Three Venezuelan generals held over "coup" plans, opposition mayor jailed

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro said in Caracas on 25 March that three air force generals were arrested the night before, suspected of plotting an "uprising" against the Government. He revealed this at a meeting with foreign ministers of the regional association UNASUR, adding that the officers were "linked to the opposition," Europa Press reported. Colleagues reportedly denounced them, though Mr Maduro said they were being observed for an unspecified period. Separately, Venezuela's Supreme Court sentenced the detained mayor of San Cristóbal in the state of Táchira, Daniel Ceballos, to a year and 15 days in jail and ordered him dismissed for failing to remove protesters' barricades from the streets of San Cristóbal. The mayor is a member of the opposition and San Cristóbal was one of the first centres of anti-Government protests in early February. The court convicted Ceballos after hearing the testimonies of eight witnesses, in a verdict his wife later said was "expected," the newspaper 2001 reported. While Mrs Ceballos said the magistrates were "waiting for a phone call," presumably instructing them to issue a verdict, President Maduro qualified the sentence as "justice." He told a radio program on 25 March that "you fight fascism with justice," referring to his conservative and liberal opponents, the broadcaster NTN24 reported. The socialist majority in Venezuela's parliament also voted on 25 March to confirm the expulsion of the conservative member María Corina Machado, a day after its praesidium accused her of breaking the law over a recent trip to Panama. A representative of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Andrés Eloy Méndez, was cited as warning that she could be prosecuted for treason, now that she lacked parliamentary immunity. He said associating with hostile powers could lead to a 30-year prison term, Europa Press and El Universal reported. Opposition MPs challenged Ms Machado's "overthrow," filing an appeal with the Supreme Court, EFE reported.

Troops shoot Colombian guerrilla sought for 60 killings

Colombian troops shot dead a captain of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) thought responsible for certain recent FARC attacks that have killed more than 30 soldiers in the north-eastern department of Arauca, Caracol radio reported on 10 December. The guerrilla dubbed Jainover, identified as a commander in the FARC's 10th Front, was killed in an undated gun fight at an unspecified place near the Venezuelan frontier, possibly in the Arauca department where he was active. The army was cited as saying that after a shootout troops caught up with a car that sought to take Jainover's body into Venezuela; four presumed FARC fighters were arrested in the operation. The Army also attributed to Jainover attacks in 2005 that killed 30 soldiers in the central department of Meta. He was said to have filmed the attacks he orchestrated.

Armed locals infuriated by army arrests in western Mexico

While locals in the Tierra Caliente zone of the state of Michoacán in western Mexico have welcomed the arrival of federal forces to impose order in the crime-ridden state, tensions emerged on 22 May as self-defence groups or the "community police" of local residents fiercely resisted initial bids to disarm or disband them. Media reported that the arrest of four members of the self-defence group outside the district of Buenavista Tomatlán that day provoked a veritable little revolt, with hundreds marching out with machetes and sticks to block the road between Buenavista and nearbly Apatzingán. Here a standoff between the crowd and federal troops led to heckling and to 28 soldiers and a general being detained for hours until the four were released, Agence France-Presse and the daily Milenio reported on 23 May. In spite of the shouting and evident anger among locals, Milenio's correspondent observed that a measure of cordiality was restored when the soldiers were allowed to move later in the afternoon. The self-defence groups - which have emerged in other parts of Mexico - were a reaction in this part of Michoacán to the depredations and extortions of the cartel Caballeros templarios. France-Presse cited the Mexican interior minister Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong as saying on 22 May that with the army present people no longer had a reason to bear arms, and the army would detain those found armed without good reason. The local population clearly was not satisfied with such words; AFP cited an unnamed member of one local self-defence group as saying that locals expected the army to finish off the Caballeros templarios for good, and locals would even show them where these were "hiding." In another local district, Coalcomán, a "community policeman" told AFP that people had most recently formed the community police there as they were tired of paying extortion money to the templarios, and would remain on guard "until we see results." La Jornada reported on 23 May that army spies would be working in 11 districts of Michoacán in tandem with the deployment of troops; their objectives would be to help find and detain gang chiefs and check the veracity of reports of gangsters' deaths.

