Indigenous leaders loyal to Evo Morales voted to remove Adolfo Chávez as president of the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of the Bolivian Oriente (CIDOB)—as CIDOB’s march in protest of a jungle highway advances on La Paz.
The Transportation Commission of Peru’s Congress approved a new road through remote jungle thought to protect isolated indigenous peoples. Madre de Dios indigenous leaders protested that they were not consulted.
The Pentagon is preparing to deploy a new generation of mini-drones with miniscule warheads that can allegedly be delivered with pinpoint accuracy. On a Pakistan visit, UN rights commissioner Navi Pillay questioned the legality of US drone strikes.
Burma declared a state of emergency in western Rakhine state following an uprising by the Muslim Rohingya people—for generations denied citizenship by both Burma and Bangladesh, each considering them “illegal” immigrants from the other.
With anger still growing in Honduras over the Miskito Coast drug raid that left four dead and villagers terrorized, the White House shows no sign of reconsidering the Central American Regional Security Initiative.
Having dismissed a case brought under CAFTA, a World Bank tribunal granted Pacific Rim Mining jurisdiction under El Salvador’s own investment law to sue the Central American republic for failure to approve a mine opposed by local campesinos.
Three prominent lawmakers publicly resigned from President Ollanta Humala’s ruling Gana PerĂş coalition over the government’s violent suppression of protests against the Xstrata Tintaya copper mine in Cuzco’s Espinar province.
Twelve children were injured in a police raid on an “illegal” Islamic school at Hotan, in China’s restive Xinjiang province. Authorities say school staff set off an explosive, but rights groups say the casualties were caused when police used tear gas.
An Egyptian court found former president Hosni Mubarak guilty of complicity in the killing of protesters during last year's uprising and sentenced him to life in prison. But his sons and top security officials were cleared of wrongdoing.
Survival International is calling upon Mick Jagger—recently named by Peru as an “environmental ambassador”—to demand answers on Lima’s “secret plans” to expand the Camisea natural gas bloc into a reserve for “uncontacted” indigenous tribes.
National Police fired on protesters amid a new “indefinite” civil strike called to oppose the US-backed Conga gold-mining project in Peru’s northern region of Cajamarca. Supporters of the project are calling for a state of emergency to be declared.
The conflict over the Xstrata mine in Espinar province of Peru’s Cuzco region escalated as National Police troops in full riot gear stormed the office of the mayor, Oscar Mollohuanca, arresting him on charges of leading protests that have left four dead.
