Mexico

Mexico: a new Pax Mafiosa?

Reports of a summit of cartel "capos" in Piedras Negras fuel speculation that President Enrique Peña Nieto seeks to rebuild the "Pax Mafiosa" of Mexico's old one-party state.

The Andes

Colombia to get truth commission

In the ongoing peace talks in Havana, Colombia's government and the FARC rebels agreed to a truth commission to addresses the deaths of thousands in five decades of conflict.

Mexico

Subcommander Marcos ‘ceases to exist’

A new communique from the Zapatistas' Subcommander Marcos states that he is stepping down as the public voice of the indigenous rebel army in Mexico's Chiapas state.

Mexico

Michoacán: ex-vigilantes register weapons

Mexico's government started to swear in members of the "community police" vigilante network in Michoacán for a new rural police force—but fears persist over accountability.

Europe

Ukraine: Blackwater versus Cossacks?

Amid claims that Blackwater mercenaries are fighting for Kiev, come reports of reactionary neo-Cossack paramilitaries fighting for the separatists in Ukraine's east.

The Andes

May Day mining disaster in Colombia

An unknown number of miners—perhaps as many as 40—were buried alive as an illegal gold mine collapsed at El Palmar, in Colombia's southern region of Cauca.