The Caribbean
PDVSA oil spill fouls Curaçao
An oil spill at a refinery operated by the Venezuelan parastatal PDVSA on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao threatens a nature reserve which is a critical flamingo habitat.
The Andes
Colombia: peace talks announced with rappin’ FARC
Colombia’s FARC guerillas released a YouTube rap video to announce peace talks with the government. The talks are to open next month in Oslo, with Cuban mediation.
The Amazon
Bolivia: TIPNIS consultation extended amid protests over militarization
Indigenous communities in Bolivia's TIPNIS rainforest reserve have declared a state of "peaceful resistance" to the consultation process for a road through the territory.
The Andes
Peru: mine tailing spill contaminates Río Huallaga
Authorities in Peru admitted that wastewater laced with heavy metals from a major zinc mine has spilled into the Río Huallaga, a major tributary of the Amazon.
The Andes
Colombia: army general gets 25 years for para collaboration
Colombian army general Rito Alejo del Río Rojas, accused of forming a “macabre alliance” with paramilitary groups, was sentenced to 25 years for murder of a peasant leader.
The Andes
Colombia’s ex-security chief pleads guilty to para collaboration
Gen. Mauricio Santoyo, security chief to Colombia’s ex-president Álvaro Uribe, pleaded guilty before a US court to collaborating with the outlawed AUC paramilitary network.
The Andes
Venezuela: refinery disaster politicized
Venezuela’s opposition accused the state oil company of negligence after the deadly refinery explosion at Amuay, while the government says foreign subversion undermined safety.
Africa
War criminal Meles Zenawi dies a free man
Ethiopia's Meles Zenawi died without having to answer for his war crimes—he remained in the good graces of the West to the end, getting a free ride from the world media.
Central America
Guatemala: Swiss arrest ex-police commander
Swiss prosecutors announced that Erwin Sperisen, former commander of Guatemala's National Police, was arrested in Geneva and will stand trial for extrajudicial killings.
Marikana massacre survivors charged with murder
Striking workers gather outside the Marikana mine in South Africa’s North West province, Aug. 23, after the funeral of those killed in the police massacre there a week earlier. Workers arrested after the massacre have now been charged with the murder… Read moreMarikana massacre survivors charged with murder
The Amazon
Brazil: quilombo threatened by rancher gunmen
Rights groups warn that the Afro-descendant Quilombo Pontes community in Brazil’s lawless Maranhão state is being “systematically threatened” by gunmen in the pay of local ranchers.
The Amazon
Venezuela: Yanomami massacred by outlaw miners
Venezuelan authorities pledge to investigate breaking reports that outlaw miners comitted a “massacre” of an isolated Yanomami indigenous community on the Brazilian border.