Colombia will, after all, be getting some US military aid this year. Having cleared the first of two human rights certifications in early July, it is now about to receive US$31.6m. This is part of a package which is not subject to the US government's suspension of military aid to all countries that signed the treaty creating the International Criminal Court (ICC) but failed to sign and ratify so-called 'no surrender' or 'Article 98' agreements ensuring the impunity of US nationals the ICC might want to try for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Under that order, Colombia will lose US$5m this financial year and, unless President George Bush Jr grants a waiver (which many expect he will), possibly US$131m next year. Cut this year for other Andean countries are: Ecuador US$1.65m, Peru US$1.6m, and Venezuela US$700,000.
Anything classified as counternarcotics aid (the bulk of what Colombia receives) remains unaffected.
BOLIVIA|Peasant climbdowns may be the lull before the storm
The local movement of landless peasants, MST (not to be confused with the Brazilian organisation with the same initials) called off a campaign of land 'invasions' in early July, after the government showed that it was determined to evict them by force.
This came shortly after news that the federation of coca-growing unions had decided to halt attacks on the military eradication teams and 'alternative' crops - at the behest of their recently re-elected leader, congressman Evo Morales, who is now promising to take power through the ballot box, starting with next year's municipal elections.
Morales has also made a move to take over the broader peasant confederation, CSUTCB, from his rival indigenous leader, Felipe Quispe.
All this is probably just the lull before the storm. The US embassy has been egging on those in government who advocate all-out military action against the coca-growers of the Chapare region.
A parallel threat to stability may arise for plans to conduct, with the backing of the army, a major overhaul of the Bolivian police force, ostensibly to root out corruption.
ECUADOR|Mistrust in police is feeding alarm over crime
Concern about personal security is on its way to becoming a major issue in Ecuador. While the country's overall crime rates are far from the highest in Latin America, public perceptions have been responding to increases in the rates of 'headline' crimes such as homicide, holdups and kidnappings.
Worsening the public mood is the spreading conviction that the police are not up to the task of curbing crime. A survey recently conducted by the local research firm Market shows 60.6% of respondents agreeing that the police is not effective in controlling crime. An even greater proportion, 67.8%, believe that police action is handicapped by corruption - an impression fed by both the frequent experience of petty bribery and a number of prominent corruption cases reported in the media.
The survey also showed that this breakdown in trust creates a vicious circle: 63% of those respondents who had been victims of crimes did not bother to report them to the police, which only exacerbates the sense of criminal impunity.
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