Troops of the 3rd army division exchanged fire with a group of FARC guerrillas attempting to set up an illegal road-block in the suburb of Piendamo, a city in Cauca. Four militants were killed, said the military.

In another operation in a rural area of Dovio, a town in Valle, units from the same division shot dead three paramilitaries identified as AUC members.

The troops seized some AK-47 assault rifles, cartridges, clips and other field equipment, said the authorities.

The government led by President Alvaro Uribe is in peace talks with the AUC to seek to demobilize its 20,000 paramilitaries.

Colombia has been plagued by a four-decade-old civil war, in which leftist rebels, far-right paramilitary and governmental troops fight one another, with an average of 3,500 people killed every year.
 

45 percent of Venezuelans to vote for Chavez: poll
Forty-five percent of the Venezuelans will vote for President Hugo Chavez in the recall referendum on Aug. 15 and 34 percent will vote against him, according to a survey conducted by the local firm Keller and Associates.

Keller and Associates was quoted on Friday by the local daily El National as saying 43 percent of the people polled supported the ruling party, 31 percent kept neutral and 26 percent backed the opposition.

According to the report, 67 percent of the Venezuelans believed that there will be violence if Chavez is removed, and 34 percent said the president would take reprisals against those voting against him.

Venezuela's National Election Council (CNE) said 13.9 million voters have been registered to cast ballots in the referendum.

Under the Venezuelan Constitution, in order to oust Chavez, the opposition has to collect a number of votes equal or more than that obtained by the president in the 2000 election, which means at least 3.7 million votes.

Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and reelected to a six-year term in 2000, has been accused by his opponents of wrecking the country's economy.

On June 8, the CNE announced that the opposition had collected 2.5 million signatures against Chavez, more than the 2.4 million required to call a recall vote.

Chavez has since his reelection experienced two general strikes, a 48-hour military coup and a strike.
 

Bolivia's airports resume operation after 6-hour strike
The airports in Bolivia resumed operations on Friday after the trade union ended a six-hour strike staged to demand the approval of the country's Aeronautics Law.

The trade union announced the end of the strike at 12:30 local time (1730 GMT), according to reports from La Paz, the administrative capital of Bolivia.

The strike caused paralysis of the airports in the country.

Local military airline TAM made some commercial flights with its only two airplanes during the strike.

The Autonomous Administration of Air Navigation Auxiliary Services of Bolivia called the strike on early Friday to demand the approval of the new law on aeronautics by the congress.

The law was approved by the Senate six months ago but is stranded in the Transportation Commission of the Lower House of the Congress.

The strike affected flights of American Airlines and the Brazilian airway Varigto to the United States and Brazil.