On Oct. 10 interim Haitian prime minister Gerard Latortue announced that the first round of this year's presidential and legislative elections will be rescheduled from Nov. 20 to a date several weeks later, probably the second week of December. "We've had problems," he said. "We've accumulated sizeable delays in implementing the logistics and in finalizing the list of candidates." Latortue insisted that the postponement won't prevent the next president from taking office on Feb. 7, as required by the Constitution. (Haiti en Marche, Miami, Oct. 12 from AFP)

On Oct. 10 in Santiago, Chile, nearly 4,000 people took part in a "Dignity March" called by Meli Wixan Mapu and other Mapuche organizations. The marchers called for the release of Mapuche political prisoners, and for Mapuche unity in the continued struggle for land and self-determination and against violations of indigenous rights by the Chilean and Argentine governments and by business interests. (Campana Continental Contra el ALCA, Oct. 12)

From Weekly News Update on the Americas, Oct. 16

At midday on Oct. 16, Orlando Valencia, an Afro-Colombian representative of the Community Council of Curvaradó in the department of Chocó, was arbitrarily detained and "disappeared," despite being protected by official measures of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The abduction took place immediately after the vehicle in which he was travelling with human rights observers and other members of the community, en route to a regional peasant assembly, was stopped by the National Police in the municipality of Belén de Bajirá. The police demanded the occupants' documents at rifle-point and briefly detained them. On the way to the local police station, they passed a truck filled with men they recognized as paramilitaries. They were released after several hours of interrogation, in which Valencia was accused of being a "reinsertado"—a demobilized guerilla fighter

Evidence of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre continues to emerge from the earth of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the BBC reports Oct. 17. Of course our resident Chetniks will tell us this is all more imperialist lies, while their neo-Ustashe rivals (whom they mirror with perfect symmetry) meanwhile blast us for daring to suggest that maybe the Croats committed a few unpleasantries as well. Keep those rotten tomatoes coming, gang!

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said at least 464 immigrants died crossing the border from Mexico into the US during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The death toll was 43% higher than the previous year. "This total by far exceeds any year that we have on record," said CBP spokesperson Mario Villarreal in a phone call from Washington. Villarreal said the main cause of death was heat exposure; more than half the deaths took place in Arizona during a heat wave in June and July of this year. Other causes of death included drownings or car wrecks. (Reuters, Oct. 3)

Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies reaches conclusions similar to those of WW4 REPORT's recent commentary on Iraq's pending consitution. Bennis writes in "The Iraqi Constitution: A Referendum for Disaster" (online at TruthOut): "The constitutional process culminating in Saturday's referendum is not a sign of Iraqi sovereignty and democracy taking hold, but rather a consolidation of U.S. influence and control. Whether Iraq's draft constitution is approved or rejected, the decision is likely to make the current situation worse." Especially insightful are her brief discussions on the related questions of control of Iraqi oil and federalism:

Via TruthOut. Will approval (or rejection) of the new constitution similarly mark a further escalation of violence?

3,663 Iraqis Killed in Past 6 Months
The Associated Press

Friday 14 October 2005

Saturday's vote on Iraq's new constitution takes place nearly six months after the country's first elected government took power, and during that period at least 3,663 Iraqis have been killed in war-related violence, according to an Associated Press count.

The current interim government took power on April 28 after long negotiations that followed parliamentary elections in January.

Months after the fact, apparently, it is revealed that US troops have already engaged Syrian forces on the Iraqi border. Via TruthOut:

GI's and Syrians in Tense Clashes on Iraqi Border
By James Risen and David E. Sanger
The New York Times

Saturday 15 October 2005

Washington, Oct. 14 - A series of clashes in the last year between American and Syrian troops, including a prolonged firefight this summer that killed several Syrians, has raised the prospect that cross-border military operations may become a dangerous new front in the Iraq war, according to current and former military and government officials.