Killings linked to Mexico's narco wars have more than doubled this year compared with 2007 and are likely to escalate before they start to fall, Prosecutor General Eduardo Medina Mora said Dec. 8. The number of narco-killings since the start of the year stood at 5,376 Dec. 2, a 117% increase over the 2,477 killings in the same period in 2007, Medina Mora said in a luncheon meeting with foreign correspondents. The bulk of the killings occurred in the northern states of Chihuahua, Baja California and Sinaloa. "These criminal organizations don't have limits," said Medina Mora. "They certainly have an enormous power of intimidation." But the New York Times reports that he "said the overall level of violence in Mexico remained moderate compared with that in other Latin American countries." (NYT, Dec. 8)

On Dec. 2 Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA), Mexico's main steelmaker, announced plans for laying off 8,500 contract workers in its Proyecto Fenix modernization project and 3,500 of its own employees. (La Jornada, Dec. 3) In the two days after the layoff announcement, the Mexican government froze some funds belonging to the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMRM), which represents AHMSA workers, and arrested two union leaders. Based on complaints that the union mishandled a $55 million miners' fund, the federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) arrested the union's Vigilance and Justice Council president Juan Linares Montufar on Dec. 3 and political affairs secretary Carlos Pavón Campos on Dec. 4.

On Dec. 2 Venezuelan interior and justice minister Tarek El Aissami announced the arrest of Julio Cesar Agrinzones (also given as "Arguinzones") Romero the night before on charges of killing three leftist Venezuelan unionists—Richard Gallardo, Carlos Requena and Luis Hernández—the night of Nov. 27 in the city of Cagua, southwest of Caracas in Aragua state. Although El Aissami said the government had not established who was behind the killing, he implied it was "over a job," hinting at internal conflicts in the pro-government National Workers Union (UNT), in which the victims were leaders.

On Nov. 25 Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced an economic stimulus package that includes tax breaks for Argentines who repatriate money they've sent abroad and invest it in infrastructure, real estate, agriculture, industry or government bonds; tax breaks for firms that create new jobs; an amnesty on unpaid taxes for the smallest employers if they give formal employment status to off-the-books workers; and a $21 billion public works plan intended to double the number of jobs in construction.

Efforts by the US to fight its own financial crisis may cut Latin American governments off from access to credit at a time when they need an estimated $250 billion for financing their 2009 budgets. The US has been issuing huge volumes of Treasury bonds and is running a fiscal deficit that could top $1 trillion next year. The Latin American Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (CLAAF)—a group of economists including former Argentine finance minister Roque Fernandez and former Venezuelan central bank president Ruth de Krivoy—warns that the massive borrowing by the US government may "crowd out" Latin American and other emerging economies from the credit markets."

Via the Global Justice Ecology Project, Dec. 9:

We, the undersigned representatives of indigenous peoples, local communities and non-governmental organizations monitoring the progress of negotiations in Poznan are outraged that the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand opposed the inclusion of recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in a decision on REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) drafted today by government delegates at the UN Climate Conference.

Islamist al-Shabaab insurgents seized two districts in central Somalia without violence Dec. 7, including the stronghold of a Sufi group that traditionally abjures violence. Residents in Galgadud region reported that fighters aboard armed trucks peacefully entered the provincial capital Dhusamareb. "The local clan militias withdrew before they came," one resident told the independent Radio Garowe. Shabaab fighters also took control of Mataban district to the south, with clan militias similarly offering no resistance. The Shabaab faction already controls key regions in southern Somalia, including the port towns of Kismayo and Marka.

Hundreds of Muslim men, women and children held a silent march in Mumbai, stopping at each location which had been targeted by the armed attacks of what is becoming known in India as 26-11. For the first time, liberal groups such as Muslims for Secular Democracy, which called the march in the aftermath of the attacks, were joined by conservative organizations such as Jamiat-ul-Ulema under the common slogan "Killers of innocents are enemies of Islam." Marches were also held in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Delhi and other cities. (Times of India, Dec. 8)