[By Survival International]

Indians from the tiny Awá tribe will stage a three day protest in the Brazilian Amazon from August 1st to 3rd, to prove that they exist and to demand that their land be protected from invasion.

The event, named ‘We Exist: Land and Life for the Awá Hunter-Gatherers’, has been organized by Brazilian indigenous rights organization (CIMI) the local Catholic church and several indigenous groups.

Around 100 Awá Indians are expected to participate in the protest. For most, it will be the first time they have left their forest home. The protest will take place in Ze Doca, a town near the Awá’s land in Maranhão state in the eastern Amazon. It is in response to remarks by the local mayor’s office denying that the Awá exist.

The Awá are one of only two nomadic hunter gatherers tribes remaining in Brazil. More than 60 Awá have no contact with outsiders and are in grave danger from illegal loggers. Although Awá lands have been legally recognized, the Indians are being targeted by loggers, who are bulldozing roads into the forests, and by settlers, who hunt the game the Awá rely on, exposing the Indians to disease and violence.

A federal judge ruled in June 2009 that all invaders must leave the Awá territory within 180 days. However, the ruling has since been suspended, and deforestation and invasions are increasing.

Stephen Corry, Director of Survival, said today, ‘Denying the existence of indigenous peoples is self-fulfilling and belongs to the colonial past. It’s also a crime: deny they exist and they won’t exist, they’ll disappear like so many Brazilian tribes before them. If Brazil wants to be viewed as a leading nation, the authorities must no longer tolerate violations like this.’

As the home of the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar, the city of Medellín, Colombia, used to be one of the most violent places in the world. Today, the cells and grounds of its Bellavista prison are largely populated with people who grew up in and around the city. It's an intimidating place, to say the least, yet as is evident in the images of Vance Jacobs's photographic series "Colombian Prison: A View from the Inside," even within the confines of prison walls can the beauty of the human spirit be observed. On the invitation of the Centro Colombo Americano, an English language school for Colombians in Medellín, Jacobs ventured to the Bellavista prison with an inspired assignment: to teach documentary photography to eight inmates in one week.

A federal judge's decision barring police in Arizona from demanding immigration documents from people they suspect of being in the country illegally was a dramatic victory for the Obama administration and civil rights groups that may be hard to overturn, at least in the short run. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix issued an injunction blocking Arizona from implementing the heart of its new immigration law Wednesday, less than 24 hours before it was to have taken effect, and endorsed the administration's argument that the state would be interfering with the federal government's enforcement of immigration laws. The law's key provision would require local police to ask for proof of legal residency from people they stop for other reasons and reasonably suspect of being here illegally. Those detained would have stayed in custody until their legal status was verified. Houston Chronicle: Legal fight begins over Arizona immigration law. USA Today: Mexico braces for effects of Arizona immigration law.

[Editor's Comment:] The Right see the immigrants as foreigners. The Left see them as people. The conspiracy theorists see them as pawns. We think all of these groups may have a point. We would like to add though, that ultimately there's no such thing as the "integrity" of the United States. This is a figment of fantasy pushed by special interest. Arizona is a temporary political unit built upon land stolen from another temporary unit, Mexico. The latter ultimately wants it back; the former wants to have its cake and eat it. -Something's gotta give.

Guards at a prison in Durango state are accused of lending the inmates weapons and vehicles to commit the murders in neighbouring Coahuila state before returning them to their cells. The same group of prisoners are thought to have carried out other killings. The prison director and at least two other officers are under investigation. The killings in the city of Torreon in Coahuila state were traced to Gomez Palacios prison in neighbouring Durango state through bullets found at the crime scene, which matched assault rifles assigned to the guards, attorney-general's office spokesman Ricardo Najera said. "They were allowed out of prison to kill using the weapons of the guards and travelling in official vehicles" he said.

The Peruvian government has declared a state of emergency in more than half the country due to cold weather. Most of the areas affected are in the south, where temperatures regularly drop below zero centigrade at this time of year. However, this time temperatures have dropped to as low as -24C. The state of emergency means regional authorities can dip into emergency funds to provide medicine, blankets and shelter to those most affected.

More than a week of abnormal cold has chilled Argentina and other parts of South America, leaving rare snow, rewriting record books and causing hypothermia deaths. The outbreak began more than one week ago with biting winds out of Antarctica chilling southernmost Chile and Argentina, a land known as Patagonia. The cold outbreak set up the Andean region for deep snow. In the Chilean district of Aysen, the snowstorm was said to be worst in 30 years and left more than 2 feet of snow on the ground at both Coihaique and Balmaceda. According to a meteorologist at MetSul, a weather service in southern Brazil, snow accumulation to 5 feet was reported from Balmaceda. The Army were called upon to rescue people trapped by the snow. Snow spread northward in Argentina along the eastern side of the Andes. Mendoza, a region known for its wine, not snow, had snow said to be the heaviest in a decade. Rare snow whitened the resort beaches of Mar del Plata on the morning of July 15. Snow was seen for the first time in living memory in parts of Santiago del Estero, the MetSul meteorologist said. In the far north, one town of Tucuman had snow for the first time since 1921. In all, nearly every province of Argentina experienced at least a little snow, an unusual event.

