Divided over whether to boycott the polls, Islamist parties were among the biggest losers in Pakistan's general elections. Islamists participated in the 2002 elections under the banner of the six-party Muttehida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), and secured 66 seats in the National Assembly. The MMA also formed its own government in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and was a major coalition partner in the Baluchistan government. But this time, the alliance fractured. Jammat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist party, and two other MMA member parties boycotted. Only the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) of former parliamentary opposition leader Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, a friend of President Pervez Musharraf, and two other minor partners participated. The JUI won only five National Assembly seats—down from 48—and also faced harsh reversals in the NWFP and Baluchistan.

Turkish troops destroyed five bridges on the Avashin or Blue River in an incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan to hunt PKK rebel fighters, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Feb. 22. "We don't expect that a large incursion is taking place, as it's a remote and inhospitable region," Zebari said, estimating that "hundreds, rather than thousands" of Turkish troops were involved in the operation. Earlier, Ankara announced a "limited operation" into Iraqi territory. (AFP, Feb. 23) The president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, issued a statement warning that if Turkish forces target civilians or damage any civilian infrastructure they will face large-scale resistance. (VOA, Feb. 23)

Earth First! blockades power plant

From Everglades Earth First!, Feb. 19:

Early Monday morning hundreds of concerned community members from Palm Beach County and all over the nation put their bodies on the line to halt construction of FPL's West County Energy Center (WCEC), demanding energy efficiency, truly clean, renewable energy and a moratorium on development in south Florida.

From the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Feb. 21:

On Tuesday, February 19, 13 political activists arrested last July in the town of Suchitoto were set free, and all charges against them were dismissed. This victory for the "Suchitoto 13" comes on the heels of the initial charges of "acts of terrorism" being dropped on February 8, following a drawn out, 7-month investigation. The terrorism charges, enabled by El Salvador's 2006 Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism, were universally denounced by human rights organizations in El Salvador and around the world, and carried a potential sentence of up to 60 years in prison.

From the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Feb. 21:

In a recent visit to the United States, Salvadoran president Antonio Saca expressed concern about the findings of a recent US intelligence report, which predicts that Venezuela will intervene in El Salvador's 2009 elections. In his Annual Threat Assessment, US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell states that "we expect [Venezuelan president Hugo] Chávez to provide generous campaign funding to the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) in El Salvador in its bid to secure the presidency in the 2009 election."

Henry Okah, a leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), is rumored to have been killed Feb. 18 upon being extradited from Angola to Nigeria. A MEND communique, signed by Jomo Gbomo, said: "Disturbing reports just reaching us suggests that Henry Okah succumbed to injuries from gun shot wounds at about 0400 hrs today, February 19, 2007 at a military hospital in Kaduna State of Nigeria after he was shot in what those interrogating him claimed was an 'accidental discharge' from the automatic weapon from one of the guards." The statement said MEND "is giving the Federal Government of Nigeria within the next 24 hours to confirm or deny this murder rumour. Failure to do this will bring bloodbath in that region and beyond. We will not take prisoners from the military or oil workers." (Lagos Vanguard via AllAfrica, Feb. 19)

Airomi Smith, a university student and a leader in Panama's largest union, the Only Union of Construction and Similar Workers (SUNTRACS), was killed in Colón on Feb. 12 by a gunshot to the abdomen from a police weapon. Smith's death came during one of a number of demonstrations the union had been holding to oppose the high cost of living and to demand better safety conditions at construction sites; some 50 construction workers have died in job-related accidents in the past two years. Eliseo Madrid, a member of a National Police (PN) division known as "The Lynxes," was ordered detained on Feb. 14 in connection with Smith's death; another police agent, Marcos Perez, was summoned as a witness.

A delegation of striking miners from Grupo Mexico's Cananea copper mine in Sonora, Mexico, and of leaders from the US-based United Steelworkers (USW) visited the Capitol in Washington, DC on Feb. 13, to ask the US Congress to withhold a $1.4 billion funding package for Mexico's security forces proposed by the administration of US president George W. Bush ("Plan Mexico") until it has held public hearings to investigate the use of the police and military against the strikers on Jan. 11. "Mexico cannot be allowed to violate workers' human rights with impunity under the pretense of securing borders and combating narco-trafficking," USW president Leo Gerard said, noting that USW members in Arizona struck Grupo Mexico-owned copper mines for four months in 2005 over the company's "refusal to bargain in good faith." (AFL-CIO Weblog, Feb. 13)