Hugo Chávez returns to Venezuela, taken to hospital

Venezuela's ailing President Hugo Chávez Frías returned to Caracas early on 18 February after weeks of treatment and care in Cuba following surgery for cancer on 11 December; he was taken to a military hospital for further rest and care, the Venezuelan state news agency reported. The return was announced by a comment appearing on the president's personal page on the website Twitter. Chávez thanked Cuba and its two leaders, President Raul Castro and his brother Fidel Castro, for their hospitality but also Venezuelans for "so much love;" he assured them "I am holding onto Christ and keep my trust in my doctors and nurses." The country's acting leader Vice-President Nicolás Maduro Moros, called Chávez an example of a "permanent battle" and urged Venezuelans to pray for him "with the heart," the agency reported. The president's absence has fuelled political tensions between the socialist government and liberal opposition parties, which have criticized the lack of clear information on the president's health and the prolongation of a de facto regime. The leading opposition politician and governor of the northern state of Miranda also wrote on Twitter that he hoped the president's return was permanent and would prompt his government to start working to solve Venezuela's problems, El Nacional reported on 18 February. He wrote that he hoped the return of Chávez would end the "red package" or economic policies opposition forces allege are being dictated from communist Cuba.

Ecuador re-elects its president

With a little over half the votes counted on 18 February, President Rafael Correa Delgado was declared winner in Ecuador's general elections of 17 February, leading his rivals by a wide margin, Europa Press reported. The agency cited provisional figures given by the state electoral agency CNE, which stated that with a little under 4.76 million votes counted that day - a little over half of all votes cast - Correa had won 2.49 million or 56.93 per cent of the votes. The second candidate in terms of votes was Guillermo Lasso with 23.7 per cent of votes counted thus far. The president said the night before speaking in northern Quito that "there is no stopping the citizens' revolution" and that his victory belonged to "all Ecuadoreans." Several Latin American leaders congratulated Correa on his victory, as did Spain's Foreign Minister, Europa Press reported. The elections were for 143 public offices, and a little over 11.6 million Ecuadoreans voted inside and outside the country, the daily El Universo reported on 18 February.

El Salvador gangs to hand in 300 firearms

Gang members in El Salvador were to hand in 300 firearms as part of an ongoing pacification process in the country, and within a new law to regulate the voluntary handover of firearms, El Salvador's El Mundo reported, citing declarations by the Minister of Justice. The Minister David Munguía Payés said 300 firearms were to be handed in within 10 days at an unspecified place and another undated handover was being negotiated, all within the Special Transitory Law for the Voluntary Handover of Firearms, Explosives, Munitions and Similar Articles, which parliament ratified on 14 February (Ley Especial Transitoria para la Entrega Voluntaria de Armas de Fuego, Explosivos, Municiones y Artículos Similares). "The idea is to take out of circulation weapons in the hands of people who can potentially commit crimes," the minister said at an unspecied location. The country's deputy-police chief Mauricio Ramírez Landaverde stated in turn - apparently speaking with the minister - that 380 arms or "artefacts" had been decomissioned in 2013. He specified that people handing in firearms would not be prosecuted for carrying or possession of arms but that crimes committed with such weapons would be investigated. The initiative was another part of an ongoing "pacification" process in the country that includes a ceasefire between Mara gangs in force since 2012 and designation of several crime-free districts, which officials insist has reduced violent crime. Police deputy-chief Ramírez said on 15 February that police counted 290 homicides in the country in January and 15 days of February 2013, when the figure was 587 for the same period in 2012, El Mundo reported. Munguía told Radio El Salvador on 13 February that this was "the most successful process to reduce violence throughout the western hemisphere" and had made El Salvador a model of interest to other states, the Ministry of Justice reported. Crime persisted however including in designated safe areas. On 13 February police detained five presumed members of the Mara-18 gang and freed a boy they had apparently kidnapped on 11 February on the edge of the "safe" district of Quetzaltepeque, north of the capital, elsalvador.com reported. The boy had been kept in the nearby district of Nejapa; police suspected the crime was ordered from a prison where M-18 inmates are kept.