Argentina is suffering from some unusually cold weather. In fact, snow fell in over half the provinces on Friday. Snow in July? Well, that's the case for Argentina this week. It is winter in the southern hemisphere. An arctic air mass is hovering over the middle of the country, bringing frigid temperatures and leaving snow on the ground. In Cordoba, north and east of the capital, roads and homes were blanketed in white, making driving conditions trecherous, but exciting children with the rare snowfall. Local newspapers reported that the temperature plunged to -1.5°C in Buenos Aires, on Friday -- making it the coolest day in a decade for the capital. Even the beaches saw white powder. The coastal resort city Mar del Plata was blanketed by snow for two days straight.

After conducting its successful coup d’etat in Honduras against President Manuel Zelaya, the imperialistic Barack Obama administration is now bent on ousting Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega by massing a huge U.S. Coast Guard and Marine Corps presence in neighboring Costa Rica, a base of operations for Reagan administration-backed CIA operations in the 1980s in support of the Nicaraguan contras. Costa Rican government officials, including President Laura Chinchilla, Vice President Luis Lieberman Ginsburg, Security Minister Jose Maria Tijerino, counter-narcotics Commissioner Mauricio Boraschi, and the Costa Rican Congress agreed to Operation Joint Patrol, which will see 7,000 US Marines, 46 mainly U.S. Coast Guard vessels, and 200 helicopters and 10 combat aircraft descend on Costa Rica, which does not have a military force, from July 1 to December 31. At a time when the Coast Guard vessels could be used to assist in the clean-up of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, they will be used in an operation widely believed to be targeting the Sandinista government of Nicaragua, which incurred the ire of Israel and its Zionist ally in San Jose, Costa Rica, Vice President Lieberman, by severing relations with the Tel Aviv regime over the Israeli attack on the Gaza aid flotilla.

A scene in Haiti shortly after the earthquake this year

Six months after an earthquake destroyed much of Haiti and killed more than 300,000 people, little has been done for the survivors. The promises by the United Nations and the major powers, particularly the United States, have produced only a trickle of aid. Of the billions promised at a series of conferences, amid much media publicity, only 2 percent has actually been delivered.

The scale of the devastation produced by the worst natural disaster of the twenty-first century still staggers the imagination. The death toll was at least 300,000, and by some estimates nearly 500,000, out of a total population of 8 million—the worst disaster, in terms of the proportion of the population, in modern history. The equivalent in a country the size of the United States would be a death toll of 10 to 20 million. Virtually all the deaths were caused by the collapse of homes and other buildings in Haiti’s urban centers, particularly the overcrowded slums of Port-au-Prince, the capital city. Some 188,000 homes were damaged, according to one survey, of which 105,000 were completely destroyed, along with 1,300 schools, 50 hospitals, the presidential palace, the parliament building and the port of Port-au-Prince.

An estimated 25 million cubic meters of rubble, much of it concrete and steel rods, remains the principal physical obstacle to both reconstruction and everyday life. Less than 5 percent has been removed since the quake, and debris continues to block streets and roads and fills up much of the land surface of the shantytowns that once surrounded Port-au-Prince. BBC: Audio slideshow: Living in the rubble.

[This article is part of a cover story package on the plight of the stateless in the July 5 issue of The Christian Science Monitor weekly magazine.] The victims of shifting borders, politics, or the happenstance of birthplace, the world's 12 million stateless people and their need to become a citizen are rising on the international human rights agenda. Until she graduated from high school, Sonia Camilise never had reason to question her nationality. She was born here in the Dominican Republic and grew up speaking Spanish, dancing merengue, and watching the boys play baseball in the grassy lot outside her family's small house. "I am Dominican," she says. "Of course." But two years ago, when she went to get a certified copy of her birth certificate – a necessary part of the college application process here – she discovered that her government had a different perspective. The civil registry officers told her that she was not Dominican, but Haitian.

Brazilian authorities rescued more than 4,500 slaves from captivity last year, carrying out a record number of raids on remote ranches and plantations, according to figures released this week by the country's work ministry. The government said its anti-slavery taskforce, a roaming unit designed to crack down on modern-day slavery, had freed 4,634 workers from slave-like conditions in 2008. The taskforce, which often works with armed members of the federal police, said it had undertaken 133 missions and visited 255 different farms in 2008. The ministry said former slaves had been paid £2.4m in compensation. Brazil officially abolished slavery in 1888 but activists believe thousands of impoverished Brazilians are still being lured into debt slavery.

VENEZUELA WATCH OUT: Militaryless, democratic, non-conflict-having Costa Rica is the new front in the United States’ War on Inanimate Objects. The country’s national assembly has given the OK for a veritable US invasion force to enter Costa Rican territory: 7,000 marines on 46 warships, including the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship the USS Makin Island. La Nación quotes a document from the US Embassy that states that, “The US personnel in Costa Rica will be able to enjoy freedom of movement and the right to carry out the activities that they consider necessary to complete their mission.” Well isn’t that just permissively vague. [How can a country be so shockingly spineless, so...amoebic?

Just before sunset on April 10, 2006, a DC-9 jet landed at the international airport in the port city of Ciudad del Carmen, 500 miles east of Mexico City. As soldiers on the ground approached the plane, the crew tried to shoo them away, saying there was a dangerous oil leak. So the troops grew suspicious and searched the jet. They found 128 black suitcases, packed with 5.7 tons of cocaine, valued at $100 million. The stash was supposed to have been delivered from Caracas to drug traffickers in Toluca, near Mexico City, Mexican prosecutors later found. Law enforcement officials also discovered something else. The smugglers had bought the DC-9 with laundered funds they transferred through two of the biggest banks in the U.S.: Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America Corp., Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its August 2010 issue.

