President Rafael Correa was condemned by Ecuador's national indigenous peoples' organization CONAIE over his policy towards uncontacted Amazon tribes Jan. 29. "Correa's regime is promoting oil production on land inhabited by uncontacted tribes," read the statement from CONAIE. The statement was made in an open letter to the World Social Forum being held in the Amazon town of Belem, Brazil, which President Correa is attending. It comes after the recent announcement by government ministers they intend to protect Ecuador's uncontacted peoples from illegal loggers.

Mexico's Federal Preventative Police announced Feb 5 the arrest of Gerónimo Gámez García, said to be the key middle-man between the Beltran Leyva criminal organization (a faction of warring Sinaloa Cartel) and Colombian cocaine suppliers. Gámez was reportedly apprehended with a million dollars in cash in the Ciudad Satélite suburb of the national capital. Eight men arrested with him reportedly included one Colombian. Federal authorities hailed it as a major blow against the cartels. (BBC News, La Jornada, Feb. 5)

For the second time in less than one week, the streets of the Mexican border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, hosted protestors Feb. 4. The actions spanned a range of grievances—high food and fuel prices, maquiladora lay-offs and the presence of the Mexican army in the city located across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Tex.

Hundreds of members of the Dongria Kondh tribe, together with many tribal and non-tribal allies, formed a human chain at the base of their sacred Niyamgiri mountain Jan. 27 to prevent British mining giant Vedanta from bulldozing it. Reports put the number of people taking part in the protest at over 10,000. Placards carried by the protesters read "Vedanta, go back" and "Stop mining in Niyamgiri."

Riot police fired tear gas to prevent farmers from the island of Crete from caravaning their tractors from the port of Piraeus to Athens Feb. 2. More than 1,000 farmers arrived with their tractors on ferry boats from Crete, intending to block the area in Athens around the agriculture ministry's headquarters, but police prevented them from leaving the port area. Several people were injured in the clashes, and at least four arrests were reported.

The Jan. 29 general strike in France—called "Black Thursday"—was the first to hit a major industrialized nation since the start of the global financial crisis. Eight major trade unions, representing teachers, postal workers, rail workers, and other public-sector employees, along with many private-sector unions, took to the streets across the country to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy's handling of the crisis.

The Israeli human rights group Yesh Din announced Jan. 29 it is launching a campaign to help Palestinians sue the state of Israel for its use of their privately owned lands for Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The campaign follows the publication in the newspaper Ha'aretz of classified government data regarding the extent of construction in officially recognized settlements that is illegal under Israel's own laws. Violations include private and public building carried out without appropriate permits or outside of approved plans, as well as the construction of whole neighborhoods on private Palestinian lands.

Six detainees from the Guantánamo Bay military prison, including three Uighurs, are seeking refugee status in Canada with the support of Canadian sponsors. The Uighurs were last year deemed not to be unlawful enemy combatants. Lawyers for the men have said that US authorities have admitted the men were mistakenly picked up, and are ideal candidates for refugee status in Canada. They also have said that the men will face torture or even death if they are allowed to return to China.