Southern Cone
Chile: Mapuche leaders demand autonomy
President Sebastián Piñera offered to have “consultations” with the Mapuche. Indigenous leaders responded by calling for self-government.
Author: Weekly News Update on the Americas
Central America
Guatemala: Rios Montt goes on trial at last
After 30 years of efforts by victims and advocates, former military dictator EfraĂn RĂos Montt is on trial for genocide—while the current president denies there was genocide in Guatemala.
Southern Cone
Argentina: 40 arrested in nuclear plant occupation
Environmental activists marked the second anniversary of the Fukushima disaster by unfurling a giant banner at a nuclear reactor reading: “Enough with nuclear danger!”
Central America
Panama: Ngöbe-Buglé renew anti-dam protests
Indigenous Ngöbe-Buglé activists continue to protest hydroelectric projects they say threaten their way of life in their own territory, despite previous pacts with the government.
Central America
Guatemala: students march against ‘reform’
Teachers’ college students march 50 kilometers to protest new requirements for teachers; meanwhile, two grassroots leaders are murdered in just three days.
Central America
Honduras: 200-km march protests ‘model cities,’ mining law
Hundreds of campesinos marched from the northern town of La Barca to protest new laws expanding mining and enabling the creation of autonomous “model cities.”
Southern Cone
Chile: hydro projects threaten sacred Mapuche sites
Plans for a major hydroelectric plant in southern Chile have been stalled by environmental concerns and oppostion from Mapuche communities fearing the loss of sacred sites.
Mexico
Mexico: dissident teachers march against “reform”
Teachers marched and held strikes in much of southern Mexico to protest both the former teachers union head and the government that arrested her last month for corruption.
Southern Cone
Argentina: Menem smuggling acquittal overturned
On their second try, prosecutors won a conviction of ex-president Carlos Menem for arms smuggling during the 1990s, but as a senator he will probably not face jail time.
Mexico
Mexico: Peña Nieto sends a message, jails union boss
The government arrests famously corrupt union boss and power broker Elba Esther Gordillo. Is the new president trying to clean house–or show who's the boss?
Southern Cone
Argentina: provincial court blocks Monsanto facility
Monsanto encounters resistance in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, where environmentalists and residents have at least temporarily blocked construction of a plant.
The Caribbean
Haiti: still defiant, Duvalier finally goes to court
Duvalier finally showed up in court and answered some questions. “Everything was going well when I was here,” he said. “When I came back, I found a broken and corrupt country.”