For the first time, the US has released Guanánamo Bay detainees in response to a court order, sending three Algerian-born prisoners to their adopted homeland of Bosnia Dec. 16. The three are among five Algerians ordered released last month by… Read moreThree Gitmo detainees released to Bosnia
Another 44 people were killed in Mexico’s narco wars this weekend, including four police officers in the border city of Ciudad Juárez, which has been the scene of some 1,500 violent deaths this year. Two police were killed at a… Read moreMexico: Ciudad Juárez civil strike to protest narco violence
A US anti-kidnapping expert was himself kidnapped in northern Mexico Dec. 10, Coahuila state authorities revealed. Felix Batista—a veteran FBI agent now working for ASI Global Kidnap & Ransom Response of Houston who claims to have helped resolve nearly 100… Read moreMexico: anti-kidnapping expert kidnapped
General Motors Mexico will temporarily shut assembly lines at three of its Mexican plants as part of an overall strategy to cut production due to falling demand, the company announced Dec. 15. The plants in San Luis Potosi and Ramos… Read moreGM to idle Mexican plants
Members of the Stop CAFTA Coalition, along with allies in Central America and the Dominican Republic, have compiled a report that describes the trends and impacts of the first three years of the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)…. Read moreObama urged to suspend CAFTA
Haiti marked the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ 60th anniversary with an official ceremony organized by the United Nations at the Foundation for Knowledge and Liberty (FOKAL), a nongovernmental organization formerly headed by Prime Minster Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis. The event… Read moreHaiti: US resumes deportations
The Argentine government, the opposition and grassroots organizations all marked Dec. 10 as the 25th anniversary of the return of democratic rule after a bloody 1976-1983 military dictatorship. The Mothers (Founding Line) and the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo—organizations… Read moreArgentina: mass graves excavated
On Dec. 10 human rights organizations in Latin America celebrated the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by holding ceremonies, staging protests and issuing reports on the situation in their countries. The Venezuelan Program… Read moreLatin America: groups mark Human Rights Day
The Colombian human rights organization CODHES has released a new analysis, entitled “The numbers do not add up,” challenging the government’s statistics of claimed successes against illegal armed groups (principally the FARC). The armed forced claim some 114,000 killed, captured… Read moreColombian army’s “numbers don’t add up” in war on FARC
Enrique Portocarrero, dubbed “Captain Nemo” in Colombia, is accused of building up to 20 fiberglass submarines for narco-traffickers to haul cocaine to Central America and Mexico. Following a three-year investigation involving US and British intelligence, Colombia’s Department of Administrative Security… Read moreColombia’s “Capt. Nemo” faces trial
Militants used patrol bombs to torch 25 supply trucks and oil containers for Afghanistan-based coalition forces near Peshawar, Pakistan early Dec. 13. It marked the fifth attack on a Peshawar area freight terminal within ten days, bringing the number of… Read moreTaliban hit NATO supply route in Pakistan —again
Italy’s Interior Minister Roberto Maroni of the anti-immigrant Northern League met with protests after proposing a moratorium on the building of mosques in the wake of arrests on Dec. 2 of two Moroccans suspected of plotting terrorist attacks—one of whom… Read moreItaly: Muslims protest mosque moratorium
