On Feb. 11 the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup d'Etat, a coalition of grassroots organizations that formed after the June 28 coup in Honduras, issued a communiqué charging that Porfirio ("Pepe") Lobo Sosa was planning to lay off a large number of public employees and that the National Association of Public Employees of Honduras (ANDEPH) had received threats that its current leadership might be replaced. The Lobo administration was on its way to "intensifying the application of the neoliberal model, which would allow [big business owners] to go on concentrating wealth at the cost of [labor] exploitation, and the theft and destruction of natural resources." (Communiqué #47, Feb. 11)

Four campesinos were wounded, two with bullets, on Jan. 27 when police and private security guards attacked members of the Unified Campesino Movement of the Aguán (MUCA) at the Río Aguán in Trujillo municipality, near La Ceiba in northern Honduras. Antonio Estrada was shot in his left eye, and Rosendo Reyes was hit in the leg; both were hospitalized in La Ceiba. The incident occurred the day Porfirio ("Pepe") Lobo Sosa of the National Party began his four-year presidential term."

Despite the supposed normalization of Honduras since the transfer of power to President Porfirio Lobo last month, grave human rights abuses targeting opponents of last year's coup d'etat continue unabated. On Feb. 15, Julio Funes Benítez, a member of the water and sewage workers union SITRASANAA and a local leader of the anti-coup National Resistance Front, was shot dead in the city of Comayagüela by four unknown men in a taxi.

Right-wing gubernatorial candidate José Pérez Restrepo in Colombia's southeastern Guaviare department was wounded in the leg and three of his bodyguards killed Feb. 14 when presumed FARC guerillas attacked his election caravan in an apparent kidnapping attempt. Media reports said the politician was taken captive by the rebels, but freed when police and soldiers came to the scene. Two police officers were also killed in the shootout.

US Attorney General Eric Holder said in an interview with the New York Times Feb. 14 that he hopes to hold a civilian trial for accused 9-11 conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but that a military tribunal must be considered in the wake of mounting public and political pressure. According to the interview, Holder prefers a civilian trial to ensure "swift, sure justice," but has not ruled out the option of a military commission in Guantánamo Bay. When asked who would make the ultimate decision on where the trial will take place, Holder said, "I think that I make the final call, but if the president is not happy with that final call, he has the ability to reverse it." Holder also stated that he hopes the Obama administration will be able to announce a venue for the 9-11 trial within the next three weeks.

Two NATO rockets aimed at Taliban insurgents in Helmand province missed their target Feb. 14, killing 12 civilians sheltering in their home. The incident occurred in Nad Ali, where British troops are operating. A UK Ministry of Defence representative said the rockets were a "US responsibility." The new anti-Taliban offensive Operation Moshtarak (meaning "together" in the Dari language) involves 15,000 troops, mostly US, British and Afghan, targeting the areas of Nad Ali and Marjah. (The Guardian, AOL News, BBC News, Feb. 14)

India is investigating whether Pakistan was behind the Feb. 13 attack on the German Bakery in Pune, Maharashtra, that killed nine just ahead of peace talks with Islamabad scheduled for next week. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to cancel the peace talks. "Terrorism and talks can't coexist," said BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley. The bakery was said to be frequented by foreigners from the city's Chabad House, an Orthodox Jewish cultural and religious center—and also from the local Osho Ashram, founded by the late Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. (FT, WP, Feb. 15; Eurasia Review, Feb. 14)

Hundreds of Ciudad Juárez residents held a "March of Anger" Feb. 13 against President Felipe Calderón's army crackdown that has failed to curb rampant gang killings in the border city. Marchers say the presence of 6,000 troops has only escalated violence in the city, which has seen more than 4,300 drug-related murders since troops were deployed two years ago. The march was led by mothers and family members of some of the 13 youths killed in a Jan. 31 massacre, as well as the mother of one of those charged in the crime. "The army's presence is anti-constitutional and violates citizens' rights," National Front Against Repression leader Javier Contreras told the march. "That's why we're asking them to withdraw." (Reuters, AFP, Feb. 14; El Economista, Mexico, Feb. 13)