Mexican army said to have "restored order" in crime-ridden Michoacán

The daily Milenio reported on 22 May that five days sufficed for the army to impose a measure of peace and security to the violent state of Michoacán in western Mexico, where armed locals had in recent months faced off criminal gangs but also harrassed local authorities suspected to be collaborators with crime. The daily observed that in three districts, Buenavista Tomatlán, Tepalcatepec and Coalcomán, the army retored order without firing a shot, while no violence related to organized crime, "ordinary" murders, marches or protests were reported through 16-22 May. On 16 May the Mexican Government sent General Alberto Reyes Vaca to Michoacán where he was to be the state's Public Security Secretary, with extraordinary powers being drawn up to give him command of local and state police bodies as well as thousands of troops and federal policemen sent to Michoacán to stamp out crime. Certain mayors who had fled their districts as armed local stormed municipal buildings were considering returning to their offices. Locals were however cited as saying that while the self-defence groups would not interfere with army operations they would retain their arms, fearing the return of the cartels once soldiers leave. Mexico's interior minister, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, said in the state capital Morelia on 21 May that federal troops would remain in Michoacán until there was peace in the state, and vowed there would be no "ceasefire or pact with organised crime," La Jornada reported. He was speaking after a meeting of the federal Security Cabinet attended by senior officials including the provisional Governor of Michoacán Jesús Reyna García, the Prosecutor-General of the Republic Jesús Murillo Karam and the Navy and Defence ministers. Osorio said the Government would build a new army base in southern Michoacán and invest money in social programmes and training for the state's police forces. La Jornada separately reported on 22 May that the Government had sent 2,500 soldiers to the state in preceding days; these were to undertake a range of security-related tasks.

Army sent to fight crime in western Mexico

The Mexican government sent about 1,000 army and navy troops on 19 May to the worst parts of the crime-infested state of Michoacán, gripped in recent months by criminal violence and a state of near-war in parts between drug cartels and armed residents. The troops were sent to the sector called Zona Caliente where they were to patrol some of the most troubled districts, namely Buenavista Tomatlán, Coalcomán, Apatzingán and la Ruana; food and supplies had to be taken to districts that have effectively faced siege conditions from gangs in recent months, El Informador reported on 20 May. It observed that in several districts the local population had expelled local authorities including police suspected to be collaborating with crime. This may have been the case most recently with the district of Coalcomán where armed men almost lynched several municipal policemen. In La Ruana residents lined the main street into the town and cheered soldiers as they drove in, Milenio reported on 20 May. Supplies had to be taken to that town, which was described as besieged so far by the cartel Caballeros Templarios, reported to be reacting to townsmen's decision to arm against crime. The leader of the local "community police," Hipólito Mora, agreed to suspend street patrols and let soldiers take over security in La Ruana, but stressed his group would not disarm but resume patrols if and when troops leave, Milenio reported. Michoacán's provisional state governor Jesús Reyna described the arrival of troops on 19 or 20 May as intended to restore normality to the state, which he declared was not in a "state of war," Proceso cited him as saying. The daily Provincia reported separately on 21 May, citing unnamed military sources, that some 5,000 federal forces may have been sent to the state in recent days including soldiers, marines and federal policemen.

Colombia catches gang suspects, Police count fewer Bogotá murders

The army caught nine suspected members of criminal gangs in operations in northern Colombia, including six suspected members of one of the main trafficking and killing outfits, the Urabeños, Caracol radio and the EFE agency reported on 13 May. The six suspected Urabeños were caught with firearms and hand grenades in a rural part of the district of Caucasia in the Antioquia department and were to be charged with illegal arms possession and trafficking. Two were identified by their pseudonyms El Fiscal and Finura and described as former paramilitaries. Troops separately caught in the district of Zaragoza three suspected members of another gang Héroes del Nordeste (North-east Heroes), including their purported chief in that district, EFE reported. In the capital Bogotá, police launched an operation on 8 May against mobile phone theft and street crime in which they detained six suspects including a purported head of a thieving gang active in one of the city's main avenues, the website of the Bogotá Government Secretary reported on 10 May. The detainee, a man dubbed Caricortado (Scarface), was described as a veteran thief of mobile phones and previously detained four times but later released for being underage. The city's Government Secretary who coordinates security policies, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo Martínez, said police were focusing on mobile thefts as killings had declined in Bogotá but persistent mobile thefts "generate a sense of insecurity among people." Police also confiscated 1,000 knives or sharp instruments and detained five suspected street dealers, the Government Secretary reported. The Bogotá police chief said police counted 380 homicides "so far this year," 76 cases less than the 456 homicides counted for the same period in 2012, Caracol radio reported on 13 May. General Luis Martínez Guzmán cited the neighbourhoods with most killings as Ciudad Bolívar and Usme in southern Bogotá and Bosa in the west.

