Irene Khan, general secretary of the UK-based human rights organization Amnesty International (AI), is scheduled to visit Mexico July 30-Aug. 5 for what AI calls a "high-level working visit" to address its concerns about human rights violations in Mexico. The group's concerns include reports of sexual assaults on women prisoners by police agents during the repression of demonstrations in San Salvador Atenco, Mexico state in May 2006; the government's failure to solve the murders of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, over the last 15 years; and the repression of anti-globalization protesters in Guadalajara, Jalisco, in May 2004.

In the early morning of July 28 people thought to be members of the rebel Revolutionary Popular Army (EPR) assaulted a site in Chiapa de Corzo, in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas, where a federal prison is being built. No injuries were reported in the incident, during which an unknown number of attackers captured the three guards at the site and locked them in a guard booth. The attackers then shot up the site and painted slogans on the walls. Municipal police arrived when they heard the shooting; they found about 40 used cartridges on the scene.

Early on July 15, a man waved down agents from the Border Patrol's Tucson sector patrolling near Arizona highway 289 and told them his brother was sick and convulsing. Agents found the man nearby, unresponsive; they called paramedics, but the man was pronounced dead before he could be airlifted to a medical center. He was identified as Omar Lopez Mendiola of Iztapalapa, Mexico. Early on July 16, Border Patrol agents working on the Tohono O'odham Reservation found a dead woman lying on the side of the road. Identification on the body indicated she was an 18-year-old from the southern Mexican state of Guerrero. The body was to be transported to the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office. (Arizona Daily Star, July 17)

From July 16 to 20, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 274 immigrants in the area of Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. Those arrested included 233 men, 28 women and 13 children, said ICE spokesperson Carl Rusnok. Of the 274, 99 had criminal convictions. Most of the arrests happened at homes. ICE did not say how many of those arrested were being sought, but did confirm that "some" of those taken into custody were simply discovered in the raided homes and were unable to prove they were here legally. "Many of these individuals are in the wrong place at the wrong time, many live together," said Nuria T. Prendes, field office director for ICE's Office of Detention and Removal Operations. Police in Dallas, Irving, Fort Worth, Arlington, Farmers Branch, Carrollton and Blue Mound, along with the Dallas County constable, helped agents in the operation, according to an ICE statement.

Our July issue featured the stories "No Green Zone for Ethnic Minorities in Iraq" by Bill Weinberg, arguing that the ethnic and sectarian warfare is approaching a "genocidal threshold"; "Israel & Palestine: One State or Two?," excerpts from the debate between Israeli peace activists Ilan Pappé and Uri Avnery; and "Free Speech in Venezuela: Whither the RCTV Shut-Down?," an analysis of the controversy by the Caracas anarchist group El Libertario. Our July Exit Poll was: "Is it genocide in Iraq yet? Who is responsible? What can help?" Extra Credit: "Israel and Palestine: One state or two?" Extra Extra Credit: "The RCTV shut-down in Venezuela: righteous blow against the empire or draconian crackdown on free speech?" We received the following response:

Media revealed this week that at a high-level meeting in Riyadh in January, Saudi officials confronted then-US Iraq envoy Zalmay Khalilzad with incriminating documents on Iraq's prime minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki. One purported to be an early alert from al-Maliki to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, warning him to lie low during a US troop surge. Another document purported to offer proof that Maliki was an Iranian agent. Khalilzad immediately protested to King Abdullah, contending that the documents were forged. Earlier this month, in an oblique reference to Saudi Arabia, Khalilzad charged in a New York Times op-ed: "Several of Iraq's neighbors—not only Syria and Iran but also some friends of the United States —are pursuing destabilizing policies." (NYT, July 27; The Scotsman, July 29) It seems the Saudis are following through on their longtime threats to arm the Sunni insurgents in Iraq. Nonetheless, on July 28, the Times reported that the US is preparing a major arms deal with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states worth $20 billion over the next decade, including missile guidance systems, fighter jets and warships. (NYT, BBC, July 28)

Radical students July 27 again occupied Islamabad's Red Mosque—hours before a suicide bomber killed 13 people in a market down the street from the mosque. Seeking a political solution to the multiple converging crises he faces, Pervez Musharraf reportedly met abroad with exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Security forces recaptured the mosque after several hours, but scenes of police firing tear gas and protesters calling for jihad recalled the nine-day siege at the Red Mosque that claimed more than 100 lives earlier this month. "The security situation here is getting worse every day," said student Bilal Hassan. "You expect this in the remote areas, but not in our capital." (WP, July 28) On July 18, Bush's top counterterrorism advisor told Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America" that the US does not rule out sending in US troops if Pakistan allows al-Qaeda continued refuge in the Tribal Areas. "The answer...is what we want to do is work with our Pakistani partners," Frances Townsend said in response to Sawyer's question. "But the president's been very clear. There are no options off the table because job No. 1 is protecting the American people, and nothing will get in our way." (ABC, July 18)

Colombia's imprisoned paramilitary warlords July 24 announced an end to cooperation with prosecutors investigating massacres and other atrocities, throwing into question the country's peace process. The move was taken to protest the July 11 ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice that paramilitary fighters and "parapolíticos" (politicians who collaborate with the paras) are not automatically charged with "sedition"—meaning politically motivated violence, carrying reduced penalties under the legislation establishing the peace process. The peace process has led to the disarmament of some 31,000 paramilitary fighters, but has not yet secured reparations for their victims or won major confessions from some 60 imprisoned warlords.