Venezuela's legislature has voted to nationalize 11 oil rigs owned by the US firm Helmerich & Payne. The rigs, located in Monagas, Anzoategui and Zulia states, will be taken over by state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the official news agency AVN said. PDVSA had asked the legislature controlled by supporters of leftist President Hugo Chavez to take over the rigs after the US firm declined to negotiate a new service contract, unlike 32 other foreign firms. The oil giant is South America's top oil producer. Since 2007 Caracas has nationalized companies in industries from oil to utilities, to telecoms, cement, steel and banking.

Venezuela's government has seized control of 11 oil rigs owned by U.S. driller Helmerich & Payne, which shut them down because the state oil company was behind on payments. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez announced that Venezuela would nationalize the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company's rigs. He said in a statement Wednesday that Helmerich & Payne had rejected government demands to resume drilling operations for more than a year. Helmerich & Payne announced in January 2009 that it was stopping operations on two of its drilling rigs, because Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA, owed the company close to $100 million. It said it would shut down the rest of its rigs by the end of July as contracts expired unless PDVSA began to make good on its debts.

The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it will station an aerial drone in Texas as part of its stepped-up surveillance of criminal trafficking along the Mexican border. Unmanned aircraft are used routinely in Iraq and Afghanistan and also patrol much of the Arizona border, using sensors to pinpoint trafficking activity. The vehicle being stationed in Texas has the ability to fly for 20 hours. It will arrive at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi this summer.

Haitian Farmers Commit to Burning Monsanto Hybrid Seeds: The entry of Monsanto seeds into Haiti is "a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds ... and on what is left our environment in Haiti." "A new earthquake" is what peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that Monsanto will be donating 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds, some of them treated with highly toxic pesticides. The MPP has committed to burning Monsanto's seeds, and has called for a march to protest the corporation's presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day.

Mark Weisbrot, CEPR co-director and South of the Border co-writer, responds to Stephen Sackur’s article in The Guardian (also posted on the BBC site): This article is quite prejudiced and could use some journalistic objectivity, even if the author is against President Chávez and everything he stands for. I was there for the interview, and saw Chávez respond with concrete answers, some that would be quite convincing to a neutral observer, but I do not see any of these points included. It seems that the author included only rhetorical points that Chávez made about capitalism, etc., rather than trying to allow the reader to hear the other side of the story. We can only hope that the televised interview does not selectively edit for the same effect. It is possible to write an article that is highly critical of Chávez – if that is the author’s intention – without so much exaggeration, and misleading or inaccurate statements. Below is the original article with comments pointing out some of the most glaring examples.

The following is the statement by Brazil, a UN Security Council member, read to the council yesterday, strongly opposing the new sanctions resolution against Iran. The resolution was adopted today under the pressure of the US, UK and France. Turkey and Brazil voted against and Lebanon abstained.

A television station has aired video footage that it claims shows a US border patrol agent shooting dead a 15-year-old Mexican boy. The incident, which happened on Monday, sparked public outcry in Mexico and strained diplomatic relations between the neighbouring countries. Schoolboy Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereka died after the US agent opened fire from the El Paso, Texas, side of the border. Now the mobile phone footage - which was shown on Univision, a Spanish language television network in the US - has further enraged Mexican opinion. It apparently shows the officer firing three shots towards Mexico before it zooms in on what appears to be a body under a bridge. AWIP: Border Patrol bears increased criticism over death.

Amnesty International has joined the ranks of those criticizing the U.S. Border Patrol, calling for a "full, impartial and transparent investigation" into a shooting this week that left a 15-year-old Mexican boy dead. "This shooting across the border appears to have been a grossly disproportionate response and flies in the face of international standards which compel police to use firearms only as a last resort, in response to an immediate, deadly threat that cannot be contained through lesser means," said Susan Lee, Americas director at Amnesty International, in a statement Wednesday on the organization's website.

The Mexican government also has requested a quick and public investigation into the fatal shooting at the border between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Monday night. The teen was shot during a rock-throwing incident, Mexican and U.S. officials said. On Wednesday, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the United States will ensure a thorough investigation. "We pledge that (the) investigation will be fully transparent," he said. "We understand the concern that they have about not just this incident, but multiple incidents where we've had tragic loss of life at the border," Crowley added. A long-term solution to avoid these kind of incidents would be the passage of comprehensive immigration reform, he said. Yahoo: Mexico condemns Border Patrol shooting of teen. Time Magazine: After Teen's Death, a Border Intifadah?

The stage was set for a news conference: two chairs and two microphones on a table in the ornate neo-Baroque Salon Dorado of the presidential palace; two flags, of the United States and Peru. And a gaggle of reporters and photographers stood ready, armed with their questions. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walked into the hall with Peruvian President Alan Garcia and sat down on the chair in front of the American flag, a blue folder of prepared remarks in front of her. But Garcia remained standing at the side of table. He made a lengthy statement in Spanish. And then he walked briskly out of the room, leaving Clinton by herself.

