On Oct. 10, rural popular organizations mobilized in several regions of Colombia, marching towards the capitals of their respective departments. They are protesting the pending free trade agreement with the United States, legislation which would roll back Colombia’s agrarian reform… Read moreColombia: national campesino mobilization follows threats, detentions
The UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, Netherlands, Oct. 8 awarded Honduras sovereignty over four cays in the Caribbean Sea and delineated its maritime boundary with Nicaragua as part of a ruling on a longstanding border dispute…. Read moreWorld Court rules on Nicaragua-Honduras border dispute; oil conflict in background
Three workers from the Mexican oil monopoly Pemex were killed by inhaling toxic fumes when the gas pipeline they were working on suffered a leak Oct. 8. The workers were repairing the Potrero del Llano-Naranjos pipeline in Alamo Temapache, Veracruz,… Read moreMexico: three workers dead in gas pipeline accident
Nathaniel Deutsch, professor of religion at Swarthmore College, writes for the New York Times, Oct. 6: Save the Gnostics The United States didn’t set out to eradicate the Mandeans, one of the oldest, smallest and least understood of the many… Read moreIraq’s indigenous Gnostics make NY Times op-ed page
A very important story by Kimia Sanati from InterPress Service, Oct. 3: Islamist, Socialist Revolutions Don’t Mix An attempt to rope in the son and daughter of the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara to forge a parallel between Iran’s Islamist… Read moreChe Guevara family protests Islamist exploitation of legacy
The UK warned Darfur’s rebel groups Oct. 8 they could be excluded from the peace process if they boycott talks due to be held in Libya later this month. London’s Minister for Africa, Lord Malloch Brown, said those who opted… Read moreUK lectures Darfur rebels —as Sudan attacks
Commemorations taking place nearly throughout Latin America 40 years after the death of Ernesto "Che" Guevara on Oct. 8, 1967, indicate just how much the world has changed since then—for better and for worse. Most significantly, in Bolivia—where he met… Read moreChe Guevara legacy contested 40 years after his death
A federal judge in Washington DC declared a mistrial Oct. 4 in the cocaine trafficking trial of Colombian guerilla leader Ricardo Palmera, AKA Simón Trinidad. AP writes: “The US government had hoped a conviction would underscore its view that the… Read moreMistrial declared in US case against FARC leader —again
From Editor & Publisher, Oct. 5: Gonzalo Guillen, a reporter for The Miami Herald’s Spanish-language daily El Nuevo Herald, has fled Colombia after President Alvaro Uribe accused him of ghost-writing a book linking the president to the notorious drug dealer… Read moreReporter flees Colombia following Uribe-Escobar link claims
Mexico’s underground Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) issued a communique Oct. 3 to the leadership of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), expressing solidarity and pledging to “avoid to the maximum” any action which could affect them or compromise their security…. Read moreMexico: EPR guerillas express solidarity with Zapatistas
Mexican officials say the US has committed to giving their administration $1 billion over the next two years to fight drug trafficking. Carlos Rico, Mexico’s undersecretary for North American affairs, said the “Joint Strategy to Combat Organized Crime”—which would have… Read moreWhite House prepares “Plan Mexico” drug war package
Abu Mansur Robow, ex-deputy defense secretary with Somalia’s ousted Islamic Courts movement, told Mogadishu radio Oct. 3 that his Shabaab resistance group has “nothing to do” with the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), recently founded by Somali opposition… Read moreSplit in Somali resistance?
