Demonstrator Imer Boror, 19, was killed by police gunfire and two were wounded as indigenous protesters blocked entry points into Guatemala's capital on Oct. 12, Dia de La Raza. Roads were also blocked at several other points around the country. Juana Mulul, leader of the "Day of Dignity and Resistance" protests, told AFP the direct action campaign "is purely in defense of Mother Earth and our territory." After the violence, President Alvaro Colom agreed to appoint a special panel to meet with indigenous leaders to discuss their demands. Aparicio Pérez of the Campesino Unity Committee (CUC) said representatives would ask the government to cancel mining, hydroelectric and industrial concessions because "multinational companies are taking over natural resources, which have long been the source of life for rural families." (AFP, Oct. 13)

The seventh summit of the Latin American anti-imperialist bloc ALBA concluded Oct. 17 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with resolute support for ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, strong opposition to planned US military bases in Colombia—and an agreement to form a new international currency to make the region less dependent on the dollar. The new currency, named the sucre after José Antonio de Sucre, who fought for South America's independence alongside Simon Bolívar, is slated to be issued in coin form in 2010.

The number of planes smuggling cocaine through Honduras has surged since the US suspended drug cooperation after the June coup d'etat, the de facto government's drug policy chief Julián Arístides González said Oct. 13. Honduras lost $16.5 million of US military aid after the coup. In the last month alone, de facto authorities say they have found 10 planes abandoned on runways and remote highways, compared with just four last year. "These are the facts, the flights have intensified," said Arístides, head of the National Directorate for the Struggle Against Narco-traffic (DNLN).

A group of independent UN experts expressed concern Oct. 9 over the increased use of mercenaries in Honduras since the June coup d'etat. The panel said it received reports that 40 former Colombian paramilitary veterans had been hired to protect properties and individuals in Honduras since the June 28 ouster of President Jose Manuel Zelaya. The panel also heard reports that 120 mercenaries from various Latin American countries had been contracted to support the de facto regime.

Supporters of deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya warned the de facto government that a crackdown on opposition media could derail talks scheduled to resume this week aimed at resolving the country's political crisis. "It is a really appalling issue, something right out of a dictatorship," said Rafael Alegria, a leader of protests against the coup-installed regime.

An Oct. 7 New York Times story, "Leader Ousted, Honduras Hires U.S. Lobbyists," notes that "several former high-ranking officials who were responsible for setting United States policy in Central America in the 1980s and '90s" are re-emerging to mobilize support for the de facto regime of Roberto Micheletti in Honduras. Three named are Otto Reich, Roger Noriega and Daniel W. Fisk. Reich is quoted saying in recent Congressional testimony: "The current battle for political control of Honduras is not only about that small nation. What happens in Honduras may one day be seen as either the high-water mark of Hugo Chávez's attempt to undermine democracy in this hemisphere or as a green light to the spread of Chavista authoritarianism."

It looks like we are in for a replay of the ugly flap that ensued following the anti-Semitic attacks in Venezuela earlier this year. The usual story: the conservative Jewish establishment makes charges against left-populist forces that may or may not check out; they are parroted without further corroboration by the mainstream media; they are summarily dismissed without further corroboration by left-wing commentators. Those of us who instinctively root for the left but cut no slack for Jew-baiting are left wondering what to believe. The below Oct. 4 report is from Ben Fox of the Associated Press, with our commentary and annotation interspersed:

As of Oct. 4 Hondurans' free speech and assembly rights remained suspended under a 45-day state of siege declared by de facto president Roberto Micheletti a week earlier. The general secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), Chilean diplomat José Miguel Insulza, was scheduled to visit Tegucigalpa on Oct. 7 with a delegation of about 10 foreign ministers to negotiate a resolution to the crisis that began more than 100 days earlier with a June 28 military coup against President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales. The deposed president has been staying in the Brazilian embassy since his surprise return to the country on Sept. 21. (Agence France Presse, Oct. 4)