Maria Antonieta Trinidad Ramirez del Valle, popularly known as La Trini, returned to the conflicted central Mexican village of San Salvador Atenco Nov. 25 after more than six months in clandestinity at an unknown location. She was accompanied by Don Samuel Ruiz, bishop emeritus of Chiapas who won national acclaim for brokering the dialogue with the Zapatista rebels. Her sons América and Alejandro del Valle remain in hiding. Another son, César del Valle, is incarcerated in the high-security prison at La Palma, as is her husband Ignacio del Valle. La Trini is director of the People's Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT), the group which has led protests against the confiscation of Atenco's farming lands for a new international airport. Her lawyer said judicial orders had been issued barring her arrest. Del Valle said that during her time in hiding, the family's home had been left "in ruins" when it was ransacked by the Federal Preventative Police. (La Jornada, Nov. 26 via Chiapas95 and Nov. 23 via El Porvenir)

From La Jornada, Dec. 11 via Chiapas95 (our translation):

GUADALAJARA - Some 100 sympathizers of the popular movement in Oaxaca announced the formation of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Jalisco (APPJ), whose primary aim will be "the unity of the distinct resistance movements in the state against the attack of the ultra-right now in power."

Growing signs of a revolutionary convergence in Mexico—open solidarity between the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO). From AP, Dec. 11 via Chiapas95:

OAXACA - A leader of Mexico's largest leftist party led thousands of protesters in a march to the center of this historic city on Sunday, demanding the resignation of the state governor and the withdrawal of thousands of federal police.

More fodder for our ongoing Irony Watch. We have little doubt that Mengistu is guilty of genocide. But—as we have had the unfortunate duty to point out—so, it seems, are Ethiopia's current rulers, if not quite on the same scale. From AlJazeera, Dec. 12:

An Ethiopian court has found exiled Mengistu Haile Mariam, the former Marxist ruler, guilty in absentia of genocide, ending a 12-year trial.

In our last post about the Holocaust denail confab in Iran, we asked whether the rumors are true that anti-Zionist writer Norman G. Finkelstein is participating. Alan "torture could be justified" Dershowitz explores the question on the ostensibly liberal Huffington Post blog:

This short piece exposes an interesting phenomenon at the Washington Post: citizen-soldier-book reviewers. Received via e-mail from our correspondent Brian Hennessey, Dec. 11:

To review Jimmy Carter's book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, the Washington Post [Dec. 10] chose a Jewish Israeli citizen who willingly moved from his American birthplace to volunteer to become a soldier in Israel, working as a prison guard at one of Israel's worst prisons, where International and Israeli human rights organizations have documented a lack of process, inhumane conditions and torture for the hundreds of Palestinians (many women and children) who are held there indefinitely and without charge.

From Human Rights Watch, Dec. 11:

The Iranian Judiciary should prosecute officials responsible for the arbitrary detention and alleged torture of several bloggers in 2004, instead of prosecuting the bloggers for expressing their opinions, Human Rights Watch said today.

On December 3, branch 1059 of Tehran's Judiciary commenced a trial against four men, Roozbeh Mirebrahimi, Shahram Rafizadeh, Omid Memarian, and Javad Gholam Tamimi, on charges of "participation in formation of groups to disturb national security," "propaganda against the state," "dissemination of disinformation to disturb public opinion by writing articles for newspapers and illegal internet sites," and "interviews with foreign radio broadcasts." The court has held one closed-door session, and the trial is scheduled to resume on December 17.

From The Scostman, Dec. 12:

A conference of the world's most prominent Holocaust deniers opened in Iran yesterday amid international condemnation and protests by dozens of Iranian students, who burned pictures of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and chanted "death to the dictator".