Army extends firearms ban in Bogotá, shown to cut murder rate

The army extended through May a firearms ban imposed in the Colombian capital Bogotá at the mayor's request, which officials believed had led to a comparative reduction in homicides, the Bogotá city government reported on 2 May. The ban apparently in force from 1 February to 29 April 2013 affected civilians and legal entities and was renewed from midnight on 2 May to midnight on 30 July 2013; the first such ban was imposed from 1 February to 29 April 2012, the office of the city's Government Secretary coordinating security affairs reported. Figures seemingly indicated a link between banning guns and fewer homicides: there were 166 reported homicides using guns in Bogotá from 1 February to 29 April 2013, down from 196 for the same period in 2013, and in contrast with 232 homicides cited for 2011, presumably for the same three-month period that year when there was no ban. The report stated that in the February to late-April period, police caught 40 suspects in flagrante delicto and 212 whom courts had ordered detained in relation with homicides. Hundreds of guns were also confiscated or handed in since 2012, the municipality stated. The ban did no apply to the armed forces, members of the diplomatic corps, registered security personnel and officials of the judiciary. Separately, police said they had detained 1,466 people in Bogotá so far in 2013 for stealing mobile telephones or related devices, RCN La Radio reported on 7 May. Police most recently detained eight suspected of selling stolen mobile devices in the districts of Fontibón and Kennedy in south-western Bogotá; in all 3,940 stolen devices were recovered this year, RCN radio reported.

Colombian army kills FARC guerrillas, politician shot

Troops shot dead seven fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and arrested another in fighting on 4-5 May in the south-western Colombian department of Nariño, agencies reported, citing army declarations. The armed-forces commander for south-western Colombia General Leonardo Barrero Gordillo said the fighting was against the FARC's Front 29 in the locality of Leyva, on the frontier between the departments of Nariño and Cauca, Spain's EFE reported on 5 May. Barrero described this as the "fourth blow" this year against Front 29, which he said had lost 58 men in 2013 in deaths, arrests and desertions. In separate incidents a member of a Christian political party and a land claimant were killed in the northern departments of César and Antioquia. The Minister of Agriculture Juan Camilo Restrepo Salazar condemned on 5 May the killing that day of Iván Restrepo García, one of the many Colombians reclaiming properties from which they were expelled in past years, in areas of Colombia affected by conflict or insecurity. Land grabbers in such cases were generally suspected to be paramilitaries, gangsters or communist guerrillas. The government has begun a programme to restore such lands and Restrepo was reportedly registered as claimant to a plot of land in the Bello district in Antioquia. He was shot in his house there, in spite of unspecified protective measures given him by the state, RCN La Radio reported. The Minister wrote on the website Twitter that land restitution policies would continue "with determination" in spite of "sharpshooters" and "regardless of who the despoiler was," RCN radio reported. Unidentified gunmen also shot dead Gustavo Briceño, a member of MIRA (Movimiento Independiente de Renovación Absoluta), a small, independent party, at an unspecified date in Valledupar in César. Briceño was a pre-candidate for Senate elections in 2014, Agence France-Presse reported.

Businessman shot dead outside general's house in Honduras

A businessman was shot dead in his car in Tegucicalpa on 12 April, outside the home of the head of Armed Forces Joint Command René Osorio Canales, Honduran media reported. The victim was identified as the owner of a chain of motels in the capital, and his killers chased him by car to the spot where he was shot repeatedly, the website Proceso Digital reported. This was one of the homicides most recently reported around the country, many or most of which appeared to be executions. Other victims of crime included a three-year old boy shot dead by a stray bullet from a shootout between police and criminals in the northern city of San Pedro Sula, and two boys aged 15 and 22 years, dragged from their homes outside the capital, blindfolded and shot, Proceso Digital reported. The bodies of three executed men were also found in plastic bags in San Pedro Sula on 9 April; two of them were tattooed and all three were strangled to death, La Prensa cited coroners as saying. The report did not specify if the tattoos indicated the victims' affiliation to a gang. On average 20 people were thought to have died daily in criminal incidents in Honduras in the first three months of 2013, Proceso Digital reported, citing the Observatorio de Violencia affiliated to the National Autonomous University of Honduras.