Mexican police say 55 bodies have been recovered from an abandoned mine that appears to have been used as a mass grave by drugs gangs. Human remains were first discovered in the silver mine near Taxco in Guerrero state at the end of May. The bodies appeared to have been thrown down a 200m (650ft) ventilation shaft over a period of time, police said. Earlier reports that 77 bodies had been recovered were mistaken, officials said. Only six have so far been identified - one was the director of a local prison.

As Israel is facing mounting pressure and condemnation over its deadly attack on a Gaza aid convoy, Turkey warns of cutting ties with Israel. "Israel is faced with the danger of losing its sole friend in the region and the greatest contributor so far to regional peace," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told US President Barack Obama in a one-hour telephone conversation. "The steps that it (Israel) will undertake in the coming days will be determining for its position in the region," the prime minister was quoted in a statement released by his office on Wednesday. PressTV: Nicaragua suspends ties with Israel.

Guatemala City: Flooding and landslides from the season's first tropical storm have killed at least 142 people and left thousands homeless in Central America, officials have said. Dozens of people are still missing and emergency crews are struggling to reach isolated communities cut off by washed-out roads and collapsed bridges caused by Tropical Storm Agatha. The sun emerged on Monday in hardest-hit Guatemala, where officials reported 118 dead and 53 missing. In the department of Chimaltenango - a province west of Guatemala City landslides buried dozens of rural Indian communities and killed at least 60 people, Gov Erick de Leon said. CNN: Tropical storm leaves more than 115 dead in Central America [PHOTOS]. ABC News: Massive sinkhole swallows city building.

October 12, 2001: Two men posing as press photographers, one of them a former Israeli Colonel and Mossad agent, were arrested INSIDE the Mexican congress on October 10, 2001 armed with 9-mm pistols, nine grenades, explosives, three detonators, and 58 bullets.

At least 73 people died this week as Jamaican security forces stormed a Kingston slum and battled armed supporters of an alleged drug lord wanted for extradition to the United States, police said on Thursday. Residents complained of abuse and rights groups questioned whether police and soldiers had used excessive and indiscriminate force. Most deaths occurred during an assault by police and army troops on Tivoli Gardens, a volatile Kingston slum and bastion of support for suspected drug kingpin Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, Deputy Police Commissioner Glenmore Hinds told reporters. Coke was still at large. Tension gripped the upper middle class community of Kirkland Heights early on Thursday when word came that he was hiding there in a house owned by a friend.

One of the items on the agenda of the talks is Iran's nuclear issue. Speaking at a business conference in Sao Paulo on Wednesday, Erdogan stated that Turkey and Brazil have the courage to tackle the issue that is "making the international community very uncomfortable." Erdogan was referring to the Tehran nuclear declaration, which has been strongly supported by Turkey and Brazil as the solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program. The declaration, signed by the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil in the Iranian capital on May 17, commits Tehran to deposit 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of its low-enriched uranium in Turkey that would be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment. Erdogan's visit to Brazil is the first by a Turkish prime minister. His Latin American tour will also take him to Argentina and Chile. PressTV: Brazil writes to Western leaders on Iran.

Besides being a very unhealthy beverage, Coca-Cola has another dirty secret; the Coca-Cola Company has been involved in some kidnappings involving union leaders and organizers at its Colombia bottling facilities. Many of those kidnapped have been severely tortured and even murdered by company thugs.

On April 15, the Haitian Parliament ratified a law extending by 18 months the state of emergency that President René Préval declared after the earthquake of January 12. The Parliament also formally ceded its powers over finances and reconstruction, during the state of emergency, to a foreign-led Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti (CIRH). The CIRH's mandate is to direct the post-earthquake reconstruction of Haiti through the $9.9 billion in pledges of international aid, including approving policies, projects, and budgeting. The World Bank will manage the money.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has warned the UN Security Council against imposing new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. Lula urged the Security Council to show willingness to negotiate with Tehran in response to the nuclear declaration that was signed in the Iranian capital on Monday. "It depends on the UN Security Council to sit down with a willingness to negotiate, because if it feels it does not want to negotiate, everything will be put back," he told a business conference in Madrid on Wednesday. Lula was commenting on a draft UN resolution introduced by the United States on Tuesday that would slap tough new sanctions on Iran.

PressTV: No chance for new Iran sanctions: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says Tehran's recent nuclear declaration has left no chance for new sanctions to be imposed on Iran. "We don't take the developments in New York seriously because countries that support the resolution are in a minority," Mottaki stated, referring to a draft UN Security Council resolution that was introduced by the United States on Tuesday with the aim of putting more pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

Turkish PM Questions Security Council Credibility. After declaring the Turko-Brazilian diplomatic push with Iran the “last chance” to settle the Western dispute with Iran without sanctions, the US did an end-around of the diplomatic process today, announcing that they had made a deal to sanction Iran even though a deal had been successfully reached in the talks. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan: [said that] the move seriously damaged the credibility of the UN Security Council, particularly as its permanent members are all armed with nuclear weapons while seeking to punish Iran for its purely civilian program. PressTV: Brazil wants Iran sanctions dropped. RTT News: Russia Warns US, EU Against Unilateral Sanctions On Iran.

