Some 50 Palestinians—many decked out in Santa Claus costumes—hurled stones at Israeli security forces in the West Bank village of Bil'in Dec. 26 in a protest against the enclosure of village lands by the "Apartheid Wall." Soldiers sought to disperse the crowd with tear gas and rubber-coated bullets. In Na'alin, 200 Palestinians and Israeli supporters also held protests that day, some hurling stones and petrol bombs at Israeli soldiers. Army Radio reported that dozens of young Likud supporters led by MK Gilad Erdan also arrived in Na'alin to express their support for the soldiers. (Haartez, Dec. 26)

Soldiers arrested Timoteo Mata Cruz, deputy police chief of the Mexican resort town of Zihuatanejo (Guerrero state), and six of his officers for allegedly protecting prominent narco-jefes at a cock fight Dec. 25. Fourteen suspected members of the Beltran Leyva crime machine (Sinaloa Cartel) were arrested at the pelea de gallos. Soldiers also seized 59 packets of cocaine, 40 bags of marijuana and 20 assault rifles. (AP, Dec. 25)

"Extreme right" opposition elements planned to assassinate Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, the government claims. News of the plot was revealed Dec. 23 by Government Minister Alfredo Rada, who said the assassination was due to be carried out at in a mass rally in Chaparé, one of the president's strongholds. Rada said "they planned to use a campesino to disorientate the security forces who guard the president."

Colombian authorities announced Dec. 19 the dismantling of a narco network linked to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, with seven arrested by the elite Technical Investigation Group (CTI) in the cities of Calí, Palmira and Bogotá. Vehicles, "communications equipment" and four weapons were seized. The CTI said the ring smuggled cocaine, heroin and marijuana to Mexico from the southern port of Tumaco." (Xinhua, El Pais, Cali, Dec. 19)

Nine decapitated heads were found in plastic bags in Chilpancingo, capital of Mexico's southern Guerrero state, among 13 men assassinated in the state Dec. 21. Four were thrown off the Quetzalapa bridge in Iguala. Of the nine decapitated, eight were soldiers and one was a former subdirector of the state Judicial Police. Local residents found the heads at dawn near a shopping center; the bodies were located later, with signs of torture—three of them five kilometers away. A note was found near the heads, warning: "For each one of us they kill, we will kill 10 of them." The Defense Secretariat responded in a statement: "They are trying to frighten the Armed Forces, but we'll continue the battle." The regional army commander, Enrique Jorge Alonso, speaking at a ceremony honoring the slain soldiers warned: "The criminals made a grave mistake with this audacious crime." (AGI, Dec. 22; AFP, Cronica de Hoy, Nov. 21)

Lipan Apache Women Defense announced Dec. 23 delivery of a letter to President-elect Barack Obama urging him to halt construction of the border wall, stop the illegal seizures of border communities' properties, and to uphold and respect the rights of indigenous people. The letter from the border community of El Calaboz Ranchería, Texas, was delivered to the co-chair of Obama's Interior Department transition team, Robert Anderson (Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Bois Forte Band), director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington. The letter requests the incoming administration review the Homeland Security Department's "unlawful" use of condemnation proceedings against indigenous peoples' lands. It calls for a "community-based partnership with the new Obama-Biden administration to transform the US's relationship with Indigenous peoples."

Police in Tehran raided and shut down the office of the Center for Protecting Human Rights, led by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi Dec. 21. Dozens of uniformed police and plainclothes security officials sealed the office in the raid, which came hours before the Center was to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Human Rights Day. The police presented no warrant, a witness said. At the ceremony, the Center was planning to honor a longtime political activist, Taqi Rahmani, who has spent a total of 17 years in prison since the 1979 revolution. The government banned the Center in 2006, but it has continued to operate. (NYT, Dec. 21)

A report released by the B'Tselem human rights group Dec. 22 states that the West Bank settlement of Ofra, northeast of Jerusalem, is in fact an "illegal" outpost even under Israeli law. Ofra, part of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, is a 168-acre community located between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Nablus, with some 3,000 residents. B'Tselem found that Ofra must be evicted under the stipulations of the Sasson Report, complied by Attorney Talia Sasson at then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's request.