A civilian transition president—Dioncounda Traore, leader of the national assembly—was sworn in April 13 in Mali, under a deal brokered by West African powers with leaders of the last month's coup d'etat. At his inauguration, he told cheering crowds he he would "never negotiate about the partition of Mali." Refering to the rebels that have seized power in the north, he said: "We won't hesitate to wage a total, relentless war to regain our territorial integrity and also to kick out of our country all these invaders who bring despair and misery." (AP, April 13) Ironically, his accusations of an "invasion" came just as a foreign military intervention is being organized to beat back the northern rebels. In Paris, President Nicolas Sarkozy talked as if France were in charge of the operation: "We have to work with the Tuaregs to see how they can have a minimum of autonomy and we must do everything to prevent the establishment of a terrorist or Islamic state in the heart of the Sahel," he said on TV. Asked if France will be involved in the intervention, he said: "I don't think it’s up to France to do it. France is ready to help, but we cannot be the leader..." (Reuters, April 14)

The latest coup d'etat in Guinea-Bissau is being linked by Western diplomats to the international drug trade. Soldiers took control of much of the capital Bissau on April 13 as the military announced that it had arrested interim President Raimundo Pereira, as well as Carlos Gomes Jr., a former prime minister and leading presidential candidate. Press accounts cite speculation that Gomes ran afoul of the military by promising to end a lucrative arrangement with drug traffickers. While the economy is officially based on cashew nuts, the country has become a key transshipment point for South American cocaine en route to Europe, with the army receiving big pay-offs. "The drugs are behind it all," said Jan Van Maanen, the honorary British consul in Guinea-Bissau. "It's a nice income for the army and they stand a chance of losing it all." (McClatchy Newspapers, AP, BBC News, April 13)

A National Police helicopter searching for 40 hostages held by presumed Sendero Luminoso guerillas in a rainforest area of Peru's Cuzco region was fired upon April 12, killing a police captain on board, and wounding three others—the pilot, the gunner and a local civilian guide. The shooting happened over Lagunas sector of Echarate district, La Convención province. The government has sent 1,500 soldiers and police troops to the area near the Camisea gas field to try to rescue the construction workers who were seized on April 9. Officials say the guerillas have demanded $10 million in ransom. The administration of President Ollanta Humala has ruled out negotiations. (AP, AAP, Periodismo en Linea, April 12)

Reuters reports April 11 that it has been leaked documents revealing that a complaint has been filed at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) over the 1992 disappearance of two campesinos at the village of Madre Mia in Peru's conflicted Upper Huallaga Valley—a case in which President Ollanta Humala was accused. The 21-page complaint mentions Humala nine times, and was filed confidentially in early 2010, bearing the signature of Ronald Gamarra, then head of Peru's National Coordinator of Human Rights. At the time of the incident, Humala was a solider leading counterinsurgency operations against Sendero Luminoso guerillas in the area of Madre Mia (near the border of San Martín and Huanuco regions). The IACHR complaint says Peru's judiciary improperly dismissed a suit against Humala over the incident in 2009.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) and Department of the Interior (DoI) announced a $1.023 billion settlement with 41 American Indian tribes April 11. The announcement comes following a 22-month negotiation period after the tribes charged in a class action that the DoI and the Department of the Treasury mismanaged money held in a trust account from natural resources on tribal lands. The DoI holds nearly 56 million acres in trust for Native American tribes, and leases much of these lands for various uses including timber, mineral, oil and gas extraction. Attorney General Eric Holder stated that the settlement "fairly and honorably resolves historical grievances over the accounting and management of tribal trust funds, trust lands and other non-monetary trust resources that, for far too long, have been a source of conflict between Indian tribes and the United States."

Over the past 10 years, more than 40% of Colombia's national territory has been leased to, or is being solicited for leasing by, multinational corporations, according to a report released last year by the NGO PBI Colombia, "Mining in Colombia: at what cost?" (PDF). Of Colombia's total territory of 114 million hectares, more than 8.4 million have been licensed for mineral exploration and more than 37 million for oil exploration. Colombian business website Portafolio.com reported April 8 on a February report by the Colombian Geological Survey indicating that 18 multinational mining companies own the rights to over 1.5 million hectares—with the two largest, Anglo Gold Ashanti and Mineros SA, accounting for 59% of the total figure. Portafolio.com reported Jan. 15 that US multinational Cargill recently purchased 90,000 hectares in Meta department for grain production, and is seeking more. Foreign agribusiness interests from Argentina, Switzerland, Israel and other countries have procured some 100,000 hectares around Colombia for production of "biofuels" and other cash crops—particularly in the Magdalena Medio region.

In a surprise move, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced April 10 he is rescinding the contract of the Brazilian firm OAS to build a controversial highway through the Amazon rainforest. Morales had already suspended the most contentious section, which was to pass through the Isiboro Sécure National Park Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS)—which was the subject of rival indigenous marches on La Paz for and against its construction. Now he is said he will annul the contract to build the remaining sections of the road that would link Villa Tunari in Cochabamba department with San Ignacio de Moxos in the rainforest department of Beni. Morales told a press conference in La Paz that the company had violated terms of the contract, charging, "OAS suspended construction in these sections without justification or authorization." Morales did not say if the road project would ultimately resume, or if OAS would be compensated. (MercoPress, April 11)

Peru's President Ollanta Humala declared a 60-day state of emergency in La Convención province April 11, following the abduction there two days earlier of workers from the Camisea Consortium by presumed guerillas of the Sendero Luminoso movement. Over the past 48 hours, details of the affair in the media have changed, and are sometimes contradictory. Initial accounts said a Camisea work camp was taken over by the guerillas; accounts now indicate the workers were abducted from their hotel in Kepashiato village, Echarate district, La Convención province, Cuzco region. Initial accounts said 30 workers were seized, and all but seven later released; accounts now say 43 are being held. Accounts are also placing the abductions in the the Apurímac-Ene River Valley (VRAE), one of the last areas of the country that still has an active Sendero Luminoso presence. However, La Convención is in the valley of the next river to east of the Apurímac-Ene, the Urubamba, separated from the VRAE by a mountain range. This could either be sloppy journalism, or an expansion of the VRAE's definition to include adjacent areas where Sendero is now active.