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.

Seven hostages freed in Colombia

Colombia's two communist rebel forces, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) freed on 15 February two policemen and five contractors they held hostage, while a mediator suggested a soldier being held by the FARC might also be released within days. The policemen were handed to over to mediators in a rural part of the district of Miranda in the south-western Cauca department, then to government envoys at a base in the district of Florida in the Valle de Cauca department, Caracol radio reported. The former senator Piedad Córdoba, to whom the policemen were initially given, was to mediate for the liberation within days of a soldier also being held by the FARC, Caracol reported. In the northern department of Bolívar, the ELN released five of six hostages they held, handing them over to the Red Cross; these were three Colombians and two Peruvians kidnapped on 18 January in the district of Norosí in the southern part of Bolívar. The ELN retained one hostage, the Canadian national Jernoc Wobert. Separately the Humanitarian Committee of Huila (Comité humanitario de Huila) affiliated to the Huila departmental government stated on 15 February that "illegal armed groups" retained 38 hostages from that department, a number it stated it had verified with relatives, Caracol reported on 15 February. They were presumably held by the FARC who are present in this part of Colombia.

Locals in Tabasco city warn will lynch thieves

Amid concerns about Mexicans arming themselves against crime in parts of the country, locals in Cárdenas in the south-eastern state of Tabasco were reported to have formed a protection group in one or two city neighbourhoods, following similar initiatives in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Michoacán. Thieves were warned in one public notice they would be lynched if caught red-handed, Proceso reported on 14 February. The residents have formed the United Neighbours (Vecinos Unidos) group, alleging that state and district authorities were unable or unwilling to curb crime. Their warning was written on sheets or banners hung in public, a practice favoured by drug cartels in Mexico. Another banner warned "we shall take our own measures" against anyone found entering into houses or caught spying, thieving or vandalising in that part of town. The review cited an unnamed resident of Cárdenas as saying that people were "terrified" by the surge in local crime - examples of which were not lacking. On 11 February two bodies and their heads were found in different parts of town, a former policeman was shot dead in the neighbouring district of Cunduacán on 12 February, a decomposing body with torture marks found that day in or near Cárdenas and a man executed in a bar there on 13 February. A prominent legislator said in Mexico City on 14 February that such groups could not usurp state authority in spite of the inability of some states to assure residents' security, La Crónica de Hoy reported. The leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the lower legislative chamber, Manlio Fabio Beltrones, said no state governor could "take refuge or find a refuge for his incapacity in the presence of community guards." He said "let's not generate greater signs of ungovernability in the country." The head of the chamber's Public Security Committee Alejandro Montano Guzmán, also of the PRI, told the daily the government must "attend to" Mexicans' security needs not just "recognize" such initiatives. La Crónica separately reported that armed residents of Ayutla in Guerrero released four more of 54 suspected criminals they had detained in January, after they were found not to be in organized crime. Eleven were earlier handed over to the authorities and 39 appeared to remain in detention. The four were apparently cattle thieves and pledged to carry out unspecified community services.

Qatar's ruler brings delegation to Peru

The Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, arrived in Lima on 13 February, heading a senior delegation that would discuss trade and investment with senior officials including President Ollanta Humala, the website peru21 reported. The foreign ministry earlier described the visit as among the "auspicious results" of the summit of Arab and Latin American states held in Lima in October 2012. The government newspaper El Peruano stated in an opinion piece on 14 February that Peru signed in October 2012 a framework agreement on trade and cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council including oil-producing Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf. Qatar it observed had billions of dollars to invest in "safe markets with a stable and reliable economy like that of Peru" while Peru needed markets for exportations, particularly of food and farming products needed by Qatar, a state with little agriculture and much expendable income. This was reportedly the first state visit to Peru by a head of state from the Arabian peninsula, according to El Peruano. The Emir was also to visit Colombia and Ecuador.