Tehran has agreed to a draft proposal whereby Iran will ship its domestic low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for 20 percent enriched uranium in return. After several hours of intense negotiations on Monday, the trilateral meeting between Iran, Brazil and Turkey ends with Tehran agreeing to send some 1,200 kilograms of its 3.5 percent enriched uranium over to Turkey in exchange for a total of 120 kilogram of 20 percent enriched uranium, Press TV reported. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki read the ten-point detailed declaration on the nuclear swap deal at a press conference held in the Iranian capital Tehran. AWIP: Turkey, Brazil seal deal on Iran nuclear fuel swap.

Turkey said on Sunday Iran had agreed on a nuclear fuel swap deal which could help end Tehran's stand-off with the West over its atomic programme. Full details of the agreement were not immediately released by Turkish and Brazilian officials mediating in Iran's dispute with leading world powers, who suspect Tehran of covertly developing a nuclear bomb. Turkey's foreign ministry said a formal announcement might be made on Monday after any final revisions by the Brazilian and Iranian presidents and the Turkish prime minister. "Yes, it has been reached after almost 18 hours of negotiations," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Tehran when asked if there would be an agreement. HuffPo: Iran & Turkey Agree To Uranium Swap In Nuclear Deal.

Mexican Head of Political Party PAN tweets that ex Presidential Candidate Diego Fernandez de C's body has been found in a military camp (translated)

ANTONIO GONZALEZ is, ironically enough, delighted with Arizona’s new law against illegal immigration. He is president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), which works to mobilise American Latinos as a political force. Its motto is su voto es su voz, your vote is your voice. The Latino movement usually grows by spurts in response to xenophobic overreactions by conservative America, and the Arizona law may be the biggest overreaction yet, according to Mr Gonzalez. It has “done more to organise our community than we could have done” and made it “the most vibrant social movement in America today, 100 times larger than the tea-party movement.”

Communist Leader Says Oil Disaster Proves Governments Are Too Weak to Prevent Large Companies From Controlling Our Destiny Fidel Castro says the spreading oil slick fouling the Gulf of Mexico is proof that the world's most powerful governments cannot control large corporations that now dictate the public's destiny. Officials are rushing to seal an underwater oil gusher triggered after a deep-water rig operated by BP PLC exploded and sank on April 20, killing 11 people. It still is unclear whether some of the 3 million gallons of spilled crude could eventually reach Cuba's shores - though government scientists have appeared on state television to say the island is not immediately at risk.

Police in Mexico's Guerrero state are investigating the killings of five men found decapitated near the resort town of Acapulco, authorities said Saturday. The men were between 20 and 30 years old and were found in a car in the region of Costa Grande in the subdivision of Tamarindo, less than 3 miles from Acapulco, Guerrero state police officer Jorge Tellez told CNN. All five showed signs of torture and their bodies were riddled with bullets, police said. Three of the men were killed Friday, investigators said. They did not know when the other two died. AWIP/Mike Whitney: Is the CIA behind Mexico's Bloody Drug War?

One of the oil and gas companies currently drilling off the coast of the Falkland Islands says it may have struck oil. Rockhopper Exploration said that initial data collected from one well "indicated an oil discovery". The find would be the first in North Falkland Basin, the area north of the islands currently being explored. Earlier this year, another exploration company, Desire Petroleum, said its drilling programme had disappointed. It is currently drilling further wells after it decided to abandon its first oil well. UK-based Rockhopper said further tests now needed to be carried out on the well. "We are extremely excited by the results of this well," said Samuel Moody, managing director of Rockhopper. TimesOnline: Argentina denounces British ‘pirates’ after oil discovery in Falklands waters.

Yesterday I visited the little coastal town of Dichato. A few months ago, such a trip might have included a bare-footed wade along the town’s tranquil beach, and, depending on the time of day, could have included a friendly wave or greater interaction with some of the smiling local fishermen bringing in their hauls. Afterwards I might have had a nice meal at one of the sun-drenched seaside restaurants or a coffee break in one of the town’s modest cafes, frequented by sea-loving tourists from near and far. It’s the kind of place many could envision themselves retiring in, or where you might establish a small business to accommodate a more leisurely lifestyle choice. Framed by green hills and groves, lined by a long sandy beach, and embraced by a beautiful natural cove that passively calms the restless South Pacific ocean, Dichato was, simply put, a very nice place to be.

A solidarity caravan travelling to the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala in the Triqui Region of Oaxaca has been attacked by UBISORT paramilitaries. Two are confirmed dead, with at least 15 injured and three missing.

PARIS -- A lawyer for former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega says he is sick and struggling to settle into a French prison, but is in fighting spirits. Noriega, who is in his 70s, spent his first night in Paris' La Sante prison after being extradited from the United States. He was deposed in a U.S. invasion in 1989, then spent 20 years in a Miami prison on drug trafficking charges. He arrived in France on Tuesday to face money laundering charges here.

Everyone is an "Illegal Immigrant" -IMAGE. AntiWar: South of the Border.

Mexico warned its citizens living in or traveling to Arizona that they could be "harassed" there after the state passed one of the toughest immigration laws in the United States last week. Arizona's Republican Governor Jan Brewer signed a bill into law last week that makes it a crime to be in the state illegally and requires police to check the status of people they reasonably suspect to be illegal immigrants. The law, decried by critics as discriminatory, will force immigrants to carry their alien registration documents at all times once it takes effect 90 days after Arizona's current legislative session ends. Mexico's foreign ministry issued a statement saying that Mexicans in Arizona should be aware of the new law and contact their consular representatives if they are unlawfully detained.

