Diego Arcos Meneses, arrested over a year ago in the massacre at the rainforest settlement of Viejo Velasco on what Amnesty International called “fabricated and deficient” evidence, was freed Dec. 4 by order of state authorities in Chiapas, Mexico. Amnesty… Read moreChiapas: scapegoat freed in Viejo Velasco massacre
Land conflicts between communities loyal to the Zapatista rebel movement and the state’s traditional political machine continue to generate violence in Chiapas, Mexico. The Zapatista Good Government Junta (JBG) Corazón del Arcoiris de la Esperanza announced that on Nov. 24,… Read moreChiapas: paramilitary violence continues
Antonio Vázquez Secum, named by Mexico’s Prosecutor General of the Republic (PGR) as the author of the December 1997 Acteal massacre, died Nov. 17 at his home in the village of Quextic, Chiapas. Secum, who was over 70 years old,… Read moreChiapas: accused mastermind in Acteal massacre dies
When the US Air Force Southern Command’s 10-year usage rights for Ecuador’s Manta air base expire in 2009, they can expect to be evicted in favor of China. President Jamil Mahuad signed a 10-year lease agreement with the US Military’s… Read moreChina to gain air base in Ecuador?
At least 40 bodies have been found recently in Iraq’s southern oil port of Basra, with the pull-out of British troops leaving only chaos and women increasingly targets of religious fundamentalists. “Some women along with their children have been killed,”… Read moreWar on women in Basra
A fire erupted Dec. 7 on the pipeline carrying oil from the Kirkuk fields to the Baiji refinery north of Baghdad. The state-run Northern Oil Company said the reason was unclear. In September, the pipeline burst in a suspected bomb… Read moreAttacks continue on Iraq oil lines amid scramble for control
From the Global Justice Ecology Project, Dec. 7: Indigenous Peoples shut out of Climate Change Negotiations Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia – Indigenous peoples representing regions from around the world protested outside the climate negotiations today wearing symbolic gags that read… Read moreIndigenous peoples protest UN climate meet
However naive she may be about Western intentions, Ayaan Hirsi Ali deserves creds for asking the tough questions about the Muslim establishment. Why—with rare exception—are no voices on the anti-imperialist left asking these questions? From the New York Times op-ed… Read moreAyaan Hirsi Ali calls out “moderate” Islam
Pakistani security forces dynamited the homes of Maulana Fazlullah and his spokesman Maulana Sirajuddin Dec. 6 in the Swat Valley village of Imam Dehri, North-West Frontier Province. The Maulana’s madrassa was left intact. “The fate of the controversial seminary of… Read morePakistan: liquor found in raid on Taliban leader
More than nine months and countless African lives ago, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued what critics dismissed as toothless “pseudo-indictments” against two men identified as masterminds of the Darfur genocide—Janjaweed militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman (nom de… Read moreICC issues another report on Darfur impunity
The CIA’s admission that it filmed the interrogation of terrorism suspects and then destroyed the tapes will kill any chances of convictions, attorneys representing Guantanamo Bay prisoners say. “First, it’s a criminal offence to destroy evidence,” said Clive Stafford Smith… Read moreDestroyed CIA tapes to undermine Gitmo trials?
From the Polytechnic Free Campaign, support group for dissident students at Amir Kabir University of Technology (formerly Tehran Polytechnic), Dec. 6: On Tuesday the 4th of December, security police and masked intelligence agents arrested 28 students during a demonstration against… Read moreIran: dissident students arrested
