According to reports in major Dominican dailies on March 30, the Central Electoral Council (JCE) is planning to annul the Dominican birth certificate of human rights activist Sonia Pierre, the head of the Dominican-Haitian Women’s Movement (MUDHA). JCE chief inspector… Read moreDominico-Haitians face threat to citizenship
Protests that led the Brazilian state oil company to halt production in the Ecuadoran Amazon have ended, Ecuador’s Energy Ministry announced March 30. The Ministry statement said losses from the strike totaled more than $40 million, or 840,000 barrels of… Read moreEcuador: Amazon oil strike ends
Ecuador‘s highest electoral court fired a judge who tried to return half the country‘s legislators to their posts March 28, as a political crisis deepened over a planned referndum on rewriting the constitution. President Rafeal Correa told 2,000 supporters that… Read moreEcuador: crisis deepens over constutional referendum
According to residents of Puerto Nuevo, in the Ecuadoran province of Sucumbios near the border with Colombia, on March 22 Colombian soldiers fired a grenade at the home of Ecuadoran citizen Jorge Plaza Mantilla in Puerto Nuevo. Fifteen Colombian soldiers… Read moreEcuador: Colombian military kills two
On March 24, Brazilian federal police and environmental agents shut down a major deep-water port on the Amazon River owned by Cargill Inc., saying the US-based multinational agribusiness firm failed to provide an environmental impact statement required by law. Cargill’s… Read moreBrazil: Cargill’s Amazon port shut down
At least 475 youths were arrested and about 100 police agents were injured in clashes in Santiago on March 29 when Chilean students, mostly from secondary schools, carried out their annual march for the Day of the Young Combatant. Some… Read moreChile: hundreds arrested in protest
The family of independent US journalist Bradley Roland Will traveled to Mexico the week of March 19 to demand an impartial investigation of his death in Oaxaca on Oct. 27. The Oaxaca state attorney general, Rosa Lizbeth Caña Cadeza, has… Read moreOaxaca: demand probe of Brad Will’s death
The government of center-right Mexican president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa is “seeking a provocation” among indigenous communities in the southeastern state of Chiapas, according to the 17 de Noviembre autonomous municipality, one of the communities supporting the rebel Zapatista National Liberation… Read moreChiapas rebel communities: government “seeks provocation”
Attorney Luz María González Armenta, founder of the local group Defense and Promotion of Human Rights-Emiliano Zapata (DEPRODHEZAC), was arbitrarily arrested March 30 at a protest vigil she was leading outside the municipal presidency office in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According… Read moreHuman rights worker arrested in Matamoros
Now that it’s spring, we are officially ending our winter fund drive. We are deeply appreciative to everyone who gave, and those of you who have not yet received your premiums should get them in a week or two. We… Read moreWW4 REPORT fund drive closes at $1,405…for now
Sarah Ferguson writes for the Village Voice, March 31: Friday night’s Critical Mass bike ride was played as a First Amendment “showdown” over the NYPD’s new parade rule, which requires groups of 50 or more to get a permit to… Read moreNYC: Critical Mass tests new police regs
From the Center for Constitutional Rights, March 30: Hicks Forced to Agree to Gag Order With Plea Guantanamo Detainee May Not Speak to Press, Criticize his Detention or Say He was Tortured The US government required Guantánamo detainee David Hicks… Read moreGag order in Gitmo case protested
