Southern Cone

Chile: ex-soldier arrested for Víctor Jara murder

A judge in Chile has charged an ex-soldier in the 1973 murder of folk singer Víctor Jara. Up to now, the only man prosecuted in the case was the commander at the prison camp where Jara was shot.

Mexico

Mexico: campesinos blockade oil well

Some 100 residents of seven rural communities in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco blocked access to the Madrefil-1 oil well to demand compensation for damage to their lands.

The Amazon

Peru: strike backs indigenous protests

The General Confederation of Peruvian Workers (CGTP) held a one-day nationwide strike in support of indigenous people protesting in the Amazon region against corporate exploitation of their lands.

The Amazon

Peru: dozens decamp in jungle jailbreak

A manhunt has been launched after dozens of prisoners escaped from Bagua Grande prison in Peru‘s Amazonas region and fled into the jungle in a daring jailbreak.

Palestine

Israeli cabinet rejects loyalty oath proposal

The legislative committee of the Israeli cabinet rejected a bill that would make a loyalty oath to a “Jewish, Zionist and democratic” Israel a prerequisite to the issuance of a national ID card.

Planet Watch

Obama denies White House to run GM

“What we are not doing—what I have no interest in doing—is running GM,” President Obama assured upon announcing the government’s large ownership stake in the reorganized General Motors.

North America

Radical right ties emerge in Tiller killer suspect

Scott Roeder, arrested in the slaying of Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, is a member of the Montana Freemen, and apparently chose to act on the anniversary of the arrest of Eric Rudolph.