Mexican Federal Preventative Police (PFP) in Oaxaca City used tear gas and water cannons against a demonstration by local women Nov. 19, following accounts of sexual abuses by the police troops. Some women carried signs reading "Oaxaca is not a brothel," or mirrors with the words "I am a rapist" written across them that were held up to the police lines. (La Jornada, Nov. 19)

Speaking at a press conference with state police criminologists and foresnics experts, Oaxaca Prosecutor General Lizbeth Caña Cadeza, said there is growing evidence that Indymedia cameraman Bradley Will was killed at point-blank range by supporters of the Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) as a "deceitful confabulation" to "internationalize the conflict" in the state.

Widespread reports (e.g. in Turkish Press Nov. 18) indicate an arrest warrant has been issued by Iraq's Interior Ministry for Sheikh Harith al-Dhari, the leading Sunni religious figure in the country and head of the Muslim Scholars Association. This Nov. 19 report from the New York Times denies the warrant has been issued, but notes a growing split within the Sunni community:

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has warned it does not have enough money to feed more than 3 million Afghans who will depend on aid in the coming winter. A WFP spokesperson says a further 3 million Afghans are short of food and 2 million are affected by drought, which has wiped out much of the wheat crop in the south and the west. The WFP says it has received only a third of the donations it needs to feed the Afghans.

From AP, Nov. 16:

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The U.S. military called no witnesses, withheld evidence from detainees and usually reached a decision within a day as it determined that hundreds of men detained at Guantanamo Bay were "enemy combatants," according to a new report.

From El Universal, Nov. 16 via Chiapas95:

Enough evidence exists to put Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz and three top federal officials on trial for rights abuses, according to a report released Wednesday by the president of the Senate Human Rights Committee. Sen. Rosario Ibarra said the toll in Oaxaca since June 14 - which she put at 15 dead, 98 disappeared, 109 injured and 93 detained - reveals widespread illegality on the part of state and federal officials.

From El Universal, Nov. 14 via Chiapas95 (our translation):

Mexican police officials on Monday rejected a critical report from the National Human Rights Commission, saying it relied on false information to accuse federal police of brutality during May protests in the state of Mexico.

In a communique, the Democratic Revolutionary Tendency-Army of the People (TDR-EP) denied that the Nov. 6 bomb attacks in Mexico City were "terrorist acts," saying instead "They were a cry of protest and indignation before the...abuse of the lords of power and money." The statement said that more such "political-military actions" would follow if federal forces remain in Oaxaca and Gov. Ulises Ruiz does not step down. (APRO, Nov. 15)