Former Buenos Aires provincial police chaplain Christian von Wernich was sentenced to life imprisonment Oct. 9 for crimes against humanity committed under the 1976-83 military dictatorship. Human Rights Secretrary Eduardo L. Duhalde hailed the verdict as “historic and strictly legal.”… Read moreArgentina’s Father von Wernich gets life in “dirty war” killings
In several radio interviews Oct. 9, Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe charged the country’s Supreme Court offered benefits including a reduced sentence to imprisoned paramilitary commander José Moncada in exchange for testifying that the president ordered the killing of another incarcerated… Read moreColombia: high court accuses Uribe of obstruction in paramilitary case
On Oct. 10, rural popular organizations mobilized in several regions of Colombia, marching towards the capitals of their respective departments. They are protesting the pending free trade agreement with the United States, legislation which would roll back Colombia’s agrarian reform… Read moreColombia: national campesino mobilization follows threats, detentions
The UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, Netherlands, Oct. 8 awarded Honduras sovereignty over four cays in the Caribbean Sea and delineated its maritime boundary with Nicaragua as part of a ruling on a longstanding border dispute…. Read moreWorld Court rules on Nicaragua-Honduras border dispute; oil conflict in background
Three workers from the Mexican oil monopoly Pemex were killed by inhaling toxic fumes when the gas pipeline they were working on suffered a leak Oct. 8. The workers were repairing the Potrero del Llano-Naranjos pipeline in Alamo Temapache, Veracruz,… Read moreMexico: three workers dead in gas pipeline accident
Nathaniel Deutsch, professor of religion at Swarthmore College, writes for the New York Times, Oct. 6: Save the Gnostics The United States didn’t set out to eradicate the Mandeans, one of the oldest, smallest and least understood of the many… Read moreIraq’s indigenous Gnostics make NY Times op-ed page
A very important story by Kimia Sanati from InterPress Service, Oct. 3: Islamist, Socialist Revolutions Don’t Mix An attempt to rope in the son and daughter of the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara to forge a parallel between Iran’s Islamist… Read moreChe Guevara family protests Islamist exploitation of legacy
The UK warned Darfur’s rebel groups Oct. 8 they could be excluded from the peace process if they boycott talks due to be held in Libya later this month. London’s Minister for Africa, Lord Malloch Brown, said those who opted… Read moreUK lectures Darfur rebels —as Sudan attacks
Egyptian police detained at least 40 after thousands of angry Bedouins stormed government buildings in north Sinai Oct. 7 to protest police inaction after a shooting by a rival clan. The ruling National Democratic Party headquarters in the city of… Read moreEgypt: Bedouin sweeps follow Sinai unrest
Commemorations taking place nearly throughout Latin America 40 years after the death of Ernesto "Che" Guevara on Oct. 8, 1967, indicate just how much the world has changed since then—for better and for worse. Most significantly, in Bolivia—where he met… Read moreChe Guevara legacy contested 40 years after his death
After a divisive and well-financed campaign, Costa Rican supporters of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)—which reduces trade barriers between Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the US—appeared to have won a narrow… Read moreCAFTA winning in Costa Rica?
At least 10 people were injured and 55 arrested during an 24-hour general strike Oct. 2 in the Dominican Republic called by the Alternative Social Forum (FSA), a coalition of grassroots organizations. The groups were demanding higher wages for civil… Read moreAnother general strike in Dominican Republic
