As of June 6 Mexican authorities had still not arrested four suspects in the May 15 murder of environmental activist Aldo Zamora, despite pressure from Greenpeace Mexico, human rights groups and federal legislators. Four assailants ambushed Zamora and his 16-year-old brother Misael Zamora around 6:30 pm as they were driving in Santa Lucia, Ocuilan municipality, in Mexico state, killing Aldo and wounding Misael. Misael was able to identify two of the killers as people who had been engaged in illegal woodcutting in the area.

Erick Sosa Villavicencio, a leader of the protest movement in Oaxaca, was freed at dawn on June 9 from the Federal Center of Social Readaption in the Mexican border city of Matamoros. The brother of Flavio Sosa Villavicencio, director of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), Erick was arrested last Nov. 28 and charged with "illegal deprivation of liberty." He was freed for lack of evidence. However, charges of violent robbery were not formally dropped, and he could still be detained again if authorities choose to reactivate the case against him. Insisting all the charges against him were "fabricated," Sosa said, "My only crime is being the brother of Flavio Sosa." His two brothers Flavio and Horacio remain at the Federal Center of Social Readaption in Altiplano, México state. (La Jornada, June 10)

The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba) in Chiapas reports that it has received a document prepared by the Mexican government for the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (CIDH) concerning the November 13, 2006 slaying of four peasants at the jungle community of Viejo Velasco Suárez. The document acknowledges that some 300 Chiapas state police were mobilized to Viejo Velasco on the day of the massacre. While the document fails to make clear whether the troops were dispatched before or after the attack, Frayba says this corroborates the claims of witnesses that the killers—a band of 40 masked men in civilian clothes—were backed up by hundreds of uniformed men with high-caliber rifles, some also wearing masks, who followed close behind. (Frayba, June 5)

The government of Mexican President Felipe Calderón has issued a formal request to the US Congress for a huge increase in military aid to combat narco-gangs. The request came in a recent US-Mexico Inter-Parliamentary Meeting held in Austin, TX, and was revealed to the Mexican daily La Jornada by Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), leader of the House Intelligence Committee. La Jornada called the request a "Plan Colombia" for Mexico, although without an actual US military troop presence. (La Jornada, June 8)

Teachers from the National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE) clashed with capital police and elite Federal Preventative Police at blockades of the federal Government Ministry and the central offices of the national TV network Televisa in Mexico City May 31. The blockades were called to protest the reform now pending in Mexico's Congress of the State Workers Social Services and Security Institute (ISSSTE). Televisa was chosen as a target because the CNTE says its reportage has mis-represented their cause, and to demand that their statements be given air time. The protesters also demanded the nationalization of Televisa as well a halt to the proposed semi-privatization of the ISSSTE.

Mexican Peasants Resist Land Grab for Hydro Dam

from SIPAZ

Mexico's National Tourism Development Fund (Fonatur) has announced a new mega-complex to be built in the conflicted southern state of Chiapas. Centering around the Classic Maya ruins of Palenque, the complex will include an 8,000-room hotel, theme park and golf course. It will cover 58,490 hectares in the municipalities of Palenque, Catazajá, Chilón, Ocosingo, Salto del Agua and Tumbalá. Slated for completion in 2012, authorites say it will require the relocation of several local communities. (La Jornada, May 27) Meanwhile, the Federal Agency of Investigation (AFI) and Chiapas state police carried out raids of several houses and ranches in Palenque May 28. The raids came following an ambush of a patrol from the Chiapas State Agency of Investigation (AEI) just one block from Palenque's town plaza. The presumed sicarios (hired assassins) opened fire on the agents with AR-15 rifles from two cars, leaving one dead and two wounded. (APRO, May 29)

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) turned in its final report on last year's unrest in Oaxaca May 24, blaming both authorities and protesters for "excesses," and urging the government to investigate its finding that federal police tortured detainees. The independent governmental commission also blamed the government for not intervening to stop the crisis before it escalated to bloodshed. CNDH president José Luis Soberanes said the administration of then-President Vicente Fox had "unjustifiably delayed, for more than a month and a half, in complying with its constitutional duty to help restore order and peace in Oaxaca."