Gunfight kills seven Colombian soldiers

Seven soldiers were killed fighting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on 13 February in the southern department of Caquetá, and four or five were reported injured; the army declared that FARC rebels had also died or been injured but the casualty number was unknown. Fighting erupted in a rural part of the district of Milán after troops moved in to prevent a suspected FARC attack on the nearby town or village of San Antonio de Getucha, RCN La Radio reported. Fighting was continuing that day and the land army commander General Alejandro Navas Ramos had moved to the area, Europa Press reported. Officials separately denied on 13 February reports issued by the National Liberation Army (ELN) that it had freed five mining employees taken hostage in northern Colombia on 18 January, and stated this could not yet be confirmed. The Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón told the ELN that day to emit fewer communiqués and free all hostages. He reminded them kidnapping was a crime against humanity for which they would later be held responsible, the ministry website reported. The hostages were two Colombians, two Peruvians and a Canadian, employees of the exploration firm Geo Explorer, Europa Press reported on 14 February.

Salvadorean police count two murders in "crime-free" district

A man's bruised body was found on 11 February in the district of Ilopango outside San Salvador, suggesting a second killing in recent days in one of the districts gangs had pledged would be free of violence, La Prensa Gráfica reported on 12 February. The body indicated the victim had been strangled and possibly stabbed to death and initial police investigations suggested gang involvement; gangs reportedly told police they had nothing to do with the first killing in this district, of an 18-year-old boy on 3 February. Ilopango was among the safe zones listed in the second phase of a national plan to disarm and pacify the Mara gangs. The mayor of Ilopango who has coordinated the ceasefire between gangs locally and the Justice Minister did not immediately attribute the crime to anyone. The minister David Munguía Payés reportedly declared however that police counted 76 homicides in El Salvador in 2013 to 10 February, 263 fewer than for the same period in 2012. La Prensa Gráfica separately reported the arrests on 10 or 11 February of six presumed gang members as they raped a 16-year-old girl, in the district of Apopa north of San Salvador. Three of the detained were described as "minors," presumably children or teenagers.

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.

Colombian authorities report guerrilla, drug strikes

The Defence Ministry reported on 8 February the deaths and arrests of eight members of Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) and of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in separate incidents. Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón declared while touring the departments of Antioquia and Huila that three ELN fighters including a local chief dubbed Dubernillo, were killed on 7 February in the district of Cáceres in the northern department of Antioquia, the ministry website stated. He said troops also foiled an attempt to sabotage power infrastructures in that area and confiscated arms. Speaking separately in the district of Neiva in the south-central department of Huila he said police and the army caught five suspected members of Front 13 of the FARC, dressed as civilians and "with the intention of launching bomb attacks" on civilian targets. On 10 February the army was reported to have killed three FARC fighters and destroyed two camps said designed for over 70 guerrillas, in the southern department of Caquetá. Three rebels were injured and arms and ammunition confiscated in the operation in the district of San Vicente del Caguán, Caracol television reported. Two of these were said to be children or teenagers and handed over to child welfare authorities. Juan Manuel Santos separately thanked Panama on 10 February for catching a suspected drug trafficker identified by his pseudonym Pichi. Writing on the website Twitter, Santos thanked President Ricardo Martinelli and Panamanian authorities for helping catch a man identified as a member of gang Oficina de Envigado, Colombian public radio reported, citing EFE. Police stated in a communiqué that Pichi was thought linked to the killings of two policemen in Medellín in 2012 and the massacre of nine or 10 members of his own gang outside Medellín last New Year's Eve; he was also blamed for the current bout of violence in Medellín, Radio Nacional de Colombia reported.

