The Special Investigator (Fiscalía Especial) for the Acteal massacre in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas has announced the discovery in a cave of two AK-47 rifles which are believed to be those used in the Dec. 22, 1997 slaying of 45 Tzotzil Maya peasants. The rifles were found May 22 by police near the community of Los Chorros, Chenalhó municipality, where the attack was said to have been planned. The cave was searched based on information provided by one of the men serving time for the massacre at El Amate prison. His name was not revealed, but authorities said he would be transfered to another prison in Cintalapa for his protection.

Subcommander Marcos of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) has arrived back in the Chiapas rainforest after concluding his tour of Mexico's northern states in the second phase of the "Other Campaign." Arriving first in the Chiapas highland city of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Marcos' caravan then proceeded to the jungle settlement of La Garrucha. Fifteen other Zapatista commanders who had also been on tour arrived back in Chiapas days ahead of the Subcommander. They will now start preparing for an "Intergalactic Encuentro," a meeting of their international supporters, to be hosted on their territory in a little over a month. (La Jornada, June 24) A highlight of Marcos' tour came in Guadalajara, where he unveiled his new erotic novel Noches de Fuego y Desvelo (Nights of Fire and Sleeplessnes), illustrated with drawings by the author. Proceeds are to go towards programs for Chiapas' autonomous indigenous communities. (La Jornada, June 15)

President Felipe Calderon has initiated a sweeping purge of Mexico's federal police forces, replacing nearly 284 senior and middle-level commanders. The move was announced June 25 by Public Security Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna. "We are conscious that Mexicans demand honest, clean and trustworthy police," Garcia Luna told a press conference. "We have strategies and directions in the struggle against crime. One of the keys to that strategy is the professionalization and cleansing of the police forces." He said the commanders will be replaced by officers who have undergone months of rigorous vetting, including background checks, psychological exams and drug tests. The replaced commanders will be relocated inside the federal police forces, which number at least 12,000 agents. (Houston Chronicle, June 26)

Eritrean state radio reports that fifty-three weyane (Ethiopian) soldiers, including officers, have defected to Eritrea over the last few months. The soldiers are said to include three lieutenants, a second lieutenant, a sergeant, four corporals and 14 lance-corporals, who all object to Ethiopia's Somalia intervention and the regime's ethnic favoritism. Eighteen of the defectors are said to be ethnic Oromo, 15 Tigrayans, 15 Amhara and the remainder from the Gurage and southern Ethiopian peoples. The Ethiopian regime is dominated by members of the Tigray ethnic group. (Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, Asmara, in Tigrinya, via BBC Monitoring, June 11) Ethiopian state television, in turn, reports that a small guerilla group in the pay of sha'biyyah (Eritrea's ruling party) operating in Teru District in Ethiopia's northeastern Afar Region has surrendered peacefully to government forces. (Ethiopian TV, Addis Ababa, in Amharic, via BBC Monitoring, June 21)

The UN has now vindicated the recent findings of a British study on the roots of the Darfur conflict. From Guardian Newspapers, June 25:

LONDON — The conflict in Darfur has been driven by climate change and environmental degradation, which threaten to trigger a succession of wars across Africa unless more is done to contain the damage, according to a U.N. report.

Somali police fired on a crowd of people trying to storm a food warehouse in Mogadishu June 25, killing five civilians, witnesses reported. Hundreds of people had gathered at a police station that was serving as a food distribution center, said Halima Mudey, who was in the crowd. "People were waiting for the distribution of the food, but some of them tried to storm and steal the maize and cooking oil, then police opened fire and killed five people including my brother," Abdiqadir Mohamed Ilbir said as he wept. He said his brother was shot and killed by the police. Mudey also said five people were killed. (AP, June 25)

Welcome to the promised land, Gonpo. From the New York Times, June 23 (emphasis added):

From Tibet to New York, a Youth Now Faces a Long Journey to Recovery
Gonpo Dorjee, 16, arrived in America on May 26. But he has seen little of his new home, New York City. The sights he sees most often are a small swath of the East River and part of the industrial skyline of Greenpoint, Brooklyn — the view from the window of his room at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan.

Two people were killed, including a three-year-old girl, and seven wounded June 24 when presumed leftist guerillas detonated a bomb in a tourist area of Colombia's main Pacific port, Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca department), the latest in a series of attacks over the weekend. Seven bombs or grenades exploded at commercial centers around the city and a police station in the previous attacks, which began June 22, leaving 23 injured. Authorities blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest guerilla group. "This is retaliation from the FARC for the killing of one of their key leaders," Interior Minister Carlos Holguin told local Caracol Radio. "These bandits have decided to attack the civilian population and create acts of terror." (Reuters, June 24)