On the eve of the May 4 autonomy referendum in the lowland department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia is increasingly polarized—with the central government of President Evo Morales refusing to accept the legitimacy of the Santa Cruz vote, and the Santa Cruz leadership refusing to accept the pending constitutional reform which would establish a process for achieving local autonomy. Bolivia's ambassador in ally Venezuela, Jorge Alvarado, called on the OAS to stand firm before "the separatist pretensions of the Departament of Santa Cruz." The opposition prefect (governor) of Santa Cruz, Rubén Costa, assured there would be no violence, announcing to the crowd at the closing rally of the autonomy campaign: "We don't want dynamite, nor clubs, nor rancor. The democratic vote is our only weapon." However, a photo of the rally in Ecuador's El Diario, showed one attendee holding a giant slingshot in the firing position. A popular banner slogan at the rally was "We have no fear!" (¡No tenemos miedo!). (El Diario, Puerto Viejo, Ecuador, May 3)

Colombia's Caño-Limon oil pipeline was paralyzed for a third day after it was blown up by FARC guerillas on April 29. Military-escorted engineers are working to repair the pipeline, which carries 100,000 barrels of oil a day from a field jointly run by the state company Ecopetrol and Occidental Petroleum. Some 4 million barrels of petroleum have contaminated the local Rio Tibú, leaving many residents without potable water. The FARC also blew up the Padre-Nieto bridge, in nearby Catatumbo, leaving several small communities cut off across a large area of Norte de Santander department.

A new report released by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) demonstrates that intensive aerial herbicide spraying of coca crops in Colombia has backfired badly, contributing to the spread of coca cultivation and cocaine production to new areas of the country and threatening human health and the environment. It also suggests alternative development proposals that should be seriously considered.

Jesús Caballero is one of the latest trade union leaders to be assassinated in Colombia. A labor unionist with the State Training Institute in the Caribbean town of Sabanalarga, Caballero disappeared on April 16 and his body was found two days later, with signs of torture. He was also one of the organizers of the March 6 international demonstrations against state-sponsored and paramilitary violence and in solidarity with all victims. That made him the sixth person involved in the March 6 mobilization to be murdered. Such frontal targeting of the March 6 organizers has been linked to remarks made by President Alvaro Uribe's advisor José Obdulio Gaviria in Colombian media that protest organizers were guerrillas. [Semana, April 23]

In a pre-dawn attack May 1, US missiles destroyed the home of reputed al-Qaeda leader Aden Hashi Ayro in Dusamareeb, Somalia. The attack killed 24 others in the targeted house and nearby homes. "This will not deter us from prosecuting our holy war against Allah's enemy," Sheik Muqtar Robow, a spokesman for Ayro's al-Shabab militia told AP via telephone. "If Ayro is dead, those he trained are still in place and ready to avenge against the enemy of Allah."

We warned a year ago that Yemen was on the brink of sectarian war. It is starting to look like it is going over the brink. From AP, May 2:

Motorcycle bomb explodes outside Yemen mosque, killing 18
SAN'A — A bomb rigged to a motorcycle blew up amid a crowd of worshippers leaving Friday prayers at a mosque in a rebel stronghold of northern Yemen, killing at least 18 people and wounding about four dozen, officials said.

From Article 19 Global Campaign for Free Expression via IFEX, May 2:

Turkey: Article 301 Reforms Pallid—It Should Be Abolished
ARTICLE 19 condemns as wholly insufficient recent moves by the Turkish government to amend the infamous Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. The article, which still criminalises denigration of the Turkish Nation, has been grossly abused in the past, including to convict leading Turkish writers such as Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, and leading journalist and editor Hrant Dink, who was murdered in January 2007.

As last year, May Day saw clashes between workers and police in Istanbul and other Turkish cities. In Istanbul, police fired tear gas and water cannons to prevent workers from marching to Taksim Square where they planned to hold a mass gathering. A total of 530 were detained by police, with 38 reported injured in the city. The Turkish government rejected petitions to lift the decades-long ban and open Taksim for celebrations. The Labor Unions Confederation (DISK), Confederation of Public Sector Unions (KESK) and Turkish Confederation of Labor (Turk-Is) decided jointly to march on the square in defiance of the ban. Street clashes were also reported between police and followers of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP) in Ankara. (Hurriyet, May 2)