Colombian soldiers, guerrillas killed in fighting

Three Colombian soldiers died and three were injured on 6 or 7 April in gun battles with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the southern department of Caquetá. Fighting was said continuing in the district of Milán on 7 April with guerrillas of fronts 15 and 49 of the FARC's Southern Block, RCN La Radio reported. The broadcaster Caracol described Milán is one of the districts of southern Colombian with the highest concentration of FARC fighters. In northern Colombia the army shot dead four FARC fighters including a local commander, during anti-drugs operations on 7 April near Panama's frontier, Europa Press reported, citing El Tiempo. The casualties included the deputy-head of Front 57 - James or el Chacal - and a veteran telecommunications operator dubbed Verónica; troops and police also detained two suspected guerrillas in the operations in the Darién section of the Chocó department, and confiscated arms, ammunition and equipment. The army considers Front 57 to be mainly engaged in arms and drug trafficking for the FARC, the agency reported. The FARC separately named in a communiqué four new members of their team negotiating a possible peace with Colombian representatives in Cuba. These were the head of the Western Block Jorge Torres Victoria or Pablo Catatumbo, and three guerrillas named or dubbed Freddy González, Lucas Carvajal and Victoria Sandino Palmera. They were allowed to fly out of Colombia with a suspension on 6 April of army operations in the southern Cauca department and perhaps elsewhere. Colombian media earlier named another possible addition to the FARC team, namely the head of the Southern Block - a guerrilla dubbed Fabián Ramírez - though this was yet to be confirmed, Europa Press reported on 6 April.

FARC guerrillas launch deadly attacks in Colombia

Two attacks attributed to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on 4 and 5 April killed three soldiers and three civilians and injured 11, while Caracol radio reported continued fighting on 5 April between soldiers and the FARC's Sixth Front around the Corinto district, media reported. Early that day the suspected FARC guerrillas launched a bomb attack on telecommunication installations outside the town of Corinto early on 5 April, killing three soldiers and injuring seven, El Espectador reported, citing comments by the head of army's Task Apollo Force active in the zone, General Jorge Jerez. The day before the FARC fired explosives onto the locality of Guatemala in the district of Miranda, in northern Cauca, killing three including "two children" and injuring four, Caracol radio reported on 4 April. In that attack the FARC began "indiscriminately launching improvised explosive artefacts against houses," El Espectador reported locals as saying. Also on 4 April, a policeman was injured when suspected guerrillas fired on a police station in the district of San Calixto, in the Norte de Santander department, northern Colombia. The attack was attributed to Front 33 of the FARC, the broadcaster Caracol reported.

Mexican troops detain armed locals, held in turn

Mexican troops detained on 10 or 11 March 17 men armed with rifles in the western state of Michoacán who appeared to be members of a local self-defence group, one of several that have emerged around Mexico to fight crime. The men may have been of the "community police" of the locality of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, also called La Ruana, and were detained on the road between the nearby districts of Buenavista and Tecalcatepec, Proceso reported. Troops also confiscated their cars, described as quite new. The detainees were to be investigated by the Michoacán Public Ministry or state prosecution service. This and a previous arrest of dozens of locals may have led angry residents of Buenavista to retain a group of soldiers, perhaps 47, for several hours on 12 March. La Crónica de Hoy reported that locals were demanding the release of 51 residents of La Ruana held and suspected of having ties to crime; footage shown on Milenio television showed the locals heckling the troops who remained calm. The Mexican interior ministry announced in a communiqué that day that the defence ministry, Buenavista municipality and the state of Michoacán had agreed to resolve the problems of the arrests and of insecurity in the area, including by boosting military patrols. Separately, a spokesman for the south-central state of Morelos "categorically" rejected on 12 March the incipient formation of a self-defence group in the locality of Temoac in Morelos. The state's Government Secretary Jorge Messeguer Guillén said there was no "risk" such militias would be formed and "the state government will never allow, we say this quite emphatically, never allow armed, community-type police forces to be established in Morelos, with powers the law does not give them," Excelsior reported. Reportedly residents began on 8 March to guard entry points to Temoac, search cars and patrol the streets at night. Excelsior observed that kidnappings had become frequent in this part of the state in the last 20 years. The locals might have misinterpreted an agreement Messeguer said was signed between the Temoac municipality and state authorities whereby residents would assist police with information and patrol their village unarmed.

