On June 3, US District Judge Kenneth A. Marra in Southern Florida issued a 95-page opinion in the case in re Chiquita Brands, International, allowing lawsuits brought by some 4,000 Colombians seeking compensation for violence by armed groups the company backed to move ahead. Chiquita had asked for the suits to be dismissed, arguing it was a victim of extortion and bore no responsibility for any crimes carried out by armed groups. Attorney for the plaintiffs Paul Wolf said the ruling "provides a roadmap for holding American corporations responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed overseas."

Two undocumented Cuban migrants being held at a jail in the border town of Tapachula in Mexico's southern Chiapas state were hospitalized after 21 days on hunger strike May 26. The local Fray Matias de Cordova y Ordoñez Human Rights Center said that the 11 jailed migrants—nine Cubans, a Guatemalan and a Dominican—went on hunger strike to demand their liberty after being arrested following what authorities called a "riot" (motín) at a detainment center of Mexico's National Immigration Institute (INM). The detained migrants were awaiting transfer to Mexico City after being apprehended at the Guatemalan border. The "riot" seems to have been an escape attempt, in which nine migrants succeeded in fleeing the detainment center. (EFE, May 26; Noticias Sin, Dominican Republic, May 24)

Representatives of the governments of Mexico and the Central American countries wrapped up a fifth round of talks on a regional free trade agreement last week. The negotiations took place in Mexico City, with the next round of talks to be held in August in El Salvador. The aim of the talks is to create a single free trade agreement that consolidates Mexico's 1995 pact with Costa Rica, its 1998 agreement with Nicaragua and its 2001 accord with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador into a single deal. Mexico's trade with Costa Rica has soared by 2,100% since the signing of the trade agreement, while trade with the other Central American republics has increased by between 200 and 300%. (EFE, June 1)

According to a report out last month by the German daily Die Welt, Tehran is moving forward with building missile launch bases on Venezuela's Paraguaná Peninsula (in the Guajira region, just south of Aruba—see map). The same German paper also claimed last November that Caracas and Tehran had signed an agreement to establish a joint military base in Venezuela. Die Welt's November report stated that the base is to be staffed by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The agreement reportedly calls for Iranian Shahab 3, Scud-B, and Scud-C missiles to be deployed at the base—missiles with a trajectory range of up to 900 miles. The report was echoed earnestly by various neocon think-tanks in the US. (Jewish Policy Center, Jerusalem Post, May 17)

Authorities in Tunisia have recovered some 150 bodies of more than 250 African migrants who went missing after their over-crowded boat capsized in the Mediterranean earlier this week, the International Organization for Migration said in Geneva on June 4. The migrants were reportedly on their way to the Italian island of Lampedusa from Libya when their vessel ran aground and capsized some 19 nautical miles off Tunisia's Kerkennah islands. Survivors say there were more than 800 people on board when the accident occurred. Tunisia's coast guard and army managed to rescue about 570 from the ill-fated vessel. (RTT, June 3)

Deadly repression is unabated in Syria, where security forces killed at least 70 demonstrators during Friday protests on June 3, according to activists' accounts. This was one of the highest single-day death tolls in the course of the uprising, and some activists said the day's final toll could be 100. Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said at least 60 people were killed in Hama, where President Bashir al-Assad's father Hafez crushed an armed revolt 29 years ago by killing up to 30,000 people and razing parts of the city. (Reuters, June 4)

Yemen's embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh is expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia imminently to receive treatment for wounds he suffered in an attack on the presidential palace, Saudi government sources said June 4. Saleh has been left with shrapnel near his heart and second-degree burns to his chest and face after the palace attack. Saudi Arabia has brokered a fresh truce between a tribal federation and Saleh-loyal forces. But a Saudi-brokered truce agreed to a week ago held for only a day before fresh street battles broke out in the capital Sanaa, leading to the most intense fighting there since the uprising against Saleh’s 32-year role began. On June 3, fighting engulfed Sanaa, where residents cowered in their homes as explosions rocked the city. More than 370 people have been killed, at least 155 of them in the last 10 days, since the popular uprising began in January. (Reuters, Reuetrs, Khajeel Times, UAE, June 4; Reuters, June 3)

Somalia's Sufi group, the Ahlu Sunna Waljama (ASWJ), on June 2 announced it is boycotting a "consultative meeting" with the transitional government in Mogadishu next week. In an interview with Somalia's independent Shabelle Media Network, Sheikh Omar Sheikh Abdulkadir, a spokesman for the group, said they would not attend the meeting because they were not invited, and predicted it would be fruitless. The consultative meeting is intended to broker peace among Somalia's political and regional factions. Thousands of families have been displaced in recent weeks of fighting between the Ahlu Sunna and the fundamentalist Shabab insurgents in the central Galgadud region (see map). Dusamareb, the regional capital, has changed hands repeatedly in the fighting, prompting an exodus of the town's residents. Drought conditions in the countryside have worsened the plight of the displaced.