Peru has leased its first five oil and gas exploration contracts since passing a new law designed to protect the country's indigenous peoples. Exploration blocks have been awarded to British firm Pitkin Petroleum (Lot 18, Piura region) and Colombia's Ecopetrol (Lot 179, Loreto region). Another British firm, Hydrocarbon Exploration, has contracts to explore two blocks (Lots 183 and 188, in Loreto and Ucayali). Another block is leased to Argentina's Tecpetrol (Lot 174, Ucayali). State agency PeruPetro said the companies, which won the exploration rights through a tender in July, re-signed in October with an added clause confirming "their commitment to strictly comply with the law of prior consultation." (FT, Oct. 4; RPP, Sept. 29; La Mula, Lima, Aug. 4)

Thousands of protesters returned to Madrid's central square, the Puerta del Sol, Oct. 6, as students, parents and teachers joined in a massive march against education spending cuts by the Spanish capital's provincial government. "Defend public education, make cuts for bankers," read the lead banner, while other slogans included "Yes, there is money, but the bankers have it," "Less vultures and more desks," and "Education is not a waste, it's an investment." Some 85% of the city's students walked out of class for the march. Media accounts of the march's size varied widely, with AFP putting it at 4,000, and El País claiming 68,000.

Authorities in Peru say National Police rescued 293 women from sexual exploitation in raids across the country's Amazonian region of Madre de Dios. At least four people were arrested in the regional capital Puerto Maldonado on suspicion of human trafficking. Among those rescued from about 50 brothels were at least 10 minors—the youngest being a 13-year-old girl. More than 400 police agents took part in the three-day operation across the region, known for its illegal gold mining. Authorities said some of the women were being held against their will in mining camps, while others had been forced to work as prostibares—prostitutes who operate out of bars that line the region's main road. Last month, the charity Save the Children said that more than 1,100 underage girls were being used as sexual slaves in illegal mining camps in Madre de Dios. Many were lured to the region with promises of work in shops or as domestic helpers, only to find themselves forced to work as prostitutes. (BBC News, Oct. 4; Crónica Viva, Lima, EFE, Oct. 3)

Noel Salgueiro Nevarez AKA "El Flaco" (Skinny), the Sinaloa Cartel's top boss in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, was captured by army troops Oct. 5 in Culiacán, Sinaloa, in what authorities called a precise operation with no shots fired. El Flaco's arrest "affects the leadership structure, as well as the operational capabilities," of the Sinaloa network in Chihuahua, the Defense Secretariat and Prosecutor General's office said in a joint statement. He is said to be the leader of a criminal gang called the Gente Nueva (New People), which serves as a local enforcement arm of the Sinaloa Cartel (also known as the Pacific Cartel) in Chihuahua. However, the cartel's maximum boss, Joaquín Guzmán AKA "El Chapo" (Shorty), still remains at large. (EFE, Borderland Beat, Oct. 5)

The UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) on Oct. 1 voiced concerns regarding the growing number of journalists killed in Mexico, and called for Mexican authorities to investigate these crimes and bring those responsible to justice. According to the journalists' rights group, Reporters without Borders (RSF), the discovery on Sept. 24 of the body of Maria Elizabeth Macias, editor of Primera Hora (Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas), marked the fourth woman journalist to be murdered in Mexico this year, as well as the eightieth journalist to be killed in the country within the last decade. The death of Macias is believed to be the result of her online blogging activity, which covered organized crime in her neighborhood.

Richard Trumka, president of the US's AFL-CIO labor federation, sent a letter to US president Barack Obama on Sept. 26 opposing any immediate action on a proposed free trade agreement (FTA, TLC in Spanish) with Colombia. Obama is expected to send the Colombia-US FTA for approval to Congress in the next few weeks. Trumka, whose federation is the largest union group in the US, said a labor action plan that Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos agreed to in April has proven ineffective. According to the AFL-CIO, Colombian workers are still forced to sign pactos colectivos—salary and benefit agreements imposed by employers--or to join cooperatives that act as company unions. So far this year, 22 unionists have been murdered in Colombia, including 15 since the labor action plan went into effect, Trumka wrote. (AFL-CIO Now blog, Sept. 26)

Honduran police spokesperson Julián Hernández announced on Sept. 30 that agents had discovered an illegal shipment of arms from the US in Puerto Cortés, the country's main port, in the northern department of Cortés. The arms, hidden in several boxes containing garments, included five rifles, an Uzi submachine gun, a pistol and a supply of ammunition. It was sent via Guatemala from a "Héctor Figueroa" in the US to a "Concepción Duarte," who reportedly lives in San Francisco de la Paz in eastern Honduras.

The Haitian Senate was scheduled to start discussions on President Michel Martelly's latest nominee for prime minister, Garry Conille, on Oct. 3. The Chamber of Deputies voted 89-0 on Sept. 16 in favor of the nomination after Parliament rejected Martelly's two previous choices. The government has been administered by acting prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive, a holdover from the previous administration, ever since Martelly took office in May.