Colombian troops kill, detain FARC guerrillas

The army shot dead two and detained six presumed fighters of Front 33 of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on 11 March, in operations in the district of Convención the Norte de Santander department, north-eastern Colombia, the broadcaster Caracol reported. The two were suspected of having left an unspecified number of car bombs in several localities in that department in preceding days, Caracol reported, citing army declarations. The army shot dead at an unspecified date two other suspected guerrillas in the countryside of the district of Caucasia in the northern Antioquia department, Caracol reported on 11 March. It cited these as among the 10 presumed guerrillas killed by the army in Antioquia since it began its Sword of Honour (Espada de Honor) operations in December 2012. The Defence Ministry reported on 11 March the detention at an unspecified date of a suspected member of the FARC's Southern Block and another fighter's voluntary surrender, both in southern Colombia. The guerrilla who surrendered was identified by his nom de guerre, Pedro, and described as a member of the FARC's Eastern Block; he surrendered to soldiers in the town of San Vicente in the department of Caquetá. The detainee was a suspected member of the FARC's "support networks" in southern Colombia; he was caught in a rural part of the Puerto Caicedo district in Putumayo. In the district of Florencia in Caquetá, troops disposed of a roadside bomb thought placed by the FARC in the locality of Venecia, and separately arrested a man driving with 21 kilograms of unprocessed cocaine paste, in the locality of Santo Domingo in Florencia, the Ministry reported on 11 March.

Bomb kills Colombian soldiers, rebel numbers said down

A bomb attack on 15 February by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) killed three soldiers and injured three on a road in the district of Sumapaz south of the capital Bogotá, Europa Press reported. Separately a report by the Colombian defence ministry found that almost 1,500 FARC guerrillas had been "neutralised," that is killed, arrested or demobilised since the state began a negotiations process with the FARC in September 2012. This included five commanders, El Espectador reported, citing the ministry document. The ministry report stated that of the 1,475 guerrillas neutralised since 4 September 2012, 982 had been caught, 320 had surrendered and 122 were shot dead, while it cited as unprecedented the "neutralisation" of 26 regional or district Front commanders and death of the FARC's paramount leader within a 16-month period. This was the guerrilla dubbed Alfonso Cano, killed on 4 or 5 November 2011. The ministry estimated that the FARC had shrunk from some 20,000 fighters in 2002 to about 8,000 in 2012, and the other rebel force ELN, from more than 4,000 fighters in 2002 to about 1,500, El Espectador reported.

FARC rebels strike Colombian town, kill two

Suspected members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) killed a child and a policeman and injured 27 in an apparent attack on civilians in Miraflores in the southern department of Guaviare on 11 February, RCN La Radio reported. The mayor of Miraflores told RCN radio that suspected guerrillas began shooting and throwing grenades at a crowd putting out a fire in two buildings in the town; soldiers and policemen repelled the attack. Nine of the worst injured were taken to hospital in the departmental capital San José del Guaviare. President Juan Manuel Santos urged the armed  forces on 11 February to "persevere" with their defensive task until peace is attained in Colombia "one way or another," observing that "peace is the victory." He was speaking to troops at an air force base in Tolemaida south-west of Bogotá, where the armed forces took possession of six new helicopters and two planes. Santos said FARC attacks had not increased in Colombia this year but were receiving more attention. The FARC he said had reached "their maximum capacity, even the number of our fallen soldiers and policemen has decreased, but there has been more noise about this in the media," the presidential website reported. The number of FARC guerrillas demobilized increased 60 per cent in 2013 he said, compared to a similar but unspecified period in 2012. "They see less and less future [for themselves] and feel more defeated," Santos said. FARC and government negotiators were to renew peace talks in Havana on 18 February, continuing the present theme of discussions, rural land use and tenure, Colombia's public radio reported on 11 February.