Members of the "Other Campaign" activist network marched in Mexico City Aug. 26 in protest of the recent evictions of campesino communities from the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in the conflicted southern state of Chiapas. (Expreso Chiapas, Aug. 27) On Aug. 31, Amnesty International issued a statement calling for an "immediate" suspension of evictions from the reserve. The statement expressed concern about the health conditions at the shelter in La Trinitaria where the expelled campesinos—including two pregnant women—are being held. The organization also expressed concern about the six arrested in the evictions, calling for their release and for transparency in the cases against them. (La Jornada, Sept. 2)

Juan Carlos "El Konan" García Cruz, a member of the Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) was sentenced to three years in prison by a Mexican federal court in Oaxaca City Aug. 26 on arms possession charges. While several APPO supporters remain behind bars pending charges, García Cruz is the first to be formally sentenced. APPO legal spokesman Gilberto Hernández Santiago called the sentence "inadmissible," saying that García Cruz had been illegally arrested by unaccountable plainclothes paramilitary forces, that he had been tortured, and the arms "planted" on him. (La Jornada, Aug. 28)

State police in Guerrero, Mexico, announced they had discovered a cache of 14 firearms with home-made bombs and camo uniforms hidden in a corn warehouse (bodega de maiz) in the community of Chamacua de Michelle, Coyuca de Catalán municipality. Authorities said insignia identified the cache as belonging to the Revolutionary Army of the Insurgent People (ERPI). One resident, Arturo Duque Alvarado, was detained on charges of belonging to the guerilla organization. (Cronica de Hoy, Aug. 27; La Jornada, Aug. 26) Meanwhile in Santiago Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca, soldiers of the 47th Infantry Battalion carried out searches in districts under the control of the Democratic Civic Union of Barrios and Colonias (Ucidebac), on suspicion that the neighborhood organization is collaborating with armed groups. Ucidebac leader Librado Baños Rodríguez accused soldiers of menacing residents at gunpoint. (La Jornada, Aug. 29)

In Chicontepec, Veracruz, members of the "Other Campaign in la Huasteca" activist network issued a statement Aug. 31 protesting the "disappearance" of three of the 10 Nahua campesinos detained at a June land occupation and since freed pending charges against them. All ten had gone to a local federal courthouse to check in and sign documents as a condition of their release, and three never returned. The others said they had been detained at the courthouse by elements of the Federal Agency of Investigation (AFI), and are presumably being held at the federal prison at Tuxpan. However, authorities deny any record of their arrest. (La Jornada, Sept. 1)

On Aug. 29, the Tzotzil Maya community of Ejido 28 de Junio in the municipality of Venustiano Carranza, Chiapas, was occupied by troops of the Mexican federal army, who arrived in two trucks and four armed personnel carriers. Establishing checkpoints at the entrances to the community, the troops then spread out through the streets and surrounding fields, questioning residents about the supposed presence of Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) guerillas. Helicopters conducted overflights, searching for a supposed EPR training camp.

From AP, Aug. 28:

Mexico has broken its record for the most extraditions to the United States in a year, shipping a man north of the border Tuesday who is wanted in Georgia for drug trafficking. Hilario Larrago, who faces methamphetamine trafficking charges, is the 64th fugitive sent to the United States by Mexico this year. Last year, Mexico sent 63 suspects to the United States, U.S. Ambassador in Mexico Tony Garza said in a statement.

The self-declared "autonomous municipality" of San Juan Copala and the Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) announced they will hold a national meeting of autonomous municipalities, to take place at the indigenous mountain village September 15-16. APPO also said they will send representatives to the Zapatista Encuentro of the Peoples of America, a summit on indigenous rights to be held at the Yaqui village of Vicam in Sonora state Oct. 11-14. (La Jornada, Aug. 17)

The president of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (CIDH), Florentín Meléndez, interviewed the brothers Flavio and Horacio Sosa Villavicencio, leaders of the Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO), at the maximum security prison of Altilplano, in the state of Mexico, Aug. 8. From there, the CIDH chief traveled to Oaxaca on a fact-finding mission. (La Jornada, Aug. 9) The following day, in Oaxaca City, he issued a statement calling on Gov. Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and Mexican President Felipe Calderón to address the human rights crisis in the state, in compliance with international norms and Mexico's own stated policies. (El Universal, Aug. 10)