Tens of thousands of indigenous people marked 517 years since the arrival of Christopher Columbus by protesting around current issues such as the seizure of traditional lands.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said that Iran is helping his country explore for uranium—but insisted that Venezuela would only use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe called for kidnapping charges against 22 students arrested on the National University campus after they detained the rector for five hours during a protest.
Colombia’s top prosecutor ordered the detention of an army lieutenant as the presumed author of the August 2006 massacre of five members of the Awá indigenous people in Nariño department.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe demanded that his ministers investigate the jailbreak that freed guerilla leader Gustavo Anibal Giraldo Quinchia AKA “Pablito.”
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales denied that his government is engaged in a regional arms race, insisting the purchase of six Chinese military jets is only for drug enforcement.
Some 1,000 workers at Shougang Hierro, Peru’s only iron ore producer, have gone on strike demanding higher wages and better working conditions.
Ecuador’s indigenous movement launched a national mobilization to oppose President Rafael Correa’s pending water law, erecting roadblocks on several sections along the Panamerican highway.
Nearly 30 heads of state attended the Second Africa-South America Summit on Isla Margarita, Venezuela, to increase trade and economic development cooperation between the two regions.
Yuracare indigenous people and coca-growers clashed over control of land in Isiboro National Park in northern Bolivia, leaving one dead.
An officer of Peru’s National Police was killed as protesting metal workers clashed with security forces at the economically troubled La Oroya smelter.
As international experts gather in Lima to debate the impacts of global warming on the Andean region, local campesinos are already feeling its effects in Huaraz.
