2.5 tons of cocaine seized in Peru
The Peruvian police have destroyed 60 makeshift drug laboratories and seized 2.5 tons of cocaine in a five-day raid in Peru's jungle drug heartland, according to an official statement released on Sunday.

The statement said that 210 soldiers of a special task force and nine helicopters participated in the operation, dubbed as "Monzon 2004" and conducted in the area of Monzon, province of Huanuco.

It said that police also seized 86 tons of dry cocaine leaves and 368 tons of basic cocaine paste, made from the coca leaf, but no one was arrested in the raid.

Peru is among Latin America's top three drug producers, with an annual yield of 250 tons of cocaine, the second largest producer in the world only after its neighboring country Colombia.

At present, there are around 30,000 hectares of coca fields in the country.
 

U.S. to double military in Colombia
The number of U.S. military personnel in Colombia will double, to 800, in the coming months, based on a weekend vote in the U.S. Congress.

The action was welcomed by President Alvaro Uribe's government for its fight against Marxist rebels but condemned by human rights groups, who warned of a sharp escalation in the conflict.

The 2005 U.S. Defense Department authorization act, approved Saturday by Congress, also permits the Bush administration to increase the number of U.S. citizens working for private contractors in Colombia to 600 from 400.

The soldiers and many of the contractors will, among other things, develop and analyze intelligence on rebel movements and train Colombian troops in counterguerrilla operations.

U.S. officials said more U.S. personnel were urgently needed to help the government's nine-month offensive against the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Lifting the congressionally mandated limits on troops and contractors, a little-noticed measure in the 5,000-page Pentagon authorization bill, is seen by some analysts and rights advocates as a step toward larger U.S. troop commitments.
 

Brazil mourns Indian expert's death
Brazil's federal Indian rights agency, Funai, expressed their condolences Sunday following the weekend killing of an Indian rights specialist.

Apoena Meireles was shot outside an ATM in the western state of Rondonia Saturday night in the town of Cacoal near the Roosevelt Indian reservation where he was trying to put an end to illegal diamond mining.

In April Roosevelt was the scene of nearly 30 slayings of diamond miners, killed by members of the local indigenous Cinta Larga tribe.

Meireles was considered an important liaison between the tribe and Funai, being the first non-Indian to establish a relationship with them in 1967.

"This upsets all of us (at Funai)," read a statement from the bureau, of which Meireles was once the head.

Roosevelt reservation --named after former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, who once visited the area -- is reportedly rife with precious gems.

The allure of diamonds beneath the soil has lured hundreds of wealth seekers in the last few years, despite federal laws prohibiting mining on Indian territory set aside by the government.

Indians have also been accused of illegally mining on the land which some diamond experts say is the largest mine in South America.

Meanwhile authorities are investigating whether the unknown gunman was just interested in robbing the 55-year-old Indian expert or if the killing was related to his work.