At a “Hydrocarbon Sovereignty” conference in Tarija, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales said his country has achieved the conditions to obtain nuclear power for “pacific ends.”
Six dissident Aymara leaders held a hunger strike at the doors of the Bolivian congress building as lawmakers debated a bill on assigning legislative seats to ethnicities and regions.
An ex-general in Chile killed himself rather than face transfer to a general-population prison, as trial opened in Quito for three former officers accused in extrajudicial killings.
By saying the US “funds rebels that fight against presidents who don’t support capitalism or imperialism,” Evo Morales allies himself with a regime that is committing war crimes.
For a fifth year running, the White House "blacklisted" Bolivia and Venezuela for perceived insufficient anti-drug efforts—and both governments reacted with anger.
Nelson Giraldo Posada, a spokesman for campesinos forcibly relocated to make way for the HidroItuango hydro-electric project, was slain by unknown gunmen in Ituango, Colombia.
The wife and infant son of a local leader of independent artisenal miners were assassinated in the community of Pamputa, Peru—with suspicion falling on mining giant Xstrata.
The protest camp at the Conga site was evicted by company goons, only to be re-established days later. But unknown gunmen fired on the new encampment.
Leaders of the National Council of Marka and Ayllus of Qullasuyu (CONAMAQ) charged that their office in La Paz was attacked by followers of the ruling party.
Venezuela’s withdrawal from the American Convention of Human Rights went into effect this month, drawing the condemnation of rights groups across the hemisphere.
Injured GM workers are still trying to get compensation and new jobs, while Chiquita continues to deny any responsibility for murders by the paramilitaries it paid off.
National Police troops in Peru’s northern Cajamarca province clashed with local campesinos on communal lands coveted by the Yanacoha mining company, injuring four.
