The UN Security Council voted unanimously Oct. 27 to lift the no-fly zone over Libya, bringing to a close the seven-month international military action in the country. But the war on the ground may not be over. Following demands by Human Rights Watch, the NTC says it will investigate allegations of reprisal attacks against residents of Tawergha and Sirte—towns said to have supported Moammar Qaddafi and sheltered his forces. HRW reports that militias from Misrata are terrorizing the displaced residents of outlying Tawergha, accusing them of having collaborated in the Qaddafi forces' long and bloody siege of the city. The entire town of 30,000 people is abandoned—some of it ransacked and burned, according to HRW investigators. (CNN, HRW via AllAfrica.com, Oct. 30; WSJ, Oct. 28)

Gustavo Petro, a former leader of the M-19 guerillas and longtime socialist legislator, was elected mayor of Bogotá in polling Oct. 30. Petro's campaign emphasized clean politics and reform—pressing issues as outgoing Mayor Samuel Moreno is in prison on corruption charges. "This is a victory of the desire for change of the city of Bogotá, which demands immense challenges of the 21st century, like overcoming an administrative crisis," said Petro. He won a sweeping victory over Green Party centrist Enrique Peñalosa, who gained approximately 25% of the votes. Independent Gina Parody came in third with 17%. Although a harsh critic of President Juan Manuel Santos, Petro called on the president to dialogue on cooperation. "There are things to talk about with the president," Petro said, stressing the importance of cooperation between the capital district and national government. He also called for a "plan to mitigate the effects of the TLC," the new Free Trade Agreement with the US. (Colombia Reports, Colombia Reports, Miami Herald, Oct. 30)

The Climate Change Vulnerability Index, published by UK-based risk analysis and mapping company Maplecroft, was released last week, examining the climate risks and adaptive capacity of 193 nations. A total of 30 countries were classified as being at "extreme risk," with Haiti, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Madagascar making up the top five most in peril, while India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Thailand all ranked in the top 30. (ENS, Oct. 28; CNN, Oct. 26; Maplecroft, Oct. 21)

Mexico's former President Vicente Fox again spoke out for drug legalization this month, telling a Washington DC meeting of the right-libertarian Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity that prohibition bears responsibility for the horrific toll in his country's cartel wars: "Fifty thousand kids from 15 to 25 years old have been killed in the last five years. Violence does not defeat violence." He asked rhetorically: "Do we really expect that the government will eradicate the drugs from the face of the earth?"

The clandestine online activist network Anonymous has released an Internet video demanding that Los Zetas, Mexico's bloodiest drug cartel, release one of its members who was kidnapped from a street protest in Veracruz. The Anonymous spokesman—in tie, jacket and Guy Fawkes mask—says if the Zetas don't release their comrade, it will publish the identities and addresses of the syndicate's associates. Speaking in Spanish with fluent use of Mexican slang, the masked spokesman says: "You made a huge mistake by taking one of us. Release him." Otherwise it threatens to reveal the Zetas' "cars, homes, bars, brothels and everything else in their possession. It won't be difficult; we all know who they are and where they are located."

Raquel Yrigoyen Fajardo, fired last week as head of Peru's indigenous affair agency INDEPA, is publicly accusing the government of removing her because she annulled the agency's approval of an environmental impact study for expansion of the Camisea gas-fields in the Amazon rainforest. The proposed expansion of the Pluspetrol-led consortium's exploration in Lot 88 would impact the Kugapakori Nahua Nanti Territorial Reserve, where "uncontacted" indigenous groups are believed to live. Her move to withdraw approval for the expansion came one day before she was suddenly replaced Oct. 19. She charged that the approval, granted under the previous administration before her appointment by newly elected President Ollanta Humala, was illegal. (Survival International, Oct. 27; Servindi, Oct. 25)

Growing political conflicts over development projects have prompted security forces to intervene in recent weeks in Ecuador. In the small hours of Oct. 8, military and police invaded the community of Río Grande, in coastal Manabí province, to evict a protest encampment that had been established by local comuneros of the Montubio ethnic group to resist construction of dam. Police say that the operation took place peacefully, but the comuneros report that tear gas was used and the protesters, including women and children, were assaulted. Protest leader Alfredo Zambrano reportedly suffered head wounds when he was detained. Four others were also detained, and all are still being held.

From the San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 28:

S.F. crash badly injures person in wheelchair
SAN FRANCISCO — A person in a wheelchair suffered life-threatening injuries today after being hit by a pickup truck in a South of Market intersection, San Francisco police said.