Seven shot dead around Mexico, gang suspects held

Police in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila shot dead three gunmen on 10 February, reportedly in response to an ambush on a police convoy driving to the frontier city of Acuña. A shootout began after the gunmen fired on the convoy that had stopped on a highway over a puncture, Proceso reported. On 9 February in the northern district of Piedras Negras in Coahuila gunmen fired on a bullet-proof car carrying policemen and bodyguards of the state Public Security or police chief Gerardo Villarreal Ríos. This prompted gunfire and a car chase around the city, with the participation of soldiers and marines, Proceso reported. Four men were separately reported shot dead early on 10 February in and outside the west-coast resort of Acapulco, Milenio reported. In Culiacán in the north-western state of Sinaola, a man identified separately as head of security for one of two prominent drug traffickers was reported arrested alongside four associates. Jonhatan Sales Avilés - El Fantasma - was identified by sources as either the security chief of Mexico's leading trafficker Joaquín Guzmán Loera or of another trafficker Ismael Zambada; he was surprised and detained on the night of 9-10 February at a safe house earlier located by the army, CNNMéxico reported. The broadcaster observed that state authorities had earlier thought and hoped, that the army killed Sales in a shootout near Culiacán on 4 March 2012.

Mexican locals hand crime suspects to police

Authorities of the state of Guerrero in western Mexico were handed on 8 February 11 suspected criminals detained by armed residents who began to police parts of the state in January, in a move suggesting greater coordination between locals and authorities previously blamed as being soft on crime. The detainees, suspected of involvement in drug trafficking, killings and kidnappings, were handed over at the municipality of Ayutla de los Libres, one of four or five districts policed by indigenous militias and a Community Police. The authorities of Guerrero pledged to hand the detained over to state prosecutors, according to Proceso. The review observed these were among 54 people locals detained in January in Ayutla and nearby Tecoanapa and suspected of working for a local drug-trafficking gang whose leader remained at large. The armed residents themselves were initially masked to avoid being identified by criminals. They had good reason to do so, as presumed criminals were reported on 8 February to have threatened one of their leaders with unspecified reprisals, apparently shortly before the 11 detainees were handed over. An unknown caller phoned Bruno Plácido Valerio, leader of the Union of Organized Peoples of the State of Guerrero (UPOEG), to say he would be hit "where it hurts most," Milenio reported. Plácido, who was not wearing a masked, told Milenio that "someone had to be the face" of the self-defence movement, which he pledged not to abandon.

Venezuelan devaluation affects border trade

Venezuela announced on 8 February a devaluation of its currency the bolívar, in what a local economist termed a "confiscation" of Venezuelans' purchasing power that would also impact exporters from neighbouring Colombia, El Tiempo reported. The Colombian daily observed that traders in the frontier district of Cúcuta were waiting to see the devaluation's impact on demand in Venezuela for local products. Venezuela's Finance Minister Jorge Giordani told the press in Caracas on 8 February that the exchange rate of 4.3 bolívars to the USD was now 6.3, which made the dollar more than 46 per cent more expensive, El Tiempo reported. The daily stated that this was the bolívar's fifth devaluation since Venezuela's socialist government imposed currency controls in 2003. On Venezuela's black market the USD was reportedly trading for as much as 28 bolívars, signifying much higher prices for an array of imported consumer goods. As Venezuelans pointed out on networking websites, the devaluation of the official rate now signified a price hike of 46 per cent in imported goods. Giordani blamed speculation for the inflationary "bout" the country was suffering, but the opposition politician and governor of the state of Miranda Henrique Capriles accused the government of squandering its petrodollars, El Tiempo reported. He observed on the website Twitter that "oil is at 106 [USD per barrel] and they do a devaluation. They spent the money on their campaign, corruption and foreign gifts. Lying government!" In Cúcuta, a money changer told El Tiempo that the devaluation would impact supply and demand in the frontier zone. It might ensure an "abundance" of cheaper but mostly smuggled Venezuelan goods, while Venezuelan importers would be dissuaded from buying Colombian products that would soon cost more. The president of the Colombian exporters' association Analdex Javier Díaz told El Tiempo on 8 February that he hoped the market and inflation in Venezuela would soon absorb the rate change.

