Social movements in Peru's Southern Macro-region held a general strike June 17 through 18, to demand a halt to the natural gas contract with the Camisea LNG consortium. Roads were blocked and businesses shut throughout the affected areas. Parts of Cuzco, Arequipa, and Tacna regions held a 24-hour paro, or protest campaign, while organizations in Puno, Madre de Dios and Apurimac extended the campaign to 48 hours, to press for cancellation of the Inambari hydro-power plant. Cuzco's provinces of La Convención, Espinar and Canchis also extended the strike to 48 hours.

After three days of searching, Mexican army troops and Quintana Roo state police on June 18 discovered 12 bodies in four cenotes (natural wells) near the Cancún airport. Last week, six bodies were found in another presumed narcofosa (narco-grave) in Cancún. Authorities were apparently tipped off to mass graves by arrested sicarios (assassins), and 19 more have been arrested in their connection. Among those detained are a former member of the Kaibiles, the Guatemalan army's special forces, and an ex-agent of the Cancún municipal police. Authorities did not say which faction the detained belong to, but press accounts have identified them as members of Los Zetas. (El Universal, AFP, June 18; Diario de Quintana Roo, June 17)

From Amnesty International, June 16:

Israeli authorities must stop demolitions of Palestinian homes
Amnesty International has called on the Israeli authorities to end house demolitions which leave thousands of Palestinians living in daily fear of eviction from their homes.

Hundreds of Turkish soldiers made an incursion into Iraqi territory in "hot pursuit" of Kurdish guerillas June 16, Turkish government officials said. After a battle in Uludere district of Turkey's Sirnak province, the Turkish military said it sent three commando divisions and a special forces brigade two or three kilometers into Iraqi territory to chase down the rebels. Turkish warplanes also carried out a series of air-strikes against suspected rebel targets in Iraq. The Turkish military claimed to have killed four guerilla fighters in the battle, which also claimed the life of a Turkish solider. (CNN, June 17; AlJazeera, June 16)

From Human Rights Watch, June 16:

Iraqi Kurdistan: Girls and Women Suffer the Consequences of Female Genital Mutilation
Kurdistan Regional Government Should Outlaw the Practice
A significant number of girls and women in Iraqi Kurdistan suffer female genital mutilation (FGM) and its destructive after-effects, Human Rights Watch said today in a new report. The Kurdistan Regional Government should take immediate action to end FGM and develop a long term plan for its eradication, including passing a law to ban the practice, Human Rights Watch said.

More than 200 people have been killed over the past seven days in Mexico's most violent week since President Felipe Calderón unleashed federal forces against the country's warring drug cartels. In the latest slayings, on June 16 Nuevo León state investigators in the Monterrey suburb of Apodaca recovered the bodies of five municipal police officers who had been abducted at dawn from their homes by armed men. Their bodies, with signs of torture, were found in an abandoned plot of land with a threatening "narco-message." One had been decapitated. Dozens of police have been killed in the Monterrey area in recent months. Authorities also said an armed commando executed three local youths in the Monterrey barrio of Primero de Mayo. (El Universal, El Financiero, Houston Chronicle, June 16)

Peruvian National Police clashed June 14 with protesting workers of the troubled US-owned Doe Run Peru metal smelter at La Oroya, Junín region. Police attacked workers who were blocking roads, paralyzing traffic throughout the central city of La Oroya and the surrounding area. Schools and businesses remain closed in solidarity with the strike, as most La Oroya residents work for Doe Run, which suspended operations last year amid severe financial problems and the firm's failure to comply with a government-mandated clean-up program.

Colombian presidential candidates Antanas Mockus and Juan Manuel Santos both went on record supporting the Colombian army's successful rescue of four hostages held by the FARC guerillas June 13. In an interview with W Radio Jun 15, Green Party candidate Mockus the called rescue mission "admirable" and said that he would "enthusiastically" support any future rescue plans. Santos called the operation a triumph for President Alvaro Uribe's "democratic security" policy, and highlighted the need to maintain the initiative. Observers speculate that the execution of "Operation Chameleon" a week before the second round election may have been a strategy to tilt the election to hardliner Santos. (Colombia Reports, June 15)