Congressman Steve King (R-IA) said June 15 that President Barack Obama's plan to issue an executive order implementing (some) policies of the DREAM Act is unconstitutional and announced that he plans to sue the administration to delay implementation. King claims that this executive order would effectively implement a law that was rejected by Congress and, therefore, Obama does not have the power to issue it.

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on June 13 dismissed a lawsuit filed by seven Guatemalans who alleged that they had been the subject of non-consensual human medical experimentation by the US Public Health Service. In its decision, the court found that under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) the US government is specifically exempt from liability for torts that occur outside of the US. Because the plaintiffs sued government officials who were acting in the capacity of their positions, the claim is automatically converted to a claim against the US government, and the court is bound by the FTCA. In his decision, Judge Reggie Walton acknowledged that "the Guatemala Study is a deeply troubling chapter in our Nation's history," but concluded that the court had no authority to provide relief. He suggested that the victims seek a remedy through political means. The Guatemalan government had reportedly requested that the US government provide out-of-court settlements before the lawsuit was filed, but the US did not respond.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will analyze information regarding the Colombian army murdering civilians and disguising them as guerillas killed in combat to artificially inflate its enemy kill count. "We are asking [the government] about this issue, they have responded to us about the cases currently under investigation. We are preparing a report about this, but for now we are in the process of analyzing," said the court's outgoing prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, in an interview with Spanish news agency EFE June 13.

At least 16 people were killed and dozens injured June 15 in armed clashes that erupted as police evicted landless campesinos who had invaded a privately-owned "forest reserve" in Paraguay. The 2,000-hectare "reserve" is within the sprawling Morumbí hacienda, outside Curuguaty town in fertile Canindeyu department, near the borders with Brazil and Argentina. (See map.) The ranch is owned by Blas Riquelme, a former senator with the Colorado Party. Some 300 police were mobilized to the site, backed up with helicopters. Authorities said the campesinos were armed with M-16s and other assault rifles, and opened fire as police moved to eject them. The dead included six police and at least 10 campesinos.

An elaborate ploy by ranchers in Paraguay to trick an indigenous tribe into allowing them to build a new road that would cut their lands in half has backfired, with an official investigation now underway by the country's Indigenous Affairs Department (INDI). Leaders of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode people had been visited by the ranchers' agents, demanding they sign a "friendly agreement" (acuerdo amistoso) allowing the ranchers to bulldoze a road through the middle of their territory. When indigenous leaders refused, the ranchers allegedly forged their signatures and sent the "agreement" to government officials. But just days later the same government office received a letter from the Ayoreo denouncing the ranchers' strong-arm tactics. If built, the road would have facilitated escalation of the illegal forest destruction which has already ravaged much of the Ayoreo's land, including areas inhabited by isolated or "uncontacted" bands. INDI warned in a statement that the scam "could lead to countless violations against environmental laws and against uncontacted indigenous families."

A de-escalation is reported in the Espinar mining conflict in Cuzco, Peru, as a judge ordered the release of the province's imprisoned mayor, Oscar Mollohuanca. In an unusual move, he had been ordered imprisoned in Ica region—which does not even border Cuzco—while awaiting trial on charges of abetting violent protesters against the Xstrata Tintaya copper mine. Although the charges have not been dropped, Mollohuanca upon his release June 14 immediately headed for Lima, where he said he will establish a dialogue with the administration of President Ollanta Humala. (La Primera, June 14; AP, June 12)

Telma Yolanda Oqueli, a community leader in San José del Golfo municipality outside Guatemala City, was shot in the chest and gravely wounded by a gunman on a motorbike June 13. She was returning home from a protest vigil when she was intercepted by the two men on the motorbike. Residents of San José del Golfo and neighboring San Pedro Ayampuc have since March 2 been daily blocking the entrance to the Tambor/Progreso 7 Derivada run by Exploraciones Mineras de Guatemala, SA (EXMINGUA), local subsidiary of Canadian junior Radius Gold Inc. The North Metropolitan People's Resistance Front (FRENAM) is asserting the communities' right to a consultation, or local plebiscite, on the mining project. The project began exploratory operations earlier this year without any consent from the local population; nor has the government of Guatemala, carried out any consultation. Oqueli, a leader of the blockades, had received FRENAM has issued an urgent call for the Guatemalan state to guarantee of the communities. (Noticias Comunicarte, CoDev, June 13; MiMundo, June 4 via UDW)

In a wee-hours raid on June 12, heavily armed FBI and Border Patrol agents in 15 vehicles swept into the Ruidoso Downs Racetrack and Casino, in Ruidoso, NM, seizing dozens of racehorses. A simultaneous raid was carried out at Zule Farms, in Lexington, Okla, which apparently supplied horses to the Ruidoso track. A total of seven were arrested in the raids, accused of using the horse trade to launder money for Los Zetas drug cartel. Indicted in the case are accused Zeta commanders Miguel Angel Treviño Morales AKA "Z-40" and his brother Oscar Omar Treviño Morales AKA "Z-42"—who are presumed to remain at large in Mexico. (El Paso Times, AP, June 13; El Paso Times, June 12)