The Chilean Catholic foundation Sisters of the Good Samaritan announced on July 6 that it was turning down an offer from the Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corporation to donate 800 million pesos (about US$1.64 million) to build a shelter for the sick and disabled in… Read moreChile: Catholic charity rejects Barrick Gold donation
On July 20 soldiers, police and supposed “pro-mining activists” broke up an encampment that environmentalists and area residents had set up at Cerro Negro in the northwestern Argentine province of Catamarca to protest open-pit mining. The environmentalists–who came from CĂłrdoba,… Read moreArgentina: activists continue struggle against ‘mega-mining’
Former Argentine dictator Jorge Videla was condemned to 50 years in prison for the abduction of babies of “disappeared” dissidents. Another former dictator, Reynaldo Bignone, received 15 years on related charges.
In the biggest demonstration so far this school year, Chilean students marched again for free, quality education—and to protest the tricks through which “nonprofit” schools turn a profit.
US generals reportedly met with Paraguayan legislators at the same time that President Fernando Lugo was being removed from office. The topic: building a military base near the border with Bolivia.
Peasants throughout Paraguay have called for a national mobilization to oppose the impeachment and removal of populist President Fernando Lugo—called an “express coup d’etat” carried out in violation of legal norms.
At least 16 people were killed and dozens injured in armed clashes that erupted as police evicted landless campesinos who had invaded a privately-owned “forest reserve” in eastern Paraguay’s fertile Canindeyu region.
Paraguay’s Indigenous Affairs Department is investigating after ranchers attempted to forge the signature of Ayoreo indigenous leaders after to failing to win their consent for a new road through their already threatened territory.
While continuing to fight for a complete educational overhaul at home, Chilean students are also expressing solidarity with a similar struggle in Canada’s Quebec province.
A new US military training center in Chile will be used for exercises “clearly oriented toward the control and repression of the civilian population,” more than 20 human rights groups say.
Chile’s Supreme Court halted construction of the Cuervo hydroelectric dam in Patagonia pending further environmental studies. Chile needs to double its generating capacity to meet requirements of a planned expansion in the mining sector.
As workers mobilized throughout the hemisphere, Peru and Venezuela marked May Day by raising the minimum wage. Chile and Cuba said they would maintain the current wage levels.
