BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) – Colombia will use drones to resume spraying of coca crops with a weed killer, the government announced on Monday as authorities grapple with record levels of cocaine production that have fueled tensions with the Trump administration.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) – A court in Ecuador handed lengthy prison sentences Monday to a group of eleven soldiers who were responsible for the abduction and torture of four children last year – a case that has rattled the South American nation and raised questions about President Daniel Noboa’s efforts to militarize some cities amid a surge in drug-related violence.

SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Saturday he hopes the massive free-trade deal between South American bloc Mercosur and the European Union will be signed in January. Protests on Friday by European farmers and opposition from France and Italy threatened to quash an agreement that has been under negotiation for more than 26 years.