On Oct. 6 Haiti's WIN Group conglomerate and the US-based Soros Economic Development Fund announced plans to build a $45 million industrial park named "West Indies Free Zone" near Port-au-Prince's impoverished Cité Soleil neighborhood. The 1.2 million square foot facility, to be completed in 2012, will "offer tax, customs and processing advantages to tenants" and is expected "to create 25,000 jobs and improve the standard of living for the 300,000 residents" of Cité Soleil, according to a WIN Group press release. The free trade zone's executives "are already in preliminary discussions with North American and European apparel manufacturers."

The Washington, DC-based investigative nonprofit National Security Archive released several documents on Oct. 6 written by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1965 and 1966 about its Cuban-born longtime "asset" Luis Posada Carriles, who currently lives in Miami under indictment after entering the US illegally in 2005. The Archive's Peter Kornbluh obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

After a week of marches and roadblocks, Ecuador's indigenous movement and President Rafael Correa have opened talks. On Oct. 5, a delegation of some 150 representatives from the three regional organizations of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) attended a meeting with the president and his cabinet in Quito.

Prosecutors in Guadalajara, Mexico, say they have filed charges against two suspected members of a gang blamed for what the press has dubbed the "clown jewels" caper. The gang—some members dressed in clown costumes—burst into a jewelry store July 26 and made off with at least $900,000 worth of loot. The clown costumes were later found abandoned in a car. The Jalisco state prosecutor's office says two of six suspects have been caught and charged while a third has been detained pending investigation. One of the suspects reportedly confessed to being the one of the men behind the masks. (AP, Oct. 9)

A group of independent UN experts expressed concern Oct. 9 over the increased use of mercenaries in Honduras since the June coup d'etat. The panel said it received reports that 40 former Colombian paramilitary veterans had been hired to protect properties and individuals in Honduras since the June 28 ouster of President Jose Manuel Zelaya. The panel also heard reports that 120 mercenaries from various Latin American countries had been contracted to support the de facto regime.

Supporters of deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya warned the de facto government that a crackdown on opposition media could derail talks scheduled to resume this week aimed at resolving the country's political crisis. "It is a really appalling issue, something right out of a dictatorship," said Rafael Alegria, a leader of protests against the coup-installed regime.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Oct. 8 demanded that his interior and defense ministers investigate how an imprisoned guerilla leader escaped in the northeastern city of Arauca. Gustavo Anibal Giraldo Quinchia AKA "Pablito" was freed the previous morning when a group of gunmen attacked a convoy transporting him to the local airport for a court hearing. One guard was killed and two injured in the incident. Giraldo is a high-ranking leader of the National Liberation Army (ELN) who opposed peace talks with the Colombian government. He was arrested in January 2008. "There is no explanation for this escape," Uribe told reporters. "There are signs of corruption around this that are very troubling."

Bolivia's President Evo Morales denied Oct. 10 that his government is engaged in a regional arms race, insisting the purchase of six Chinese military jets is only for drug enforcement. "This purchase of aircraft does not threaten anyone, they're not for war," Morales said at a ceremony commemorating the 52nd anniversary of the Bolivian Air Force. "The aircraft purchase is aimed at the fight against drug trafficking and not any arms race."