Mexican authorities boasted another take-down of a top narco lord May 29, with the arrest in Jalisco state of Manuel García Orozco, a leader of the New Generation cartel. García Orozco was detained "without a shot fired" at a road checkpoint in Tlajomulco de Zuniga municipality. He is accused of overseeing operations in Jalisco's Cienega region along the border with Michoacán state, including drug smuggling, fuel theft and extortion. He is also accused of involvement in "various attacks" against security forces, including the abduction and murder of two federal police officers in Michoacán in November 2013. The investigation into their disappearance led to the discovery of 37 clandestine graves containing 75 bodies in the Jalisco municipality of La Barca, near the state line. (AFP, May 29)

For months, Libya has been divided between the Islamist-led Libyan Dawn coalition that controls Tripoli and the west, and the more secular "official" government now exiled to Tobruk in the east. But with ISIS seizing territory, it is now turning into a three-sided war. Heavy fighting is reported as the "official" Libyan National Army's Brigade 309 has launched an offensive to take the port of Mreisa from ISIS fighters. (Libya Herald, June 13) Meanwhile, the Majlis al-Shura militia, aligned with the Libyan Dawn movement, is fighting ISIS for control of Derna. One June 13, a presumed ISIS suicide bomber killed three when he blew himself up on a Derna street. (Reuters, June 13)  The day before, seven Derna residents were shot dead when militants fired on a protest against the ISIS occupation of the city. (Reuters, June 12)

China's ex-security minister Zhou Yongkang was found guilty June 11 of bribery, abuse of power and disclosing state secrets, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was also stripped of his political rights for life and has had his assets confiscated. A year after Zhou's retirement in 2012, he was put under investigation as part of President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign. In a trail that was largely kept secret, Zhou was found to have accepted bribes of about 130 million yuan ($21.3 million) in return for leaking five highly confidential documents. Senior officials convicted of serious crimes within China are typically sentenced to death. This was apparently waived due to Zhou's cooperation in returning all monies.

Flights to the Galápagos islands were canceled June 12 and Ecuadoran soldiers fired tear gas to clear roadblocks as residents staged a nine-hour general strike to protest cost-cutting legislation that will cut subsidies they call essential to meet high living costs in the remote territory. The strike effectively shut down the two main islands of Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal. Protests in the archipelago have been mounting since June 8, when Ecuador's National Assembly overturned the 1978 Special Regime Ordinance for Galápagos Province, giving public employees on the islands a wage subsidy that effectively doubled their salaries. Under the reform, the 25,000 inhabitants of the islands, which lie 600 miles from Ecuador's coast, also lose the right to fly free of charge to and from the mainland. (El Universo, June 13; Ecuador Inmediato, AP, June 12; El Comercio, June 11)

War Resisters' International (WRI) isused a statement June 12 expressing concerned for the safety of two of its members in Venezuela. The statement notes that on May 13, the president of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, publicly shared details of the travel arrangements of WRI member Rafael Uzcátegui of the Program for Education and Action on Human Rights (PROVEA), as well as those of Carlos Correa of the activist network Espacio Público. The information was shared in Cabello's weekly TV program Con el Mazo Dando, in which human rights defenders iare frequently disparaged and details of their whereabouts revealed. Among other details, Cabello announced that Uzcátegui and Correa were travelling to Chile to meet the former coordinator of PROVEA. "This information had only been shared in private online communications, so there is cause to believe these communications are being monitored by the authorities," WRI writes. "Sharing such information puts Rafael, Carlos, and their friends and colleagues at risk. It arms militant government sympathizers with the information they would need to intimidate or attack them."

A transport strike in Argentina brought Buenos Aires and other parts of the country to a standstill June 9. The 24-hour walkout—the second in three months—affected bus, train, plane and subway services. The strike was called by the Automotive Transport Union (UTA) to oppose a move by the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to cap salary increases at 27%, complaining that the figure does not match the forecast 30% inflation expected this year. Highways were blocked and a mass rally held in front of the Labor Mnistry building—but Ministrer Carlos Tomada was dismissive of the action. "This strike is anything but a strike which seeks to defend workers," he told reporters, charging that the workers were "striking against the popular government, and not against their employers."

A new group of 450 military advisors is being dispatched to Iraq, the White House announced June 10, bringing the total of US troops in the country to 3,500. The immediate goal is retaking Ramadi from ISIS. The new advisors are assigned to Taqaddum military base, between Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar governorate, bringing to five the number of bases housing US troops in Iraq. US advisors are currently training some 3,000 Iraqi troops, but news accounts said that the forces to be trained at Taqaddum are to include "local Sunni fighters." (Reuters, Bloomberg, June 10) This is presumably meant to counter-balance the Shi'ite militias that have been leading the fight against ISIS in central Iraq (and are accused of reprisals and war crimes against Sunni non-combatants), but it still represents an official US embrace of sectarian militias rather than the increasingly fictional "official" Iraqi army.

The Obama administration sent a formal report (PDF) to Congress criticizing the Egyptian government for its human rights abuses and lack of movement toward democracy but still supporting $1.3 billion to Egypt in mostly military aid. The report, signed by Secretary of State John Kerry and submitted quietly on May 12, condemned Egypt's due process restrictions and a "lack of fair trial safeguards," pointing to mass trials, mass death sentences and extremely poor prison conditions. Government agents and police have largely not been held responsible for rights violations. Current laws "effectively ban...most forms of street protest...including peaceful dissent." While Egypt has a general "democracy roadmap" that has been implemented in part, "the overall trajectory of rights and democracy has been negative." Ultimately, however, the report cites its counterterrorism efforts against the Islamic State as a key reason Egypt remains of "vital importance" to the US from a security perspective. The report recommends continued support to Egypt despite the growing list of grievances.