Calling continued payments "immoral" and "illegitimate," Ecuador's President Rafael Correa followed through on pledges to default on the country's foreign debt Dec. 12, announcing his government will not make a $31 million payment due in two days on the 2012 Global Bonds series. This is Ecuador's second debt default in a decade. Ecuador's external debt totals $3.8 billion. The default comes after a national audit commission identified numerous irregularities in Ecuador's debt and recommended suspension of payments. Oil accounting for 60% of Ecuador's exports, and the recent slide in prices—from $147 a barrel to $45—has hit the country's finances hard. Win Thin, senior currency analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman, called the announcement "disappointing and a bit surprising." (EFE, MarketWatch, Dec. 12)

Colombia extradited top kingpin "Don" Diego Montoya, 47, to the US Dec. 12, where he faces charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and murder. Officials say he exported tons of cocaine and was responsible for killing at least 1,500 people in a two-decade career. With a $5 million US price on his head, Montoya was captured by the Colombian army at a finca in Zarzal, Norte del Valle department, in September 2007. Transfered to Bogotá by helicopter from his prison cell in Cómbita, Boyacá, Montoya was flown to Miami in a DEA plane. National Police chief Gen. Óscar Naranjo said the extradition "closes the chapter of the government's offensive to dismantle the Norte del Valle cartel." (El Tiempo, Bogotá; NYT, Dec. 12)

At the Poznan climate summit, Mexico's Environment Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira announced his administration's plan to cut 2002 greenhouse gas emission levels by 50% by 2050. The Mexican plan includes a carbon trading system that would set emissions limits on certain sectors, such as electricity and oil refining. Companies that reduce their emissions below those limits could sell their unused allowances on the international carbon market. Mexico is the world's 13th largest emitter og greenhouse gases, and the announcement was intended as a challenge to other developing nations. South Korea has said it would announce an emissions cap next year, and South Africa has a detailed plan to peak emissions in 2025. (AP, The Guardian, Dec. 11)

This Dec. 10 account from the San Francisco Chronicle paints Steven Chu, President-elect Barack Obama's pick to lead the Energy Department, as an alternative-fuels visionary who will buck the oil cartel. But this year saw a protest campaign on campus at UC Berkeley against a program Chu championed to bring "biofuels" research to the university—under the auspices of oil giant BP.

Makuxi children at Serra do Sol" title="Makuxi children at Serra do Sol" class="image image-_original" width="250" height="188" />Makuxi children at Serra do SolIndians across Brazil celebrated Dec. 10 as the majority of judges in the country's Supreme Court ruled to uphold indigenous land rights in a key case. Indigenous leaders called the decision, made on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a "great victory." The ruling concerns the indigenous territory Raposa-Serra do Sol ("Land of the Fox and Mountain of the Sun") in the Amazon state of Roraima. A small group of powerful farmers, who want the Indians' land and are supported by local politicians, had petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the Brazilian government's legal recognition of the territory. President Lula da Silva signed a decree recognizing the territory in 2005.

Protests against the killing of a youth by police in Athens spread across Europe Dec. 11, as street-fighting in Greece entered its sixth day. At least 30 were arrested in Copenhagen, as masked youth hurled bottles and paint bombs at buildings, police cars and officers. Eleven were arrested, and police officers reportedly injured, in clashes in Madrid and Barcelona. In Moscow and Rome, protesters threw petrol bombs at the Greek embassies. In neighbouring Istanbul, protesters splashed red paint over the facade of the Greek consulate. And in Athens and Thessaloniki, protesters and police continued to trade hurled rocks and tear-gas cannisters, with more shops and banks damaged and windows smashed. The major Greek trade unions have taken up the issue, calling for "the democratization of the police and an end to violent and arbitrary acts by state organs." (The Telegraph, London Times, AFP, Dec. 11)

Critical Mass scores a win over Scotland Yard. From The Telegraph, Dec. 2:

Critical mass can carry on cycling
There is no need for the organisers of a mass cycle ride to give the police notice of their planned destination when there are no organisers and the destination is unplanned, the law lords ruled today.

President-elect Barack Obama's reported pick for Drug Czar, Minnesota's Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad, is called out by Maia Szalavitz on Huffington Post Dec. 9 under the lurid title "Obama Drug Czar Pick Tied to Abusive Christian Rehab Linked to Contributor Charged with $3.5 Billion Fraud":