One day ahead of the one-year anniversary of the death of New York IMC journalist Brad Will in Oaxaca, two primitive homemade explosive devices were thrown at New York's Mexican consulate in an apparent pre-dawn bicycle-by attack Oct. 26, shattering windows but causing no injuries. Police are drawing parallels to a similar incident at the British consulate in the early morning hours of May 5, 2005. In both cases, the devices were fake grenades sold as novelty items, but packed with black powder and detonated with fuses. In the 2005 case, video surveillance indicated two devices were thrown from a passing bicycle. In the Oct. 26 case, a witness reported seeing a hooded figure on a bicycle pass by the consulate. (NYT, AP, Oct. 27)

The town of Vicam in the northwestern Mexico state of Sonora was the site of the Meeting of Indigenous Peoples of America, which brought together some 1,500 representatives of indigenous groups from the US, Canada, Mexico, Central America and South America starting on Oct. 11 and continuing through Oct. 12. Organizers said misinformation from the government and media had put obstacles in the way of the meeting; they had been afraid it might have to be moved.

Mexico's Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), now convening an international forum on indigenous rights at Vicam, Sonora, are protesting comments by Supreme Court Justice Aguirre Anguiano dismissing the rebel movement as "folklore." The statement came in a case brought by 44 indigenous-majority municipalities, led by Coxcatlán, San Luis Potosí, challenging several articles of the federal telecommunications laws as failing to comply with constitutional changes on indigenous rights approved in 2001. Justice Aguirre argued for cutting off the debate, finding the claim without merit. When Justice Genaro Góngora Pimentel stated that the constitutional changes were part of the San Andrés Accords, which emerged from the government's peace dialogue with the Zapatistas, Aguirre responded: "For me... this is an ideological group and part of the national folklore...whose leaders...13 years ago declared war on the Mexican Army and have not fired one shot." (Proceso, Oct. 9)

Three workers from the Mexican oil monopoly Pemex were killed by inhaling toxic fumes when the gas pipeline they were working on suffered a leak Oct. 8. The workers were repairing the Potrero del Llano-Naranjos pipeline in Alamo Temapache, Veracruz, which had ruptured Sept. 26. Pemex said there was "no risk to the population." Veracruz state authorities complained that the workers had not been outfitted with proper safety equipment. (EFE, Milenio, Oct. 8)

Mexico's underground Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) issued a communique Oct. 3 to the leadership of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), expressing solidarity and pledging to "avoid to the maximum" any action which could affect them or compromise their security. The document, addressed to the EZLN's general command, the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee, and to Subcommander Marcos, stated that the EPR has a presence in Chiapas and that its campaign of "harassment" against the state will continue if the government does not return alive its "disappeared" militants. It recognized that the EZLN "continues to be harassed and in many cases assassinated, in spite of everything it has done to maintain a praiseworthy resistance in the face if these injustices"—an implicit acknowledgment of the EZLN's strategy of civil struggle. (La Jornada, Oct. 3)

The National Front of Struggle for Socialism (FNLS) in the western Mexican state of Michoacán issued a statement demanding the "presentation with life" of Francisco Paredes Ruiz, a comunero (communal farmer) from Zirahuén and former member of the Armed Revolutionary Movement (MAR), a guerilla group from the '70s, who "disappeared" Sept. 26 in the city of Morelia. Two days after his disappearance, Paredes' car was found abandoned on a Morelia street. "The last to speak with him were his daughters on the day of his disappearance," said FNLS spokesman Leonel Calderón Villegas.

Mexican officials say the US has committed to giving their administration $1 billion over the next two years to fight drug trafficking. Carlos Rico, Mexico's undersecretary for North American affairs, said the "Joint Strategy to Combat Organized Crime"—which would have to be approved by the US Congress—would be similar in scope to the multi-year, multi-billion-dollar Plan Colombia. US lawmakers say that President Bush is expected to call for an emergency appropriation to get the funding approved this fall. "We are going to have some hurdles in Congress," said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX). "But at the end of the day, this will get done." US Drug Czar John P. Walters also said an announcement is forthcoming, but the White House has not publicly released details.

Four clandestine armed groups in Mexico issued a communique Sept. 27 calling for a "common front" to "recuperate the fatherland," which they say has been hijacked by a "rightist usurping minority." The statement also called for the reappearance alive of the two "disappeared" presumed followers of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez and Edmundo Reyes Amaya. The statement was jointly issued by the Democratic Revolutionary Tendency-Army of the People (TDR-EP), the Lucio Cabañas Barrientos Revolutionary Movement (MR-LCB), the May 1 Insurgent Organization (OI-1M) and the December 2 Execution Brigade (BA-2D). Among the presumed authors of the statement is Comandante José Arturo, one of the founders of the EPR.