Gunmen, claiming they were seeking to oust the Colombian drug cartel of the Rastrojos, carried out an attack in a Venezuelan border state, another sign that the war between the Rastrojos and their rivals has spilled over the border.
While the Marxist rebels the FARC appear to be the most likely culprits behind the May 15 assassination attempt on Colombia's former Interior and Justice Minister, Colombia's far-right arguably also had good reason to mastermind such an attack.
A report on child recruitment by Colombia's criminal groups draws attention to the prevalence of the tactic across the region, as gangs exploit a low-cost, low-risk, and highly expendable source of manpower.
In an interview with a Colombian radio station, paramilitary warlord Salvatore Mancuso said that he had personally met with ex-President Alvaro Uribe, but declined to give further details. The question now is whether Mancuso's version of the truth can be corroborated.
The city of Bogota has seen a significant reduction in homicides after passing a ban on carrying guns. If the two developments prove to be related, the ban could provide a model to other violence-plagued cities in the region.
Defense attorneys who represent the region's most powerful drug lords are offered tantilizing compensation packages from their capo clients but the risks inherent in the job are evident from the host of lawyers gunned down in Colombia, Mexico and elsewhere.
The Five-seven semi-automatic pistol, capable of piercing body armor, is already a favored weapon of the Mexican cartels. Now there are signs that this "cop killer" gun has found its way into the Colombian black market.
After months of negotiations with the DEA, Javier Calle Serna, alias 'Comba,' has surrendered to US authorities, possibly creating a seismic shift in the Colombian underworld.
Security forces captured an alleged leader of the FARC's 48th Front in northern Ecuador, an area that has long been a key center of logistics for the rebels' Southern Bloc.
The FARC has announced that captured journalist Romeo Langlois, who is reportedly being held by one of the group's biggest drug trafficking fronts, will be released soon.
