Honda, Nissan, Hershey's, Kellogg, Grupo Modelo and other multinational companies temporarily shut their plants in western Mexico after rebels attacked a key natural gas pipeline. The Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) guerrillas claimed responsibility for the explosions. The government ordered an increase in security at "strategic installations" across Mexico. The state monopoly Pemex said an explosion July 10 and two more last week affected different sections of the same pipeline linking Mexico City to Guadalajara. The explosions forced the evacuation of some communities but caused no injuries. In a statement July 10, the EPR said it was waging a "prolonged people's war" against "the anti-popular government."

More than 100,000 people filled the giant Zocalo plaza in downtown Mexico City on July 1 for the third National Democratic Convention (CND) called by former mayor and center-left 2006 presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Current president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa was officially declared the winner in the July 2, 2006 elections by a narrow margin in a victory not accepted by Lopez Obrador or his followers. In the July 1 gathering Lopez Obrador called on his followers not to compromise with Calderon, not to accept his program for "fiscal reform" and not to accept "reform" of the Law of State Workers Social Security and Services Institute (ISSSTE). (La Jornada, July 2)

The Special Investigator (Fiscalía Especial) for the Acteal massacre in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas has announced the discovery in a cave of two AK-47 rifles which are believed to be those used in the Dec. 22, 1997 slaying of 45 Tzotzil Maya peasants. The rifles were found May 22 by police near the community of Los Chorros, Chenalhó municipality, where the attack was said to have been planned. The cave was searched based on information provided by one of the men serving time for the massacre at El Amate prison. His name was not revealed, but authorities said he would be transfered to another prison in Cintalapa for his protection.

Subcommander Marcos of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) has arrived back in the Chiapas rainforest after concluding his tour of Mexico's northern states in the second phase of the "Other Campaign." Arriving first in the Chiapas highland city of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Marcos' caravan then proceeded to the jungle settlement of La Garrucha. Fifteen other Zapatista commanders who had also been on tour arrived back in Chiapas days ahead of the Subcommander. They will now start preparing for an "Intergalactic Encuentro," a meeting of their international supporters, to be hosted on their territory in a little over a month. (La Jornada, June 24) A highlight of Marcos' tour came in Guadalajara, where he unveiled his new erotic novel Noches de Fuego y Desvelo (Nights of Fire and Sleeplessnes), illustrated with drawings by the author. Proceeds are to go towards programs for Chiapas' autonomous indigenous communities. (La Jornada, June 15)

President Felipe Calderon has initiated a sweeping purge of Mexico's federal police forces, replacing nearly 284 senior and middle-level commanders. The move was announced June 25 by Public Security Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna. "We are conscious that Mexicans demand honest, clean and trustworthy police," Garcia Luna told a press conference. "We have strategies and directions in the struggle against crime. One of the keys to that strategy is the professionalization and cleansing of the police forces." He said the commanders will be replaced by officers who have undergone months of rigorous vetting, including background checks, psychological exams and drug tests. The replaced commanders will be relocated inside the federal police forces, which number at least 12,000 agents. (Houston Chronicle, June 26)

Mexico took the first steps June 21 toward extraditing former Quintana Roo governor Mario Villanueva Madrid to the US, where he is wanted in New York City on charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering. President Felipe Calderón has already sent 21 narco suspects to face charges across the border this year, but Villanueva would be the highest-ranking former Mexican official to stand trial in the United States on drug charges.

Two were killed and four injured in an ambush at San Miguel Aloapam in the Ixtlán de Juárez district of southern Mexico's Oaxaca state, according to the municipal president Alejandro Cruz Pablo. State authorities said five men had been arrested at neighboring San Isidro Aloapam for their role in the attack. (Olor a mi Tierra, June 18) However, the Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca—Ricardo Flores Magón (CIPO-RFM) said in a communique that PRI-affiliated armed campesinos from San Miguel Aloapam had entered San Isidro's communal forest lands to illegally cut trees and fired upon residents who tried to bar their way. They said the five men taken from their community were not arrested by legitimate authorities, but "kidnapped" by "paramilitaries." (CIPO-RFM, June 20)

A petition from O'odham Voice Against the Wall, posted to journalist Brenda Norrell's Censored, blog, June 15:

We Demand the Return of Human Remains Unearthed During a Recent Desecration of a Sacred Burial Ground
On May 17th and May 21st of 2007 the remains of at least three humans were unearthed during the construction of a border zone "Vehicle Barrier" wall.