The Caribbean
Haiti: labor groups unite for May 1 march
Haiti saw unusually large May 1 marches this year as unions joined together in the capital and assembly and agricultural workers protested in other cities.
Author: Weekly News Update on the Americas
The Caribbean
US lets ‘spy’ serve probation in Cuba
The US gave contradictory signals as it let one of the Cuban Five stay in Cuba and let Mariela Castro visit the Liberty Bell—but continued to pin a “terrorist” label on Cuba.
Southern Cone
Argentina: 50 injured as police attack hospital
The Buenos Aires police use rubber bullets against nurses and mental patients, the latest episode in the city government’s campaign against public property.
Mexico
Mexico: Guerrero teachers trash party offices
Teacher protests against a US-style education “reform” program turned violent in Guerrero as masked men attacked the offices of several political parties.
Mexico
Mexico: Monsanto pushes for more GMO corn
Monsanto continues its drive to spread its transgenic corn over Mexico, at the cost of destroying the native varieties and devastating local production.
The Caribbean
Haiti: quake survivors still being evicted from camps
Amnesty International calls for a moratorium on forcible removals from displaced person camps and issues an urgent action for families threatened in Carrefour, Haiti.
Central America
Nicaragua: Korean firm accused in attack on maquila workers
US labor groups say Sae-A managers arranged an attack on unionists, while mainstream Nicaraguan unions say it’s a US conspiracy. Next stop for Sae-A is Haiti.
Central America
Guatemala: victims challenge suspension of RÃos Montt trial
Indigenous survivors of the Guatemalan army’s “scorched earth” strategy in the 1980s say they will push to lift the suspension of a former dictator’s genocide trial.
Mexico
Mexico: thousands march for release of Chiapas schoolteacher
Indigenous protesters and dissident schoolteachers joined for a demonstration in solidarity with an imprisoned supporter of the rebel Zapatistas.
The Andes
US high court ruling threatens human rights suits
A legal tool US advocates have used against human rights abusers for three decades is now "close to a dead letter" thanks to a Supreme Court decision.
Southern Cone
Latin America: after the gold rush?
Barrick Gold’s Latin American mining expansion faces new obstacles in Chile, continuing opposition in Argentina and the Dominican Republic, and a big drop in the price of gold.
Southern Cone
Chile: student movement regains momentum
With a giant march for free higher education, the student protest movement is getting back much of the drive it had two years ago—and the politicians are paying attention.