A group of five men armed with AK-47 and AR-15 rifles and 9mm pistols shot and killed Alejandro Barrita Ortiz, director of the Auxiliary, Industrial, Bank and Commercial Police for the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, on Jan. 30 as he was jogging on the track at the Bosque El Tequio sports complex near Oaxaca city. Also killed in the military-style ambush were one of Barrita Ortiz's bodyguards, Juan Eduardo Prado Perez; government employee Rafael Alonso Muñoz; and sports trainer Virginia Galan Rodriguez, who won the state sports prize in 2003. Two other people were wounded. It was not clear whether Muñoz and Galan were with Barrita Ortiz's group.

Local schoolteacher Felipe Hernández Yuena was detained Feb. 5 in the municipal government building at Venustiano Carranza, a conflicted town in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, accused of "sedition and riot." Showing bruises on his face, arms and abdomen, Hernández Yuena said that while in custody he was beaten and tortured by masked men he believed were from military intelligence, who questioned him about whether recent anti-NAFTA protests in the state capital, Tuxtla, were organized by the clandestine Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR). (La Jornada, Feb. 7)

After meeting with UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour, Mexican President Felipe Calderón announced Feb. 6 that he would gradually remove army troops from drug enforcement duty, replacing them with newly-trained police units. Use of the military in Mexico's war on the drug cartels has been harshly criticized by rights groups, including the official National Human Rights Commission. However, the official plan still posted to the website of Mexico's Federal Registry says military forces will remain involved in drug enforcement through the end of Calderón's term in 2012. (Bloomberg, Feb. 6)

As of Jan. 29 Mexican officials and representatives of the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMRM) said they had agreed on a "no aggression" pact and were ready to negotiate starting on Jan. 30. The union and the government have had a series of confrontations since February 2006, when the Labor and Social Security Secretariat removed SNTMMRM general secretary Napoleon Gomez Urrutia from his post for alleged corruption. Topics for negotiation were to include the removal of police and soldiers from the giant Cananea copper mine, site of a six-month strike; the disposition of bodies neverrecovered from the Pasta de Conchos coal mine after a February 2006 explosion that killed 65 workers; mine safety issues; strikes likely to break out in the mining industry; and wage and contract issues. Union representatives say they expect Gomez Urrutia to return to Mexico from the US by March at the latest. (La Jornada, Jan. 29)

Mexico formally protested use of tear gas by the US Border Patrol, the Exterior Secretariat sending a letter to the US Embassy requesting a probe of an incident last month in which Cristian Saldana, 15, was struck in the nose by a gas canister after he reportedly threw stones at Border Patrol agents near Tijuana. "Launching tear gas does not contribute in any way to a climate of understanding and collaboration," an Exterior Secretariat statement said Jan. 31, calling the practice "unacceptable."

In a "megamarcha" against the dropping of trade barriers under the terms of NAFTA, thousands of small farmers filled the streets of Mexico City's historic district Jan. 31. A caravan of 100 tractors that traveled 2,000 kilometers from Ciudad Juarez was joined by caravans from Querétaro, Pachuca, Toluca and Cuernavaca, organized by the National Association of Campesino Enterprises (ANEC). Marchers demanded the renegotiation of NAFTA, under the slogan "Without corn there is no country, and not without beans either" (Sin maíz no hay país y sin frijol tampoco). (El Financiero, Feb. 1; Cronica de Hoy, Jan. 30)

Mexico's federal Public Security Secretariat (SSP) announced the detention of 13 "delinquents" at Rancho San Isidro, in San Andrés Larráinzar, a highland municipality in conflicted Chiapas state Jan. 30. The SSP said 45 stolen vehicles were confiscated, as well as two firearms and an "arsenal" of ten home-made bombs. (La Jornada, Jan. 31) Meanwhile, the Good Government Junta "Corazón Céntrico de los Zapatistas delante del Mundo," governing body of the Zapatista rebels for the Highland region, issued a statement protesting deprivation of water to Zapatista followers in Zinacantán municipality. Citing lack of action by the state or federal governments, the statement said Zapatista authorities would "directly resolve" the problem and restore water to Sokón hamlet. It blamed the caciques (political bosses) of Nachig hamlet for diverting the water, calling them "priístas-perredistas"—meaning they have collaborated with both parties that have held power in the state and municipality, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). (La Jornada, Jan. 28)

On Jan. 25, seven adherents of the People's Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) from the central Mexican village of San Salvador Atenco were liberated from the Mexico State prison at Molino de Flores, after a federal judge cleared them of charges of kidnapping and attacking communications infrastructure. They had been in prison since their arrest in violent confrontations with the police in May 2006. (La Jornada, Jan. 26) Charges were also dropped against 53 other FPDT followers who had been freed on bail. (Uno Mas Uno, Jan. 25) A collective of "Zapatista lawyers" announced plans to bring criminal charges against Judge Jaime Maldonado, for having "arbitrarily" ordered the 164 FPDT followers imprisoned. (La Jornada, Jan. 27)