Four people were wounded in an armed clash between rival factions of Tzotzil Maya settlers in the outlying colonia (neighborhood) of Molino de los Arcos in the Chiapas Highland city of San Cristobal Dec. 21. The settlers are originally from… Read moreMexico: more factional violence in Chiapas
From AP, Dec. 23: OVENTIC, Mexico – About 5,000 Zapatista rebels, many in black ski masks, gathered in this village in southern Mexico to show their support for protesters in the historic city of Oaxaca who are trying to oust… Read moreChiapas: Zapatistas march for Oaxaca
Thousands of supporters of the Popular People’s Assembly of Oaxaca again took to the streets of southern Mexico’s Oaxaca City Dec. 22 to demand the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz, as well as the release of “political prisoners” arrested in… Read moreInternational mobilization for Oaxaca
This is why the European laws against Holocaust denial are completely counter-productive. They just provide a media spotlight (and therefore a voice) to these sinister charlatans—and worse, allow them to legitimately accuse the establishment of silencing them. Every turn in… Read moreDavid Irving free to spread lies, media lap it up
This Dec. 22 account from the Russian daily Kommersant reveals another recent win for Moscow in its bid to rebuild influence in the “near abroad” of Central Asia, and beat the American and European competition to the punch in securing… Read moreTurkmenistan: dictator’s death throws gas leases into question
Iraq’s government is drafting a new hydrocarbons law that will chart the course for the country’s oil sector and determine how its revenues will be apportioned. The law would put much of Iraqi oil into the hands of foreign companies,… Read moreIraq drafts new oil law; greater access for multinationals
The quaint traditions of Saddam’s Iaq survive in the US-created new order. From
Nine years after the Dec. 22, 1997 massacre of 45 unarmed Maya Indians at the Chiapas highland hamlet of Acteal, Chiapas, the confessed intellectual author of the attack, Antonio Vazquez Secum, remains free and was never called to testify in… Read moreActeal nine years later: still no justice
Subcommander Marcos of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) is back on the rebels’ home turf of southern Chiapas state after a months-long tour of Mexico, known as the “Other Campaign” in reference to this year’s presidential campaigns. Marcos arrived… Read moreMarcos back in Chiapas; Zapatistas prepare global “encuentro”
Even as the Mexican federal government is starting to release some of the hundreds detained during the Oaxaca protests, new harassment and repression is reported from the conflicted state. On Dec. 18, Florentino Lopez Marti’nez, spokesman of the Popular Assembly… Read moreOaxaca: repression continues as rights report released
Salvatore Mancuso, top chieftan of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) began testimony Dec. 19 before a special tribunal about the paramilitary newtwork’s role in massacres and assassinations. Under a peace deal with the government, the AUC leaders will… Read moreColombia: para leader testifies at tribunal; dialogue stalled
Ecologists warn that current rates of tapping frankincense are endangering the fragrant resin’s sustained production. Writing in the December issue of the Journal of Applied Ecology, Professor Frans Bongers of the Netherlands’ Wageningen University says that over-tapping Ethiopia’s Boswellia trees… Read moreChristmas rush threatens Ethiopian frankincense source
