Arellanes Cervantes, Monterrey's first female mayor since its foundation in 1596, said that day that "we are starting a new phase," even as she urged people to "call and inform" on suspects to help beat crime, Milenio reported on 2 November. She said she hoped people would trust patrols including troops and policemen, in a country where many local policemen are distrusted if not despised, and intermittently dismissed for ties to organized crime. Arellanes, a member of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), was elected mayor in July's general elections. She has vowed the "reconstruction" of Monterrey and vowed "absolute transparency" when taking office on 31 October at a ceremony in the city's theatre; "let me say very clearly, there will be no acts hidden from the law in my government. I shall watch over the absolute transparency of every one of our actions nor tolerate under any circumstance the stain of suspicion or the shadow of corruption," the website Terra cited her as saying. Earlier in October she declared that municipal employees accross the board in Monterrey would have to sit through "confidence" tests, and this seemed to have begun. On 1 November she said 80 city policemen had failed these tests and were expected to leave their posts before December. She also appointed a soldier, Rear-Admiral Augusto Cruz Morales, as the new police chief of Monterrey.

Colombian rebels killed by own bomb before attack

Two members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were killed on 31 October by a bomb they were carrying in the town of Pradera in western Colombia, avoiding what the mayor said would have been a "tragedy" as people were out and about for Halloween festivities. Nevertheless over 30 people including 14 children were injured when the bomb exploded in the town's park, according to the daily El Espectador; the guerrillas were thought to be taking the bomb on bicycles toward a police station, Europa Press reported, citing Colombia's El Tiempo. Colombia's police chief José León Riaño called this a "demented and cowardly" attack and told the FARC to expect a firm response, El Espectador reported on 1 November. He said at a police event that FARC chiefs should sit at the negotiating table in Havana if they wanted to stay alive. Colombia and the FARC are to pursue planned peace conversations in Havana on 15 November.

Five killed, policemen arrested in Mexico

Five including a former mayor and a municipal employee were murdered or found dead around Mexico on 31 October, while authorities detained 23 policemen in the district of Chalco south east of Mexico City, for suspected ties to the mafia, Proceso reported on 1 November. The suspected victims of organized crime included the former mayor of Miguel Alemán on Mexico's north-eastern frontier with the United States, shot to death as he  entered his house the evening of 31 October. The Municipal Secretary - likely a deputy-mayor - of Zumpango in the Estado de México state, separately died after being stabbed in the chest outside a clinic in that town; in the same state, the mayor-elect of Luvianos was "repeatedly" shot from car and badly injured as he drove on a state road. Early on 1 November, 1,400 state police and judicial agents of Estado de México participated in the arrests of 23 municipal policemen and five municipal employees of the Chalco and Valle de Chalco districts suspected of aiding criminals, Proceso reported. The suspects were held at the police stations where they worked to which they had been summoned for an inspection at four in the morning. They were taken to the prosecutor's office of the nearby district of Nezahualcóyotl.

Nine killed in Mexico, traffickers arrested

A policeman and two suspected criminals were three of "at least" nine reported killed or found dead around Mexico on 31 October. The three were killed in a shootout between security forces and gunmen in the district of Guasave in the north-western state of Sinaloa, Proceso reported. Four were killed the same day in a gun attack on a mechanical workshop in Guadalupe, next to the north-eastern city of Monterrey. The owner of the workshop, his son and two presumed employees were killed in that attack. Another victim was a policewoman reported kidnapped on 30 October, found dead in Tlapehuala in the western state of Guerrero. Marines separately arrested on 29 October a suspect identified as José Salgueiro Nevárez - El Che - presumed head of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Hidalgo de Parral in the northern state of Chihuahua where he was arrested, Proceso reported on 31 October. Four were arrested with him and arms, ammunition, seven cars and communication equipment confiscated. A man described by media as The Zetas cartel's main supplier of Colombian cocaine was arrested in Buenos Aires on 30 October following a multi-national investigation process, Proceso reported, citing declarations by Colombia's police chief José Roberto León. Henry de Jesús López Londoño - Mi Sangre or My Blood - was apparently arrested while attending to paperwork in Ecuador's embassy; Colombia, Argentine intelligence and the US Drug Enforcement Administration collaborated to find him.