On May 13 unknown persons riding a motorcycle shot and killed Julio Cesar Molina, a leader of refugees from Colombia's internal conflicts who were displaced to the rural zone of Ansermanueva in the southwestern department of Valle del Cauca. On May 16 the Bogotá office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights condemned Molina's murder and expressed concern for other refugee leaders in the area. The agencies indicated that Molina's killing was "connected to his reports on the misuse of lands taken from narco traffickers and turned over to displaced persons. It is also feared that there was a connection with his work training victims about their right to reparations."

Bogotá May 18 rejected charges from Venezuela that 60 Colombian soldiers had entered its territory in what Caracas called a provocation aimed at destabilizing the region. "There has been no incursion," Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told local radio, saying a river in the area (the Arauca) would have prevented troops crossing. "It would have been practically impossible for it to happen as they say." But Venezuelan Information Minister Andrés Izarra said he had photos and other "graphic materials" that prove the incursion took place.

Ciudad Juárez Public Safety Director Guillermo Prieto submitted his resignation following a string of killings that included some of his top officers. AP May 18 cites a city spokesman saying Prieto would be replaced by a military officer on leave from the armed forces. The local El Diario cites Mayor José Reyes Ferriz saying the new police chief will be a retired military officer. Neither source named the new appointee.

Lebanon's polarized politicians appealed to Qatar May 17 to come up with a proposal on the question of Hezbollah's weapons during Arab-brokered talks in Doha. 65 people were killed in nearly a week of fighting, in which Hezbollah and its allies temporarily took control of a large part of west Beirut. (AFP, May 17) BBC's Jim Muir reports from Beirut May 16 that the violence already reached the level of civil war:

Ramallah: black balloons commemorate NakbaIsrael is demanding that the UN strike the word "Nakba" from its lexicon after an official statement released by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made specific reference to the Arab word meaning catastrophe—especially in reference to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their lands with Israel's inception in 1948. Israeli Radio quoted a Ban spokesperson as saying the secretary-general "phoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to stress his support for the Palestinian people on Nakba Day." Danny Carmon, Israel's deputy ambassador to the UN, told the radio that the term "Nakba is a tool of Arab propaganda used to undermine the legitimacy of the establishment of the State of Israel, and it must not be part of the lexicon of the UN."

May 5 marked the beginning of an intended thirty-day strike, with public transport workers and truckers in Nicaragua protesting rising fuel costs and the lack of government impetus to do anything about it. With road blockades in several places in Managua and almost no public intercity transport allowed whatsoever, Nicaragua is at an effective standstill. Containers full of goods sit stalled on the sides of highways, and even sports teams have canceled weekend matches. When baseball is put on hold in Nicaragua, you know it is serious.

Fifty environmental activists protested Barrick Gold's controversial Pascua Lama gold mine in Chile on May 8. The event went unnoticed by Chile's mainline media—La Tercera and El Mercurio—but was reported in La Nacion, the state-owned daily. The demonstration coincided with Barrick's shareholders meeting in Toronto, Canada, and with Barrick's 25th anniversary as a company officially traded on the Toronto stock market. The Santiago demonstrators celebrated the company's anniversary with a birthday cake of their own, and large bags of ice to represent the glaciers that will allegedly be destroyed by the project. Several of the demonstrators also dressed in black plastic bags to give homage to the 15 individuals related to the project who have died since it first was proposed almost 20 years ago.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) declared itself in opposition to the government of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on May 12. The CONAIE accused the president of continuing right-wing neoliberal economic and racist social policies. The harsh condemnation focused on Correa´s opposition to two key demands: the recognition of Ecuador as a plurinational state in the new constitution and the requirement that communities must offer prior consent before large-scale mining and other major extractive projects take place.