Sixteen killed around Mexico, 11 detained

At least 13 were reported killed or found dead in incidents around Mexico on 5-6 February, including nine policemen and a priest, the review Proceso reported. The state policemen of Guerrero were ambushed and killed on 5 February as they patrolled by car the district of Apaxtla de Castrejón, half way between Mexico City and the western coast. A suspected criminal was reportedly killed in a shootout with police before this ambush in nearby Teloloapán, though it was not clear the incidents were related. In the western district of Colima, an elderly priest was severely beaten inside a church on 6 February, later dying in hospital, for motives that were not immediately clear, Proceso reported. The Bishop of Colima urged authorities "not just to investigate" the crime but "punish whoever turns out to be the culprit." In the south-central city of Cuernavaca early on 8 February, police shot dead three bodyguards of the chief prosecutor of the state of Morelos Rodrigo Dorantes Salgado, apparently by mistake, Milenio reported, citing Notimex. Authorities were investigating. In the central state of Guanajuato, authorities presented to the press on 7 February 11 detainees identified as members of the cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, and suspected as involved in crimes including several killings since 2012, Proceso reported.

Mexican, Honduran cities top homicides ranking

The Citizens' Council for Public Security and Penal Justice (Consejo Ciudadano para la Seguridad Pública y Justicia Penal), an independent crime-and-rights observer body in Mexico, published its 2012 list of cities with the highest murder rates; as in previous years, Latin American cities retained their preeminence in spite of "jostling" among them. San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras remained, according to figures obtained, the most murderous city in the world in 2012 with a homicide rate of 169.3 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Acapulco on Mexico's western coast was the second city for homicides, with a rate of just under 143/100,000 inhabitants, the Council found. Its ranking for 2012 included:

3 - Caracas, Venezuela with 118.89 homicides/100,000 inhabitants,
4 - Tegucicalpa/capital district of Honduras, 101.99/100,000
5 - Torreón in northern Mexico 94.72
6 - Maceió in Brazil 85.88
7 - Cali, Colombia 79.27
8 - Nuevo Laredo in north-eastern Mexico 72.85
9 - Barquisimeto, Venezuela 71.74
12 - Guatemala City, 67.36
15 - Culiacán in north-western Mexico, 62.06
18 - Cuernavaca, central Mexico, 56.08
19 - Ciudad Juárez, northern Mexico, 55.91
20 - Ciudad Guyana, Venezuela, 55.03
21 - Detroit, United States, 54.63
22 - Cúcuta, north-eastern Colombia, 54.29
24 - Medellín, Colombia, 49.1
32 - Chihuahua in northern Mexico, 43.49
33 - San Juan, Puerto Rico, 43.25
35 - Port au Prince, Haiti, 40.1
36 - Ciudad Victoria in north-eastern Mexico, 37.78
44 - San Salvador, El Salvador, 32.48
47 - Monterrey, northern Mexico, 30.85
50 - Barranquilla, northern Colombia, 29.41.

The Consejo observed that several cities had lowered murder rates enough to drop out of the top 50, including Tijuana in northern Mexico and the eastern Mexican port of Veracruz, but also Panama City. Ciudad Juárez dropped almost 20 positions from its position near the top in 2011, and San Salvador had also improved from a rate of 59/100,000 in 2011 to a little over 32 - all these based on official or available figures used to compile the table as the Consejo cautioned. Its website stated that authorities in San Pedro Sula had complained about the negative image the ranking was giving the city and alleged the figures cited were mistaken, but it responded that the ranking was based "on official figures and regarding the effect of the ranking, which merely recognize reality, that is not what harms the city's image but its violence and rulers' inability to contain and reduce it. Hiding problems never solves them." The mayor of Acapulco, which came second in 2012, said "it is quite deplorable that we should be in this stituation...I've seen the note. It pains me that it should be so," Proceso reported on 7 February.