The United States has extradited former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega to France, where he faces money-laundering charges. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed Noriega's extradition order on Monday before he was put on a plane to France. Noriega was convicted in absentia in France in 1999 for 'laundering more than three million dollars in drug proceeds.' He faces up to 10 years in prison in France over the charges.

One of Spain's top matadors has been seriously injured in Mexico when a 1,100-pound bull gored him in the groin and hoisted him into the air, causing major blood loss. Jose Tomas received a transfusion of 17 pints of blood after being gored Saturday by a beast named Navegante in the Mexican city of Aguascalientes. The bull's horn penetrated 4 inches into Tomas' groin and punctured a vein and an artery, manager Salvador Boix told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser from Aguascalientes. Tomas, one of Spain's most popular matadors, has a relatively rare blood type – A negative – and bled so profusely that bullring officials appealed over the arena loudspeakers for compatible donors to come forward for transfusions, Boix said.

Argentina's last dictator has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for torture and kidnappings committed during the nation's 1976 to 1983 military regime. Reynaldo Bignone, 82, was convicted along with five other former military officers on 56 charges involving torture, illegal detentions and other crimes in one of Argentina's largest torture centers, the Campo de Mayo military base. Human rights groups say that of the 4,000 dissidents taken there, only about 50 emerged alive. The army-run base had a clandestine maternity centre where dissidents gave birth only to have officials take their babies away to be adopted by military families. The verdict was read out by judge Marta Milloc in an indoor stadium where many of those in attendance were family members of victims, who held up photos of their loved ones. AWIP/Marie Trigona: Memory and Justice: A Photo Essay on Argentina's Human Rights Movement. + Landmark Human Rights Case in Argentina Puts Torture on Trial.

A bombing incident at a U.S. consulate in Mexico received very little news media attention and absolutely no response from President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Attorney General Eric Holder.

As secretary of state, Henry Kissinger canceled a U.S. warning against carrying out international political assassinations that was to have gone to Chile and two neighboring nations just days before a former ambassador was killed by Chilean agents on Washington's Embassy Row in 1976, a newly released State Department cable shows. Discovered in recent weeks by the National Security Archive, a non-profit research organization, the Sept. 16, 1976 cable is among tens of thousands of declassified State Department documents recently made available to the public. Based on information from the CIA, the U.S. State Department became concerned that Condor included plans for political assassination around the world. The State Department drafted a plan to deliver a stern message to the three governments not to engage in such murders. Prison Planet: Kissinger Effectively Gave Go-Ahead for Terrorist Attack on US Soil in 1976.

Chris Floyd: Home Free: No Worries for Dr K as Complicity is Revealed:

Poor old Henry Kissinger. All that botheration, all those lies, all the years of gut-churning anxiety about scandal, even prosecution -- and for what? Mere complicity in state murder of foreigners carried out by a foreign government? Why, nowadays, we have U.S. presidents openly ordering the murder of American citizens, and nobody bats an eye. There is no scandal, no prosecution -- there is not even any debate. It's just a fact of life, ordinary, normal, unchangeable: the sun rises in the east, cows eat grass, rain is wet, American presidents murder people. What's the big deal? Anyway, thank God good old Hank is still with us, and that this honorable public servant has lived to see the day when honorable public servants (and so are they all, all honorable public servants) no longer have to worry about the petty snares of law as they go about their sacred duty of keeping us safe.

Rodrigo de Almeira had dug for 15 hours through mud and debris, and he looked like it. Auburn mud covered his head, his ripped shirt, his torn jeans and his rubber sandals. When asked yesterday if he had been able to save anyone from the massive landslide in the slum where he lives, he silently shook his head. Of the 145 people confirmed dead from Rio de Janeiro's heaviest rains on record, at least 18 died in his shantytown, Pleasure Hill. "Right there at least 15 people I know died," Almeira said, staring at a massive mound of mud and debris.

Fruit importer Chiquita Brands International "knowingly provided material support to a terrorist organization" by paying protection money and providing weapons to a Colombian rebel group, a lawsuit filed in a Florida court this week alleges. Three US citizens who survived a five-year hostage ordeal at the hands of Colombia's notorious FARC paramilitary group, along with the family of a fourth man who was killed by FARC rebels, say Chiquita owes them damages because it paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to FARC for a decade beginning in 1989.

In this video, you’ll hear Chip discuss his involvement in Operation Red Rock, Task Force 160 and OSG2. Hear him reveal the names of high profile officials who were integrally involved in these CIA covert killing sprees and/or narco-trafficking, directly or indirectly: Oliver “Ollie” North, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

You’ll learn from an “insider” about outrageous U.S. government felony crime and corruption and the impending New World Order destruction of America. You’ll hear his amazing insight concerning the Nixon Administration and the dirty politics of the Vietnam War.

This is the last interview prior to his sudden disappearance in 1998. LATEST UPDATE: Chip’s tortured body was reported to have washed up on a beach in Panama in early 2007.

Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush met with survivors in Haiti Monday. At about 45 seconds into the video, Bush appears to wipe his hand on Clintons shirt after shaking the hands of survivors. Daily Mail: Caught on camera: Did George Bush shake hands with a Haitian man - then wipe his hand on Bill Clinton's shirt?

