Iraq has halted oil exports to Austria's OMV, Central Europe's leading oil and gas group, to protest a deal with the autonomous Kurdish region. An official at the Oil Ministry said OMV will no longer receive 10,000 barrels per day of Basra Light crude. In November, OMV signed two production-sharing contracts with the Kurdish authorities for two exploration blocs, Mala Omar and Shorish, in Irbil. South Korea's SK Energy was also cut off because of deals with the Kurdish government. SK Energy refused to abandon its exploration blocs in Kurdistan as part of a consortium led by the state-run Korea National Oil Corp.

Thousands of civilians fled Chad's capital N'Djamena Feb. 4 after rebel forces pulled back from the city following two days of street fighting in an effort to overthrow President Idriss Deby. The government said it had forced back the rebels, who had stormed into N'Djamena aboard armed pickup trucks. But the rebels called the pullback a "tactical withdrawal" before a renewed assault. "We're asking the population to leave," said rebel spokesman Abderamane Koullamalah. Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-mi said N'Djamena was secure and under government control: "The battle of N'Djamena is over." (Reuters, Feb. 4) Exxon said it oil operations in Chad were not affected by the fighting. (Dow Jones, Feb. 3)

Colombia's top cocaine lord Wilber Varela, kingpin of the notorious Norte del Valle Cartel, was found shot dead in Venezuela, authorities in Caracas announced Feb. 1. The bullet-riddled body of Varela, known by the nicknames "Jabon" (soap) and "Detergente" (detergent), was discovered Jan. 30 along with that of another man in a tourist cabin at Loma de Los Angeles, Mérida state, in western Venezuela.

In December, we noted the World Court ruling on the long-standing dispute over the San Andrés Islands in the Caribbean—held by Colombia but claimed by Nicaragua. The New York Times reports Feb. 1 on the emergence of an independence movement on San Andrés, in repudiation of both Colombian and Nicaraguan claims. Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe recently inaugurated a new hospital on the island unsubtly named "Amor de Patria" (Love of Fatherland), and sent 12,000 troops to march through the streets in last July's Colombian independence celebrations. But many Raizals, the English-speaking African descendants of the archipelago, are coming to support what the Times calls a "nonviolent separatist movement."

Mexico formally protested use of tear gas by the US Border Patrol, the Exterior Secretariat sending a letter to the US Embassy requesting a probe of an incident last month in which Cristian Saldana, 15, was struck in the nose by a gas canister after he reportedly threw stones at Border Patrol agents near Tijuana. "Launching tear gas does not contribute in any way to a climate of understanding and collaboration," an Exterior Secretariat statement said Jan. 31, calling the practice "unacceptable."

Mexico's federal Public Security Secretariat (SSP) announced the detention of 13 "delinquents" at Rancho San Isidro, in San Andrés Larráinzar, a highland municipality in conflicted Chiapas state Jan. 30. The SSP said 45 stolen vehicles were confiscated, as well as two firearms and an "arsenal" of ten home-made bombs. (La Jornada, Jan. 31) Meanwhile, the Good Government Junta "Corazón Céntrico de los Zapatistas delante del Mundo," governing body of the Zapatista rebels for the Highland region, issued a statement protesting deprivation of water to Zapatista followers in Zinacantán municipality. Citing lack of action by the state or federal governments, the statement said Zapatista authorities would "directly resolve" the problem and restore water to Sokón hamlet. It blamed the caciques (political bosses) of Nachig hamlet for diverting the water, calling them "priístas-perredistas"—meaning they have collaborated with both parties that have held power in the state and municipality, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). (La Jornada, Jan. 28)

On Jan. 25, seven adherents of the People's Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) from the central Mexican village of San Salvador Atenco were liberated from the Mexico State prison at Molino de Flores, after a federal judge cleared them of charges of kidnapping and attacking communications infrastructure. They had been in prison since their arrest in violent confrontations with the police in May 2006. (La Jornada, Jan. 26) Charges were also dropped against 53 other FPDT followers who had been freed on bail. (Uno Mas Uno, Jan. 25) A collective of "Zapatista lawyers" announced plans to bring criminal charges against Judge Jaime Maldonado, for having "arbitrarily" ordered the 164 FPDT followers imprisoned. (La Jornada, Jan. 27)

From Bush's final State of the Union address, via the New York Times:

Ladies and gentlemen, some may deny the surge is working, but among the terrorists there is no doubt. Al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq, and this enemy will be defeated...