The Ngöbe-Buglé indigenous group suspended talks with Panamanian officials and resumed a blockade of the Pan American highway after four young protesters were wounded by rubber bullets.
US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended the US-backed war on the drug cartels, despite growing violence in Mexico and Central America—while Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla called for a regional debate on legalization.
In an official report, Paraguay’s Department of Indigenous Affairs confirmed that an uncontacted tribe is living on lands in the northern Chaco region owned by the Brazilian ranching company River Plate, which is accused of wanton deforestation.
The UN representative to Colombia, Todd Howland, said that the country’s victims law has “holes” because threats and violence against displaced campesinos seeking to reclaim their usurped lands are impeding successful implementation.
Colombia’s FARC rebels announced they will release all 10 captive members of the security forces, and abandon kidnapping of civilians for extortion purposes. President Juan Manuel Santos said the move was “not enough” to renew peace talks.
Millions of workers walked off their jobs across India, with the telecoms, transport sector and postal service most affected. The “all-India” general strike was most universally observed in the southern state of Kerala, which remains virtually paralyzed.
Under criticism from UNESCO, Israel reportedly removed Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs from its “National Heritage Sites” list—but provocation by far-right settlers seeking to secure the sites as exclusively Jewish sparked violence.
WikiLeaks and Anonymous team up to target Stratfor, winning favorable alterno-coverage. Predictably, nobody is talking about WikiLeaks’ continued silence on charges of complicity with grave human rights abuses in Belarus.
Haiti’s Prime Mnister Garry Conille submitted a letter of resignation as rumors grew of tension between him and President Michel Martelly; the US embassy appeared unhappy with the development.
About 1,000 indigenous people and campesinos in Mexico's Chiapas state marched to protest high rates for electricity, to oppose the construction of more dams in the region, and to demand that electric utilities not be privatized.
The Honduran government signed an accord with two campesino organizations to finance the purchase of land for campesino cooperatives in an area where land disputes have left more than 50 dead in two years.
A coalition of fishing people, unionists, cab drivers and students blocked roads and bridges for 13 days to demand more resources for Chile’s isolated southern Aysén region.