The release of the report [.pdf] coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21st March. The Guarani suffer high rates of suicide, malnutrition, unfair imprisonment and alcoholism, and are regularly targeted and killed by gunmen hired by the ranchers who have taken over their land. The denial of the Indians’ land rights is singled out in the report as the main cause of this explosive situation. The report warns that the growing demand for ethanol as an alternative to gasoline will take more land from the Guarani and further worsen the situation. Despite living in one of the wealthiest states in one of world’s largest emerging economies, many Guarani live in dire poverty. Some live under tarpaulins on the side of busy highways, others in chronically overcrowded ‘reserves’ where they are reliant on government handouts. One Guarani community living on the roadside, who have seen three of their leaders killed by ranchers’ gunmen, said, ‘We are growing impatient with the excessive delay of land demarcation. It is slowly killing us and exposing us to genocide’.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has dismissed a recent US report accusing Caracas of human rights violations and described the allegations as 'cynical.' Chavez mocked Washington for crediting itself as a role model while it is a country that has launched atomic bombs, killed millions and assassinated presidents.

Second Earthquake Strikes Chile - Magnitude 7.2. USGS data.

When a tsunami crashed into an asylum in Chile, two unlikely heroines, one schizophrenic, the other mentally disabled, formed a team to save their friends' lives. With water up to their necks, they dragged other patients to safety. Boston.com: The Big Picture: Chile, nine days later (41 photos total).

The Brazilian government has announced trade sanctions against a variety of American goods in retaliation for illegal US subsidies to cotton farmers. The World Trade Organization (WTO) approved the sanctions in a rare move.

Anger is mounting in Chile over the inadequacy and indifference that have characterized the government’s response to the earthquake of February 27. The social fault lines exposed by the earthquake have been deepened by decades of “free market” policies, first introduced by the Pinochet dictatorship and continued by subsequent regimes, which have exacerbated the chasm separating Chile’s elite from the majority of the population. Notwithstanding the talk in the US media of rigorous building codes, regulations designed to protect against earthquakes were enforced selectively and on a class basis, i.e., for the homes and businesses of the wealthy, not for the dwellings and neighborhoods of the working class and the poor. The shoddily built homes of the poor collapsed or were washed out to sea, while those of the rich withstood the impact of the quake. AWIP/Comité por una Internacional de Trabajadores: Terremoto en Chile, deja al desnudo la precariedad del estado chileno y del modelo capitalista presentado como muy exitoso.

The devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti threw the country into the international spotlight, and simultaneously highlighted its desperate need for help, even before the disaster. In the weeks and months after the quake, some have begun to question whether the event opens new opportunities for restructuring of Haiti's government and economy, literally from the ground up...AWIP/Stephen Lendman: Haiti's Earthquake: Natural or Engineered. AWIP/Marguerite Laurent: Oil in Haiti – Economic Reasons for the UN/US Occupation.

On March 9 and 10, there will be a Haiti conference in Miami for private military and security companies to showcase their services to governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working in the earthquake-devastated country.

Rescue workers in central Chile are searching for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings, a day after one of the world's most powerful earthquakes struck the South American country. At least 708 people were killed in the 8.8-magnitude earthquakethat rocked the nation early on Saturday, Michelle Bachelet, Chile's outgoing president, said in an address to the nation on Sunday. But officials warned that the toll could rise as rescue workers dig through debris to unearth scores of people believed trapped beneath the rubble. Examiner: Chilean earthquake generated tsunami affects entire Japanese Pacific coastline. + Athlete from Chile stays in Vancouver to represent country in Winter Games closing ceremony. Breitbart: Coastal damage in Chile -VIDEO. Shanghai Daily: Quake, tsunamis kill more than 700 in Chile.

A massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Chile this morning crumbling buildings, destroying bridges and causing an unknown number of deaths. The temblor struck near where the largest earthquake on history was recorded in 1960 and ties as the fifth largest since 1900.

The quake has caused tsunami warnings to be issued for most of the nations along the Pacific including Australia, Japan, Russia, Indonesia and the Philippines. In Hawaii, the tsunami arrived in recent hours and it appears the state will escape relatively unscathed.

In the aftermath, buildings in Chile’s capital of Santiago caught fire sending smoke into the sky. The temblor that shook the ground for nearly a full minute also sent a cloud of dust into the air. Click here for a slideshow of some of the first images after the quake. NASA’s Terra satellite flew over the stricken area today and the agency released ‘before and after’ photos that clearly show the smoke and dust. Al Jazeera: Chile quake leaves hundreds dead -Video. PressTV: Chile's killer quake toll passes 300. Boston.com: Disaster pictures from Chile [The Big Picture set]

Google Person Finder: Chile Earthquake

A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake has struck central Chile, shaking the capital for a minute-and-a-half and setting off a tsunami, which triggered international alerts. Buildings collapsed and phone lines and electricity were down, making the extent of the damage difficult to determine. At least 16 people were killed when the earthquake struck, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet announced. "We have had a huge earthquake," Bachelet said, speaking from an emergency response centre in an appeal for Chileans to remain calm. ABC News: Massive earthquake hits Chile: President Michelle Bachelet said 47 people were killed and that more deaths were possible, as the US government reported aftershocks in Chile measuring 6.2, 5.6 and 6.9. "With the quake of this magnitude, we cannot rule out other casualties," she said. USGS: Magnitude 8.8 - OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE. [Internet Not Working in Chile - all sites with .cl are dead at the moment.] Al Jazeera: Scores killed in Chile earthquake -Video. The AtlanticWire: The Chile Quake: How Bad Will the Damage Be?

