The Amazon
Brazil: teachers, indigenous hold mass protests
June's mass protests have ended, but Brazilians continue to demonstrate for education, decent pay, indigenous rights and an end to police repression.
Author: Weekly News Update on the Americas
The Caribbean
Haiti: UN force faces lawsuit, new accusations
Lawyers for the victims sue the UN for the cholera epidemic it brought to Haiti, while an international watchdog group reports on “peacekeeper” corruption.
The Caribbean
Dominican Republic excludes descendants of ‘illegal’ Haitians
The Dominican high court ruled that undocumented immigrants are “in transit,” depriving their Dominican children of citizenship—including all born since 1929.
Central America
Honduras indigenous leader’s detention challenged
Legal advocates are appealing to international bodies to block the detention of an indigenous leader whose crime seems to be supporting anti-dam protests.
Mexico
Mexico: Cananea strike broken, miners left jobless
Grupo MĂ©xico and the Mexican government succeeded in smashing a strike in an historic copper mining town which now suffers from crime and unemployment.
Central America
Honduras: indigenous, labor leaders under attack
In just one week, the leader of the main Honduran indigenous organization is imprisoned and the leader of a dockworkers’ union is attacked at his home.
The Andes
Colombia: injured GM workers continue fight
Injured GM workers are still trying to get compensation and new jobs, while Chiquita continues to deny any responsibility for murders by the paramilitaries it paid off.
Southern Cone
Argentina: students occupy to protest ‘reform’
Students in Buenos Aires have been occupying their high schools to protest the mayor’s plan to “modernize” education by restricting curriculum choices.
The Amazon
Brazil: documents expose US industrial espionage
Brazil's president calls off a visit to DC as the US is left trying to explain how spying on Brazil's oil company could be necessary for the war on terrorism.
Southern Cone
Chile: thousands mark 40th anniversary of coup
Performance art, floral tributes and militant protests marked 40 years since a military coup brought Chile a 17-year dictatorship, 3,000 deaths and thousands of cases of torture.
Mexico
Mexico: police attack teachers’ strike encampment
Police managed to get protesting teachers out of the way in time for Independence Day festivities, but the teachers promised to go on with their fight against "reform."
Mexico
Mexico: ex-braceros tour US to demand pensions
As the US considers expanding its guest worker programs, a group of retired guest workers show up to ask what happened to their pensions.