Heads of state from 33 countries met in Caracas for the first summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a new regional bloc that, unlike the OAS, includes Cuba—but excludes the United States and Canada.
Talks are underway between the government in Argentina’s Neuquén province and local indigenous Mapuche communities after a days-long protest occupation of a natural gas plant owned by the Houston-based Apache Corporation.
President Ollanta Humala of Peru went on national TV to announce that he has imposed a state of emergency in Cajamarca region, the scene of a general strike in opposition to a mega-scale mining project that threatens local water resources.
Following 13 self-immolations by Tibetan monks since 2009, principally in Sichuan province, one was reported for the first from within the Tibet Autonomous Region itself. The monk is said to have survived and is hospitalized.
Waves of wildcat strikes continue to spread across China’s industrial heartland, with factories paralyzed in Guangdong province and job actions spreading to Zhejiang and Shanghai. Management has been forced to negotiate with workers’ councils.
Strikes and protest occupations were reported across Europe this week, as thousands of workers walked off the job in Greece, Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. Teachers in the Czech Republic have also called a strike.
In a move initiated by the Obama administration, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to waive Bush-era human rights restrictions on military aid to the Islam Karimov dictatorship in Uzbekistan.
Hillary Clinton makes an historic visit to Burma as the junta’s army chief signs a new military cooperation pact in Beijing—and the regime is accused of war crimes against ethnic minorities in remote Kachin state.
Iranian labor activist Reza Shahabi has begun a prison hunger strike in protest of his undetermined judicial status. The Vahed Company Union Workers website reports that Shahabi has been detained for more than 15 months without charge.
Customs employees at Adabiya Seaport in the Suez Canal Zone refused to allow a seven-ton shipment of tear gas to pass, and were detained for questioning by security officials. Two more such shipments are en route from Wilmington, Del.
Some 400 protesters clashed with police as they attempted to occupy the site of the planned Conga gold mine in Peru’s highland region of Cajamarca. Protesters say they will keep up their regional strike until the project is cancelled.
Mexican human rights activists filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court calling for an investigation into possible crimes against humanity by the security forces under President Felipe Calderón’s campaign against the drug cartels.
