Pakistani security forces backed by warplanes and helicopter gunships launched a new operation in Buner district near the Swat Valley April 28, bombing suspected Taliban targets in Kalil, Shera Turf, and Kandao areas. Fighter aircraft also bombed Mushki Pur, a mountainous area of Mardan district bordering Buner. The strikes were carried out by the paramilitary Frontier Corps in coordination with the army.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki denounced on April 26 a US military raid that morning as violating the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The agreement states that any military offensives by the US are to be performed in accordance with Iraqi laws and prior notice of any military operations is be given to the Joint Military Operations Coordination Committee (JMOCC). Al-Maliki asserted that the attack, which killed two people, was in violation of the SOFA and that he seeks to subject the responsible US forces to judicial proceedings. Under the SOFA, US military personnel may be subject to Iraqi jurisdiction for grave violations of the terms of the agreement. (Jurist, April 27)

From the Indigenous Environmental Network, April 25:

Anchorage, Alaska — At the first global gathering of Indigenous Peoples on climate change, participants were outraged at the intensifying rate of destruction the climate crisis is having on the Earth and all peoples. Participants reaffirmed that Indigenous Peoples are most impacted by climate change and called for support and funding for Indigenous Peoples to create adaptation and mitigation plans for themselves, based on their own Traditional Knowledge and practices. Indigenous Peoples also took a strong position on emission reduction targets of industrialized countries and against false solutions.

Our April issue featured stories on the militarization of the Mexican border, the need for a general amnesty for undocumented immigrants, and the opportunity represented by the financial crisis to reboot America for the post-petroleum age. Our multiple-choice April Exit Poll was: "Which of the following is President Obama most likely to do?" We received 24 votes (which we hope does not indicate that we have only 24 readers). The results follow:

From the Mauritanian Organization for Peace and Justice, April 24:

Members of the Mauritanian community and the undersigned organizations hereby call on the United Nations Security Council and the Obama administration to name an independent international commission to investigate atrocities committed during the regime of Maouya Ould Taya (1986-1992).

Extradited paramilitary warlord Diego Fernando "Don Berna" Murillo appealed for a commission of Colombian congressmen to visit him in his US prison so he can continue his collaboration with Bogotá on bringing justice. Don Berna—sentenced to 31 years for drug trafficking April 22—appealed in a letter to Colombian lawmakers to visit him to "guarantee transparency, accuracy and efficiency" in his cooperation with the special Justice and Peace tribunal that seeks to clarify the crimes committed by paramilitaries before the "demobilization" of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

The local Good Government Junta (JBG) of the Zapatista rebels at Morelia, in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas, issued a statement April 23 charging that Gov. Juan Sabines Guerrero "is determined to be a humiliating repressor who does not respect human rights, following in the footsteps and example of past governors." The statement came in response to the arrest of six members of the Zapatista base community of San José en Rebeldía, Autonomous Municipality Comandanta Ramona, near the Cascadas de Agua Azul ecological reserve, where they ran an auto transport service for tourists and local residents. One, Miguel Vázquez Moreno, was held incommunicado for 80 hours before state police announced he had been arrested as a narco-trafficker. The JBG said two members of the community remain "disappeared."

Two new reports charge Mexican and other Latino migrants continue facing a host of human rights violations and labor abuses in Canada and the United States. In Mexico, an assessment prepared by the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) group in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies reconfirmed previous reports of bad conditions experienced by thousands of Mexican agricultural workers enrolled in a temporary labor program in Canada.