A commercial ­dispute breaks out in the South Atlantic. ­Argentina asserts a hoary claim to the Falklands and takes it to the UN. Britain says push off, you must be joking. Nobody takes it ­seriously as war is inconceivable. ­Downing Street is more concerned with domestic unpopularity. That was in March 1982. It was also last week. Then the tabloids greeted Argentina's claim with Stick It Up Your Junta. Now they are equally nuanced, calling the Argentine president, Cristina Kirchner, Queen Argie Bargy and Old Plastic Face. Then it took nine weeks of counter-invasion, with 1,000 deaths and £3bn spent, for Britain to restore the status quo ante. The Falklands war was a catastrophic failure of diplomacy and deterrence. Now, at least, war is unlikely. AWIP: Escalating Falklands oil dispute goes to UN.

American troops will remain in Haiti for the foreseeable future to help the quake-ravaged country get back on its feet, the US ambassador to the Caribbean nation told AFP Thursday. "There are about 6,500 soldiers in Haiti at the moment. There were some 20,000 for the emergency effort launched in the wake of January 12," ambassador Kenneth Merten said. AWIP/Stephen Lendman: Focus on Haiti: Washington's Militarized Takeover. AWIP/Michel Chossudovsky: The Militarization of Emergency Aid to Haiti: Is it a Humanitarian Operation or an Invasion? AWIP/Marguerite Laurent: Oil in Haiti – Economic Reasons for the UN/US Occupation. AWIP/William Bowles: Disasters are Big Business.

Latin America and Caribbean leaders united Tuesday to create a regional bloc excluding Canada and the United States, but its birth was undermined by a spat in which the Colombian president told Venezuela's Hugo Chavez to "be a man." Many of the 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries participating in the summit have long called for a new organization that will not be dominated by the interests of their two wealthy northern neighbors. The Washington-based Organization of American States, the largest diplomatic bloc in the Western Hemisphere, has been heavily influenced by the United States. Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who hosted the summit in a Caribbean resort, said the bloc "will consolidate and globally project a Latin American and Caribbean identity."

The diplomatic row over the Falkland Islands deepened dramatically after Argentina announced that it would take its protests over British oil exploration to the United Nations today. Argentina’s Foreign Minister is to meet the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon. A resolution is also set to be tabled in the UN General Assembly condemning Britain for allowing Ocean Guardian to begin drilling 60 miles north of the islands after Argentina annouced new shipping controls. Desire Petroleum, which is operating the rig, has said that the drilling will take about a month. Further exploration is likely by other companies. People's Daily: Argentines rally against Britain over disputed islands.

Argentinian hackers drew first blood in the latest Falklands stand-off tonight by plastering the country’s flag across the islands’ newspaper website. The computer attack came as a British oil rig was set to begin searching for oil after arriving in the South Atlantic waters from Scotland. The Argentine activists hacked into the English-language Penguin News to post a flag on the home page and an audio recording of the song ‘March of the Malvinas,’ Argentina’s name for the Falklands.

A generation of parents in Buenos Aires can only watch in despair as their sons and daughters are consumed by paco, a lethally cheap drug. A toxic and highly addictive mixture of raw cocaine base cut with chemicals, glue, crushed glass and rat poison, paco is the curse of Argentina's urban poor. And consumption of this bastardised, low-grade drug is eating away at the vitality and hope of the most deprived neighbourhood areas of the capital.

Argentina has taken control of the waters around the Falkland Islands in an escalation of its row with Britain over the disputed territory. The move would effectively grant it the power to blockade the British-ruled archipelago. It comes as relations between the two countries hit a new low earlier this month following the recent discovery of oil reserves buried in the Falklands seabed. TimesOnline: Argentina to blockade Falkland waters in dispute over oil rights.

In response to an environmental lawsuit filed against the oil giant, Chevron has fortified its defenses with at least twelve different public relations firms whose purpose is to debunk the claims made against the company by indigenous people living in the Amazon forests of Ecuador. According to them, Chevron dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste in the Amazon between 1964 and 1990, causing damages assessed at more than $27 billion.

[The] violation of Venezuelan airspace by a P-3 US military combat plane is another example of the escalation in provocations against Venezuela and evidence of the danger US military presence in the region represents. During a live television broadcast on the evening of January 8, President Hugo Chávez revealed that at approximately 12:55pm earlier that day, a US P3 combat plane took off from the air base in neighboring Curaçao and entered Venezuelan airspace during a 15-minute period. Two Venezuelan F-16 planes intercepted the foreign military aircraft, prepared to escort it outside Venezuelan territory. “When the F-16 planes attempted communication with the US aircraft, it immediately took off towards the north, but later it returned”, announced President Chávez. He said that at 1:37pm Venezuelan time, the combat plane returned and flew for about 19 minutes inside Venezuelan territory. “It was escorted out and pressured by our F-16s, we didn’t have to bring in the Sukhois”, added Chávez.