Southern Cone
Chile: Mapuches block roads to protest court decision
Huilliche activists blocked a highway, burning rubbish and setting up barricades to protest a Supreme Court decision denying them access to a sacred site.
Author: Weekly News Update on the Americas
Mexico
Mexico: center-right bloc pushes ‘labor reform’
The Chamber of Deputies passed changes to the labor code that union lawyers said would take the labor movement back to where it was before the 1910 Revolution.
Mexico
Mexico: ambush of CIA agents mistaken identity?
Mexican authorities say federal police who ambushed a US embassy van carrying CIA agents, wounding two, simply confused the vehicle for one carrying kidnapping suspects.
Mexico
Report blasts US government for Fast and Furious
A government report on Operation Fast and Furious criticized officials but didn’t find evidence to back up conspiracy theories favored by the gun lobby.
The Caribbean
Haiti: thousands protest corruption, rising prices
Thousands demonstrated in several cities to protest government corruption and a rise in the cost of basic foods. Hopes for an increase in the minimum wage may add to the tensions.
The Andes
Colombia: student hunger strikes protest cutbacks
Students at the University of Cundinamarca are on hunger strike, demanding university authorities negotiate on tuition, teacher contracting and educational issues.
Central America
Honduras: lawyer for Aguán and ‘Model Cities’ struggles is murdered
Unknown assailants gunned down activist attorney Antonio Trejo, who was active in two major political conflicts: the Aguán land and a struggle over the “Model Cities” project.
Mexico
Mexico: persecuted gay teacher wins asylum in US
The US has granted political asylum to Mexican teacher AgustĂn Estrada, who claims MĂ©xico state authorities fired, beat and gang-raped him because he was openly gay.
Central America
Honduras: ‘model cities’ project set to begin?
A government commision has signed an agreement for the first of three “model city” projects, semi-autonomous regions mandated under a controversial 2010 constitutional amendment.
Central America
Central America: Dole starts to pay in pesticide settlement
Dole Food has finally begun funding a settlement it made more than a year ago with some 5,000 former banana workers with health problems linked to the use of pesticides.
Central America
Nicaragua: Ortega announces withdrawal from SOA
Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega has agree to discontinue the training of his country’s military personnel at the US military’s controversial School of the Americas (SOA).
Mexico
Mexico: CIA agents hit in ambush by federal police?
The Mexican daily La Jornada reports that the two US agents wounded in a roadside ambush by federal police were from the Central Intelligence Agency, not the DEA.