On June 23 the Guatemalan government agreed to suspend operations at the Marlin gold mine in the western department of San Marcos, which is owned by Montana Exploradora de Guatemala, SA, a subsidiary of the Canadian mining company Goldcorp Inc. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR, or CIDH in Spanish), a Washington, DC-based agency of the Organization of American States (OAS), had ordered Guatemala on May 21 to carry out the suspension within 20 days; the IACHR was responding to a complaint filed by indigenous inhabitants of the communities of Sipacapa and San Miguel Ixtahuacán who say the mine has caused significant damage to residents' health and the local environment.

On June 20 the Unified Campesino Movement of the Aguán (MUCA) reported that Honduran soldiers from the Cobra Battalion, agents of the Preventive Police and private security guards from the Orión company had entered the Aurora estate in northern Honduras that morning and attacked campesinos who were encamped there. A teenage campesino whose name was given as Oscar Yovani Ramírez or Oscar Geovanny Ramírez died in the operation, and five other campesinos were detained, according to MUCA.

Nicaragua's National Assembly last week ratified the only international law for indigenous peoples' rights, International Labor Organization Convention 169, making it the twenty-second country to do so. ILO 169 sets legally binding standards for the territorial and self-determination rights of indigenous and tribal peoples everywhere. By signing the Convention, Nicaragua has committed to respecting and upholding these rights.

Rural villagers are using hoes and pick axes to hunt for victims of landslides that have killed at least 179 people in Central America after the season's first tropical storm, dubbed "Agatha." Thousands remain homeless and many are still missing. Rescue crews are struggling to reach isolated communities to distribute food and water. The heaviest toll is in Guatemala, where authorities report 152 dead with 100 people still missing. In Chimaltenango department, landslides buried rural indigenous communities and killed at least 60 people. In Guatemala City, a massive sinkhole swallowed an entire intersection, gulping down a clothing factory although causing no casualties. (AP, May 31)

In an interview on Spanish CCN broadcast May 19, Honduran president Porfirio ("Pepe") Lobo Sosa agreed that the removal of former president José Manuel ("Mel") Zelaya Rosales (2006-2009) from office on June 28, 2009 was a coup d'état. "Of course, put it how you will, but it was a coup," Lobo Sosa said when CNN's José Levy asked if the removal was a coup. But the Honduran president, in Madrid for a May 18 trade summit of European Union and Latin American leaders, justified the removal. "Democracy did not have sufficient mechanisms to guarantee its maintenance," he said. During his election campaign last year, Lobo Sosa avoided characterizing the June 28 action. Supporters of Zelaya's ouster generally have insisted that it was constitutional and not a coup. (Honduras Culture and Politics blog, May 22; La Vanguardia, Honduras, May 21)

On May 21 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR, or CIDH in Spanish), a Washington, DC-based agency of the Organization of American States (OAS), ordered the Guatemalan government to suspend operations at the Marlin gold mine in the western department of San Marcos within 20 days and to take measures to protect the local environment. The indigenous inhabitants of the communities of Sipacapa and San Miguel Ixtahuacán have protested the mine—owned by Montana Exploradora de Guatemala, SA, subsidiary of the Canadian company Goldcorp—since it began operations in 2008.

Two-time Honduran dictator Oswaldo López Arellano died over the weekend after being hospitalized for several weeks. He was 89. Born in Danlí in eastern Honduras, López Arellano would lead two coups d'état as an army officer. In October 1963, López, then a colonel, ousted President José Ramón Villeda of the Liberal Party, when was just months from finishing his six-year term in office. In 1965, with the backing of the currently ruling National Party, López took office as constitutional president and handed over power in 1971 to Ramón Ernesto Cruz—only to oust him in a second coup in December 1972.

The International Court of Justice announced May 20 that Honduras has dropped a case against Brazil that was brought last year by the coup-installed government. The Honduran de facto government launched the proceedings in October, in response to the sheltering of ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya in the Brazilian embassy. Honduras, now under a new government following elections late last year, asked to withdraw the case on April 30 and the request was granted May 12. Zelaya remains in exile in the Dominican Republic. (AP, Jurist, May 20)