Nine years after the Dec. 22, 1997 massacre of 45 unarmed Maya Indians at the Chiapas highland hamlet of Acteal, Chiapas, the confessed intellectual author of the attack, Antonio Vazquez Secum, remains free and was never called to testify in the still-open judicial investigation. He is among six who confessed to being the athors of the crime, but whose confessions were rejected by the Prosecutor General of the Republic (PGR). Amid mounting charges of irregularities in the case, Ricardo Raphael, leader of an association of Mexican jurors, is calling for the intervention of the Supreme Court of the Nation. (El Universal, Dec. 21) More than 60 have been sentenced in connection with the massacre, but deny their involvement. 38 remain at Chiapas' harsh Cerro Hueco prison. (El Universal, Dec. 18)

Subcommander Marcos of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) is back on the rebels' home turf of southern Chiapas state after a months-long tour of Mexico, known as the "Other Campaign" in reference to this year's presidential campaigns. Marcos arrived in the highland city of San Cristobal de Las Casas Dec. 19, with patrols of the Federal Preventative Police escorting his caravan. Before returning to the Lacandon Selva, the EZLN's jungle stronghold, Marcos toured Zapatista support bases in the highlands, such as Oventic. The rebel group is preparing to mark the 13th anniversary of the New Years 1994 uprising with an international gathering entitled the "First Encounter of the Zapatista Pueblos with the People of the World." (APRO, Dec. 19; La Jornada, Dec. 20)

Even as the Mexican federal government is starting to release some of the hundreds detained during the Oaxaca protests, new harassment and repression is reported from the conflicted state. On Dec. 18, Florentino Lopez Marti'nez, spokesman of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), and two other members of the organization were seized by local police as they left a meeting in Oaxaca City. They were released after several hours, apparently following intervention by the Federal Preventative Police who remain in the city. They reported that they were beaten in custody. (La Jornada, Dec. 19) Meanwhile, APPO director Flavio Sosa, who remains at the top-security Altiplano federal prison at La Palma, Mexico state, was formally charged with "sedition," "criminal association" and "property damage" on Dec. 19. (La Jornada, Dec. 20)

Salvatore Mancuso, top chieftan of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) began testimony Dec. 19 before a special tribunal about the paramilitary newtwork's role in massacres and assassinations. Under a peace deal with the government, the AUC leaders will serve limited prison sentences and receive protection from extradition to the US on drug charges. Some 30,000 fighters have officially laid down arms. (VOA, Dec. 19)

Ecologists warn that current rates of tapping frankincense are endangering the fragrant resin's sustained production. Writing in the December issue of the Journal of Applied Ecology, Professor Frans Bongers of the Netherlands' Wageningen University says that over-tapping Ethiopia's Boswellia trees is resulting in them producing fewer and less viable seeds.

New Ethiopian troops movements are reported in Somalia, as a deadline set by the Islamic Courts Union for a Somali jihad against Ethiopia expired Dec. 19. Witnesses and local officials said a new detachment of Ethiopian troops in a column of armored vehicles has occupied Ballanballe in Galgaudu province, in central Somalia. Reports indicated the troops have established checkpoints on the central road through the region, and are stopping all vehicles. The development came a day after a local "Islamic Court" was set up in the Galgadud provincial district of Abudwaq. Abdirisak Mohammed Warsme Fiqi, leader of Islamic Court in Abudwaq, called on the people to prepare for a jihad against Ethiopian occupation troops.

According to the "Joel Sierra" Regional Human Rights Committee Foundation, "armed opposition groups" are believed responsible for a number of recent murders of civilians in Colombia's eastern department of Arauca. The killings include the Nov. 29 murder of campesinos Edgar Marin Munoz, Pablo Tulio Bautista Jimenez and Fernando Vega in the rural community of El Vigia in Tame municipality; the Dec. 10 murder of Elsa Yaneth Martinez Miranda in the rural community of Brisas de Caranal, in Arauquita municipality; and the Dec. 12 abduction and murder of campesino Hector Villamizar Becerra from the rural community of El Botalon, in Tame. On Dec. 10, 11-year-old Natalia Munoz Ramos was wounded by a bullet in the urban center of Arauquita; it is not known who was responsible for the shooting. (Fundacion Comite Regional de Derechos Humanos "Joel Sierra," Dec. 14)

On Dec. 12, troops from the Colombian Army's 12th Brigade, attached to the Sixth Division, killed campesinos Juan Bautista Munoz and Over Semanate and driver Javier Garzon in the community of La Estrella in La Montanita municipality, in the southern department of Caqueta. The troops stopped the pickup truck—property of Garzon, who had been hired by Munoz and Semanate to transport them on an errand—and shot the three men dead.