Adherents of the Ecuadoran indigenous federation CONAIE rallied outside a Quito courthouse Feb. 7 to demand the release of three leaders of the Shuar people from the Amazonian province of Morona Santiago who were arrested last week in the September 2009 slaying of a local teacher in the region, Bosco Wizuma. One of the three, José Acacho, is charged with "terrorism" for inciting protests over La Voz de Arutam radio station which allegedly resulted in the killing. CONAIE leader Marlon Santi threatened protests that would "shake the country" if the men are not freed. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadoran Amazon (CONFENAIE), a regional CONAIE affiliate, accused President Rafael Correa's government of "criminalizing protest," and called for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to intercede in the case. (El Telégrafo, Quito, AFP, Feb. 7; AFP, Feb. 4)

Opponents of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met with Vice President Omar Suleiman on Feb. 6, but rejected an offer to be included in political reform plans, and renewed their demands that Mubarak step down. That Suleiman agreed to sit down with the groups—which included the officially banned Muslim Brotherhood—was itself an historic concession, but the talks produced no breakthrough in the two-week-old standoff. Despite cold and wet weather, Cairo's Tahrir Square remains occupied by thousands of protesters, who spent the night sleeping on the ground in front of tanks to block the army from advancing on the square.

A rebellion by former pro-Khartoum fighters in South Sudan's Upper Nile state has sparked two days of clashes, leaving at least 20 dead. The fighting around Malakal airport, close to the border with the North, began when loyalists of Gabriel Tang, who commanded a pro-Khartoum force during the 1983-2005 civil war, refused to withdraw to the North. The dead include two children and a Sudanese driver for the UN's refugee agency.

At least two people were killed in clashes between Thai and Cambodian forces on their disputed border Feb. 4. A Cambodian soldier and a Thai villager are reported killed, with several more wounded, in a two-hour artillery exchange. The fatalities are the first since a Thai soldier was killed a year ago in a similar clash over the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, a UN World Heritage site that is claimed by both countries.

The security chief at Topo Chico prison in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey was assassinated Feb. 5, his mutilated body found in a plastic box in an abandoned car near the facility. Francisco Martínez Ramírez, who had worked there for three decades and was nearing retirement, had been abducted from his home the previous day. He is the third employee to be murdered in recent months at the prison, which has also been the target of a series of grenade attacks. (Diario de Coahuila, Feb. 6; BBC News, Feb. 5)

Campesinos leaders report a wave of abuses against local indigenous peasants in the Guatemalan department of Alta Verapaz since a "state of siege" was declared there in response to the alleged presence of Los Zetas narco-network. Officially, authorities have arrested 22 "traffickers," and confiscated five small planes, 28 vehicles and 239 assault weapons. But the National Indigenous and Campesino Coordinator (CONIC) says army troops have invaded and occupied peasant villages where there has been no sign of drug trafficking.

The National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP) marched in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, Feb. 4 in solidarity with the protest movement in Egypt. Under the slogan "Down with the imperialist pharaohs of the world, long live the people's uprising in Egypt," the marchers blocked traffic on a major thoroughfare. (El Heraldo, Tegucigalpa, Feb. 4)

Ngobe indigenous protesters streamed into Panama's capital city and blocked the street in front of the Legislative Palace to protest their exclusion from an important committee hearing Jan. 24. Panama's National Assembly president had invited several environmental critics to take part in the hearing to discuss proposed changes to the country's Mining Code. However, he did not invite any indigenous representatives. The Ngobe believe they should have been invited because of mining projects that threaten their lands. (Intercontinental Cry, Jan. 31; Panama News, Jan. 24)