Computers confiscated by US customs agents in Texas at the beginning of July finally arrived in Cuba on Aug. 1 in a cargo of 100 tons of humanitarian aid raised by the New York-based group Pastors for Peace in its 19th US-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan. After collecting the aid in 137 US and Canadian cities during June, the caravan drove into Mexico at the border crossing at McAllen, Texas. US agents let the other material through, including five buses, but confiscated 32 computers. The caravan members took the rest of the aid to Tampico in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas to send it to Cuba by ship; the members themselves then flew to Havana on July 5.

From the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), July 29:

As student groups prepare to commemorate the anniversary of an infamous massacre of students by government forces on July 30, 1975, political violence continues in El Salvador 33 years later. In the last two years, social organizations, human rights monitors, community groups and the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) political party have publically denounced the alarming increase in politically-motivated assassinations of their members and leadership. 2008 has been particularly violent for organized sectors of the population.

Retired Colombian army colonel Guillermo Armando Gordillo confessed to the Fiscalía (attorney general) his participation in the slaying of eight people, including three children, at the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó on Feb. 21, 2005. The Fiscalía said Col. Gordillo was in command of the Bolívar Company, Vélez Battalion, 17th Brigade, which was carrying out a counterinsurgency operation code-named "Fénix" in the area. The massacre was carried out by a "joint command" of Col. Gordillo's troops and paramilitaries, the Fiscalía found. (Radio Caracol, Aug. 2; El Tiempo, Bogotá, Aug. 1)

Raúl Hasbún, alias Pedro Bonito, a banana plantation owner turned paramilitary chieftain, gave preliminary testimony in Medellín about his participation in several massacres, including against the Peace Community [of San José de Apartadó]. Massacres were a practice to ensure control of perceived guerrilla-controlled areas, and were seen as a mean to do business in the Urabá region. In his preliminary testimony on July 23, Hasbún implicated the former Army Fourth Brigade commander, Gen. Alfonso Manosalva Flórez, and said paramilitary meetings occurred at the brigade headquarters. [La FM, Medellín; Semana, Bogotá, July 24]

Two more Colombian paramilitary commanders pleaded guilty July 29 in US federal court to drug conspiracy charges. Ramiro Vanoy Murillo, 60, and Francisco Javier Zuluaga Lindo, 38, entered their pleas before US District Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami. Under a plea agreement, Vanoy Murillo faces up to 19 years and Zuluaga Lindo more than 17 years in prison, as well as up to $4 million each in fines. The Bush administration agreed not to seek life sentences as a precondition of their extradition.

No, it's not a football match. Our July issue featured the story "Shake Djibouti: Eritrea Crisis Destabilizes Imperialism's Horn of Africa Beachhead" by Sarkis Pogossian, on the brief war between the two states in June. Pogossian writes: "While Eritrea increasingly poses itself as an anti-imperialist vanguard in the region, much smaller Djibouti remains a de facto Western protectorate, hosting both French and US military forces for policing the region. Despite a halt in the fighting, the crisis has not been resolved—and France has already jumped into the fray." Our July Exit Poll was: "Are you rooting for Eritrea or Djibouti?" We received the following responses:

Seattle Post-Intelligencer blogger Monica Guzman writes that local voices are calling for the Seattle Critical Mass to be banned following a violent incident at the last ride. For a study in contrasts, let's compare corporate and alternative media accounts of the affair. First this, from AP again via the Post-Intelligencer, July 27:

A glimmer of hope that this has, at least, sparked an outcry—thanks to a tourist with a video-camera, and YouTube. From the New York Times, July 29:

Officer Investigated in Toppling of Cyclist
A New York City police officer was stripped of his gun and badge on Monday after an amateur video surfaced on the Internet showing him pushing a bicyclist to the ground in Times Square during a group ride on Friday evening.