A year has now passed since the Israeli government announced its decision to "expand the civilian policy toward the [Gaza] Strip" and "ease" the closure. Perhaps concerned that the positive results of the "easing" aren't obvious enough, the IDF's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) has published a report, "Implementation of the Civil Policy Toward the Gaza Strip: One Year Since the Cabinet's Decision to Expand the Civil Policy." This document is analyzed by the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, an Israeli human rights group that monitors the situation in the Strip, in a study humorously dubbed "Numbers, Meet Context"... .

Peru's populist president-elect is scheduled to take office in just one week, and ominous signs are mounting that (campaign promises aside) he will continue his predecessor's trajectory towards breakneck resource extraction, plunder of the environment, pauperization of the peasantry—and attendant bloody social conflicts. Or, as The Economist puts it, "Ollanta Humala has given strong signals that he will keep Peru's successful economic policies."

Canadian oil company Pacific Rubiales has reportedly reached a deal with striking workers following a month of labor unrest in Puerto Gaitan, Colombia, that culminated this week in a blockade of the oilfields and riots in which several vehicles were destroyed, both protesters and National Police officers were injured, and by some reports one striker was killed. The dispute was triggered by the firing of 1,100 contractors by Cepcolsa, the Colombian subsidiary of Spanish multinational CEPSA, which partners in the region with state-controlled Ecopetrol and private companies such as Pacific Rubiales.

Frustrated by slow progress in determining the fates of missing loved ones, relatives of ten men from southern Mexico who vanished on the Mexico-US border have embarked on a hunger strike and public protest. The action was initiated five days ago in the capital of Oaxaca by family members of a group of men who disappeared on July 14, 2010, after traveling to the Tamaulipas border city of Matamoros to purchase two trucks and vehicle parts for an eco-tourism enterprise.

Days before a new administration in Lima is to take power, Peru's indigenous affairs agency INDEPA proposed new regulations that would allow oil and gas exploitation within Amazon rainforest reserves that have been established to protect indigenous groups that are considered "uncontacted," or in "voluntary isolation." Opening these reserves to industrial exploitation was a longtime goal of the outgoing administration of President Alan García. The proposed "Supervisory Regulation on Exploratory and Extractive Activities within State Territorial and Indigenous Reserves," was presented by INDEPA to the Ministry of Culture, the agency's parent body, on July 8, and immediately sparked an outcry from indigenous rights advocates. Peru's Amazonian indigenous federation, AIDESEP, charged that the proposed regulation violates Law 28736, which established the reserves, the Law for the Protection of Indigenous and Original Peoples in Situations of Isolation or Initial Contact. AIDESEP noted that the move coincides with plans to expand the massive Camisea gas fields in the rainforest of Cusco region, where exploration Block 88 overlaps the Nahua-Kugapakori Reserve, which is believed to protect several uncontacted bands. On July 15, INDEPA announced that the new regulation would be suspended pending "consultation" with indigenous and social organizations.

The average income of Mexican households fell by 12.3% between 2008 and 2010, the government's National Statistics and Geography Institute (INEGI) reported on July 15. The richest households generally lost the most in percentages, but poorer households suffered more because their income was already so low, according to the National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure, which the INEGI conducts every two years. The decline in income reflects a 6.1% contraction of the Mexican economy in 2009 in the midst of a world economic crisis that started in the US; the Mexican economy recovered partially in 2010 with a 5.4% expansion. (La Jornada, Mexico, July 16)

Backed up by the National Police of Haiti (PNH) and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), on July 15 Port-au-Prince authorities began evicting some 400-450 families from the parking lot of the Sylvio Cator soccer stadium, where they had been living after being displaced by a January 2010 earthquake. The authorities said the eviction was necessary so that workers could get the stadium ready for an Aug. 4 match between two teams in the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF).

A 24-hour national general strike on July 11 against the economic policies of Dominican president Leonel Fernández was "95 to 100%" effective, according to the organizers. After the first 12 hours, Fidel Santana, a spokesperson for the National Strike Committee, congratulated the Dominican people, calling them "the basic protagonist of this day's success." He claimed that an important element in the strike was the absence of efforts to force the productive sectors, commercial enterprises and transportation companies to observe the strike call; he said protesters were showing respect for people who chose not to honor the work stoppage.