US troops will stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014, with Kabul's permission, Vice President Joe Biden said last week. While insisting the US does not intend "to govern or nation-build" as that "is the responsibility of the Afghan people and they are fully capable of it," Biden added: "We stand ready to help you in that effort ... after 2014." Biden's comments come a month after he told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the US would be "totally out" of Afghanistan by 2014 "come hell or high water."

Neo-Nazis have taken over the entire village of Jamel in Germany's northeastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. "The police, the authorities, no one dares to intervene," Uwe Wandel, mayor of the district that includes the village, told Der Spiegel. Jamel is home to Sven Kruger, a leader of the ultra-right National Democratic Party, an openly Hitler-nostalgist outfit that has had seats in the state parliament since 2006. Kruger and his allies have bought up nearly the whole village and driven others out, the magazine reports. Horst Lohmeyer, one of the few residents to oppose the extremists, said, "They see Jamel as a 'nationally liberated zone'"—meaning a place foreigners and anti-fascists must fear to tread. (UPI, Jan. 3)

Ex-president Alejandro Toledo, a front-runner in Peru's presidential race, said Jan. 13 that the mining sector must "give back" a portion of rising profits to poor rural areas. In a speech outlining his policy proposals, Toledo called for "co-responsibility" between private companies and the state for social development: "Just as we respect the rules of the game and assure them contracts will be honored, they, the extractive sector, should respect the environment and give back part of their profits in the form of infrastructure and improve the quality of life of townspeople." (Reuters, Jan. 13)

On Jan. 9, members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota Dam (CECOP), representing some 20 communities, reinstalled the blockade they had maintained for nearly five years in the community of Parotillas, to prevent access of the Federal Electrical Commission (CFE) to the land where the dam project is to be built. CECOP demanded that Manuel Añorve Baños, gubernatorial candidate of the coalition Better Times for Guerrero (led by the Institutional Revolutionary Party-PRI), remove his TV spot promoting the dam, charging that it is inciting confrontation and will be responsible for "what may happen." CECOP leader Nemesio Valeriano Moreno said the intent is not to block the passage of all vehicles, but only those of the CFE. He added that the blockade will remain indefinitely. (SIPAZ blog, Jan. 13)

2010 saw the most drug-related deaths in Mexico since President Felipe Calderón launched his offensive against the country's narco-gangs in 2006, by his administration's own figures. Alejandro Poire, technical secretary of Calderón's Security Council, said 15,273 were killed in narco-violence last year—up from 9,616 in 2009 (and 5,376 in 2008). All told, 34,616 have been killed in Mexico's Drug War since 2006, according to the report. The four-year figure includes 30,913 execution-style killings, 3,153 deaths in shootouts, and 546 deaths involving attacks on authorities. Most of the killings took place in the three northern states of Chihuahua, Tamaulipas and Sinaloa. (The Guardian, Cambio de Michoacán, Jan. 13)

Mexican Federal District authorities announced late last month the detainment of David Romo Guillén, leader of the "Traditional Catholic Church" that is also known as Santa Muerte, or "Saint Death." Romo was arrested with eight other members, including his wife Ivón Cortés, on charges of kidnapping and extortion in Mexico City. Prosecutors claim Romo and his accomplices disguised themselves as members of Los Zetas narco-gang to kidnap two elderly people for ransom. All nine were placed under a form of house arrest for 30 days pending investigation.

After seven months in captivity, Mexican politician Diego Fernández de Cevallos was released last month, saying after his reappearance that he was well but giving no indication of who his captors were. During his captivity, his apparent abductors issued three statements, calling themselves "The Mysterious Kidnappers" and later the "Network for Global Transformation," demanding money in exchange for the release of the former senator. A week after his release, on Jan. 1—anniversary of the 1994 uprising by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in southern Chiapas state—a fourth statement was issued purporting to be from the abductors. Entitled "The ex-Mysterious Kidnappers: The truth comes to light," the communique was signed by "el Guerrero Balam," a "faithful member of the insurgent forces of the EZLN," subordinated to "Subcomandante Marcos and the wise Mayan Zapatistas." The writer said that Fernández de Cevallos is "one of the main enemies of our project," an apparent reference to the EZLN's demand for indigenous autonomy.

Late last month, the Guatemalan government declared a state of siege in the northern department of Alta Verapaz near the jungle border with Mexico, and sent hundreds of troops to the area in response to the supposed presence there of Los Zetas, the ultra-violent Mexican narco gang. President Álvaro Colom announced that the emergency rule in Alta Verapaz will last 30 days, allowing the military to detain suspects without a warrant. "It is to bring peace to the people and recover their confidence in the government," Colom said. (Latin America News Dispatch, Dec. 20)