From the Iraq Freedom Congress and the Opening for Peace, Equality and Nexus (OPEN), Japan, May 19:

Joint Statement to Stop 'Gender Cleansing' in Iraq under the name of 'honor killing' and other gender-based violence against women, and to Demand the Immediate Withdrawal of Occupation Forces
March 2008 was the fifth anniversary of the start of war on Iraq by the US military. During the five-year period, the death toll of Iraqis exceeded one million, and several million have been displaced as refugees in and out of Iraq. Still escalating are indiscriminate attacks by the US forces and attacks by local militias that target civilians. The death toll of the US soldiers hit 4,000 and the number of suicide cases among them is reportedly on the increase.

The founder and chief commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Manuel "Tirofijo" (Sureshot) Marulanda, has died, the Colombian government announced May 24."Through military intelligence, we learned Pedro Antonio Marin, alias Manuel Marulanda or Sureshot, the principal chief of the FARC, is dead," the Defense Ministry said in a statement. "The cause of death is still to be confirmed." (Reuters, May 24) Carlos Lozano, editor of Bogotá's leftist weekly Voz, said Marulanda's death, "if this is what has occurred," will leave a serious gap in the FARC's command structure. But he was confident the FARC would survive, and that Alfonso Cano (nom de guerre of Guillermo Sàenz Vargas) will take over as top commander. (El Tiempo, Bogotá, May 25)

We recently asked if the folks at the Council on Foreign Relations who want to remake US policy on Latin America have Barack Obama's ear. Here's a sign that they do. After a too-long period of annoying vagueness, he finally spells out some ideas. We'll have to oppose that "regional security initiative" of course, and that "Energy Partnership for the Americas" is likely to mask some unpleasant development proposals. But this is tentatively salubrious—and speaking truth to the Cuban American National Foundation earns him a big C for cojones. Foon Rhee writes for the Boston Globe, May 23:

From Reuters, May 22:

Tito Santana, one of the last tribal kings in the Americas, has been driven into exile from his lands deep in the Panamanian jungle by a fight over a hydroelectric project that has divided his tiny kingdom.

Breaking ranks with the loopiness of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his ilk, Bassem Naeem, health and information minister in the Hamas-led Palestinian administration in Gaza, explicitly acknowledges the historical fact of the Holocaust—while calling out Israel's manipulation thereof. From The Guardian's Comment is Free, May 12:

On May 21, as oil prices leaped to an unprecedented $133 a barrel, Big Oil's biggest executives got grilled on the Senate floor. "Where is the corporate conscience?" Sen. Dick Durbin asked execs from ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP America, Shell Oil and ConocoPhilips. Together the five companies earned $36 billion during the first three months of 2008. Their answers trotted out all the usual propaganda tactics...

As part of an emergency appropriations bill, the Senate May 22 approved $350 million in drug war aid to Mexico, with an adittional $100 million for Central America, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Reducing the Bush administration's request for $500 million to Mexico and $50 million to Central America, the Senate also adopted language that would hold up a quarter of the funds until the State Department rules that Mexico is meeting human rights markers. The House approved $400 million for Mexico, with similar provisions. Differences need to be worked out in a joint conference. "Human rights abuses in the army are routinely investigated by the military itself, and that leads to impunity," said Tamara Taraciuk of Human Rights Watch. "The big issue is accountability." (NYT, May 23) The Senate bill also provides $165 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into 2009. (AP, May 23)

Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega is under scrutiny for supposed links to Colombia's FARC guerillas. In one "partially decoded" February e-mail supposedly recovered from the computer of late FARC commander Raúl Reyes, fellow FARC director Iván Márquez wrote that Ortega could send via Venezuela's Hugo Chávez "some old caucheras they are keeping there [in Nicaragua], and he believes still function." Cauchera is said to be code for rifles.