On Nov. 9, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) sent an “Open Letter to the People of the United States.” It was specially addressed to Hollywood figures Michael Moore, Denzel Washington and Oliver Stone; leftist academics Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis and James Petras; and politician Jessie Jackson. The purpose of the letter was to solicit their support in facilitating an agreement between the US and Colombian governments and the FARC exchanging 600 imprisoned guerrillas (including two on trial in the US) for 60 rebel-held prisoners, including three US counterinsurgency experts. James Petras has now responded with his own "Open Letter to the People and Government of the US (And a Reply to the FARC)," published Feb. 21 by the New Colombia News Agency (ANNCOL).

As Umberto Eco said about Salman Rushdie, "A death sentence is a rather harsh review." From AP via the San Diego Union-Tibune, Feb. 19:

MEXICO CITY – Gunmen shot to death four men identified as members of a musical group as they returned from a performance in the western Mexico state of Michoacan, a state prosecutor's spokeswoman said Monday.

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon visited a small village outside the Rosario monarch butterly reserve in Michoacan state to announce a "zero tolerance" policy against illegal logging, and pledged to mobilize army troops to protected areas. (Scientific American, Feb. 26) The policy is part of Calderon's new Conservation for Development Strategy, 2007-2012. He also announced the creation of several new protected areas, including at Manglares de Nichupté coastal wetlands near Cancún, and measures to protect the threatened El Hundido aquifer at Cuatro Ciénegas, Coahuila. (La Jornada, Feb. 25 via Chiapas95)

Women from the National Front of Struggle for Socialism (FNLS) blocked roads at various locations across Mexico's southern state of Chiapas, in protest of the "anti-national and pro-imperialist" government of President Felipe Calderon. They also demanded lower electricity rates. Traffic was halted for several hours on major roads through the Highlands, Selva, Northern Zone and Central Valley. (La Jornada, Feb. 25 via Chiapas95) In a Feb. 14 communique, the FNLS protested the massive federal immigration raids in Chiapas, saying they revealed the "fascist and ultra-right" nature of the Calderon government. (FNLS, Feb. 14 via APIA)

A Feb. 22 press release from Narco News, via New Zealand's Scoop:

Zapatistas to Raise Two Peace Encampments on Indigenous Territory

Subcomandante Marcos, spokesman of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), recently announced that the Sixth Commission and the EZLN will be supporting two peace encampments, one in Baja California and the other in Chiapas, on Zapatista and Cucapá territory.

In recognition of International Mother Language Day, lawmakers in southern Mexico's Chiapas state proposed Feb. 21 a reform to the state constitution recognizing the existence of the indigenous tongues of Jacalteco, Chuj and Kanjobal, which are threatened with extinction. Articel 13 of the Chiapas constitution recognizes nine indgenous langauges: Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Chol, Zoque, Tojolabal, Mam, Kakchiquel, Lacandon and Mochó. The three now being considered are spoken by only a few thousand residents, mostly Guatemalan refugees who settled in Chiapas to escape genocide in the 1980s.

Nancy Flores writes for Mexico's El Universal, Feb. 24 (links added):

NAIROBI - Native Maya seeds from Zapatista cornfields reached the hands of small farmers in Africa last month as a symbol of solidarity and hope.

On Feb. 15, Raúl Lucas Lucía of the Independent Organization of the Mixtec People was wounded in an ambush by unknown gunmen on a mountain road near his village of Coapinola, Ayutla municipality, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero. Lucas, president of the communal lands committee at Coapinola, is a local organizer for the Zapatistas' "Other Campaign." He has been harassed and detained by the authorities on several occasions. After the massacre at El Charco, where 10 Mixtecs were killed by the army June 7, 1998, he was held and tortured by soldiers supposedly searching the mountains for guerillas. (Organización Independiente de Pueblos Mixtecos, Feb. 16 via Enlace Zapatista)