El Salvador officials say murders continue to fall

Officials declared on 6 February that El Salvador's homicide figures were in January 2013 less than half those of January 2012, even as they admitted that a ceasefire between gangs that helped reduce murders had yet to end violent crime in El Salvador. The Security and Justice Minister David Mungía Payés told a San Salvador press conference that authorities counted 190 homicides in January 2013, 54 per cent less than the 413 for January 2012. He attributed this as on previous occasions to police action and the ceasefire between the Mara street gangs. Extortions reported in January dropped 18 per cent year-on-year, he said. Munguía admitted there had been a slight rise in violent acts recently in spite of the ceasefire and that "purges" were going in the gangs including in districts selected as crime-free zones; "we have entered a process that has helped us reduce violence, but this has not finished. The ceasefire is not a perfect process," he said. He attributed the killings of four on 1 February in the city of San Miguel east of San Salvador to gang rivalries. The latest victims of crime in El Salvador were two cousins aged 15 and 16 years, earlier reported as kidnapped and found dead on 5 or 6 February in Apopa, a district north of San Salvador, elsalvador.com reported. Most or all readers' comments left on various websites reporting such crimes indicated that the public was entirely skeptical, and often contemptuous, of official declarations on improving crime figures.

Guerrilla bomb kills two in south-western Colombia

Two were killed on 5 February as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) exploded a car bomb near the village or town of El Palo in the Cauca department, Europa Press reported, citing Colombian media. The FARC reportedly intended to detonate the artefact inside the town but were foiled by the arrival of troops and shooting that followed. The victims were provisionally identified as a soldier and a civilian. Colombia's police chief José Roberto León Riaño ordered the security of police stations boosted on 6 February in response to a recent resurgence of FARC activities. He said 14 policemen had died in January for FARC attacks, Europa Press and El Espectador reported. A priest was also reported killed at home on 3 January in the district of Riosucio in the western department of Caldas, Europa Press reported, citing the Catholic agency MISNA. Father José Ancízar Mejía Palomino, aged 84, was the third priest to have been killed in the preceding 20 days, Europa Press reported.

Mexican community policemen said kidnapped child

Masked individuals identifying themselves as members of a self-styled community police briefly kidnapped a child in the Ayutla district of the western Mexican state of Guerrero on 4 February, prompting community police chiefs to order their policemen to work unmasked. The masks were very likely intended to help community policemen avoid identification by the criminals they have vowed to fight. Residents of at least four districts in Guerrero have formed the militias to police their part of the state, in response to the authorities' inability to curb violent crime. State authorities and civil observers have already expressed concern about the legalit of such armed groups, but locals have in turn denounced the state's failure to assure security. After the kidnapping, three local community police chiefs decided their policemen would only bear masks during "operations" or patrols, La Crónica de Hoy reported on 5 February. Community forces detained dozens of suspected criminals during January at road blocks set up around relevant districts; they recently announced relatives of 54 detainees held in the locality of El Mesón could visit on Sundays. Separately in the resort of Acapulco in Guerrero masked men raped six or seven female tourists lodged in bungalows on the edge of the city on the night of 4-5 February, media reported. Six were Spanish and one Mexican, and seven Spanish men who were with them were tied up; their belongings were robbed. The group later received medical assistance and counselling, Europa Press reported on 5 February.

Missing policeman's body found in Bogotá

The body of Jairo Alberto Díaz, a 24-year-old policeman who disappeared on 27 January in Bogotá's north-eastern district of Usaquén was found on 4 February, and police were unsure if he had died by accident or been killed as he was found in a spot that had already been searched. Dozens of police agents had searched for him in Usaquén and surrounding areas and the city's police chief initially suspected he had been kidnapped by a gang. A red plastic bag found over him may have hidden him, it was speculated. Coroners were examining the body to determine possible causes of death, the broadcaster Caracol reported. His father told Caracol radio on 5 February that he was convinced "he was killed," as indicated he said by the fact that the body had not decomposed after an absence of nine days. After days of hoping to find his son alive, "what are we going to do now?" he asked in grief.