Mexico
Official version of Mexican massacre questioned
An Inter-American Commission on Human Rights report calls into question the Mexican government's own investigation of the disappearance of 43 students in Guerrero.
Tag: narco wars
The Andes
Peru: protests as US military forces arrive
Angry protesters took to the streets of Lima as 3,000 US troops arrived in Peru for an anti-drug "training mission" in the country's coca-growing jungle zones.
Central America
El Salvador rules street gangs are ‘terrorist groups’
El Salvador's Supreme Court ruled that the country's notoriously violent street gangs and those who support them financially will now be classified as "terrorist groups."
The Andes
Paramilitarism in Venezuela-Colombian border crisis
Venezuela closed the Colombian border and declared a state of emergency along the frontier, accusing Bogotá of allowing the infiltration of right-wing paramilitaries.
Central America
Guatemala: president resigns under scandal probe
Despite pledges to remain in office, Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina resigned after lawmakers stripped his immunity and a judge issued orders for his arrest.
Mexico
Mexico: activist slain in missing students case
Miguel Ángel Jiménez Blanco, a leading activist in Mexico's violence-torn Guerrero state and a vocal advocate for the families of the 43 missing students, was himself assassinated.
The Andes
Colombia: FARC-paramilitary collaboration?
Colombia's FARC guerillas may be working under the table with their supposed bitter enemies in the ultra-right paramilitary groups, according to e-mails released by authorities.
Southern Cone
Amnesty: ‘Trigger happy’ police kill hundreds in Rio
Amnesty International charges that Brazil's military police have been responsible for more than 1,500 deaths in Rio de Janeiro's favelas in the last five years.
Southern Cone
Brazil: police implicated in Sao Paulo massacre
Gunmen killed at least 18 people in outlying districts of Sao Paulo, and authorities suspect a coordinated campaign of revenge by off-duty officers for the death of two colleagues.
The Andes
Peru: army claims rescue of Sendero slaves
Peru's army announced that it had "rescued" 39 people—the majority indigenous Asháninka and 26 of them underage—who were held captive in Sendero Luminoso camps.
Mexico
Michoacán: more clashes over self-defense units
Mexican army troops fired on villagers who blocked roads when soldiers arrived to arrest the leader of a self-defense militia who refused orders to demobilize.
North Africa
‘Narco-jihadist’ threat seen in North Africa
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and related networks are said to control Saharan smuggling routes for Moroccan hashish to fund their regional operations.