A court in La Araucania, Chile, charged indigenous Mapuche activist Miguel Angel Tapia Huenulef under the country’s Anti-terrorism Law after explosives were reportedly found in a police raid of his home.
Brazilian police arrested 51 members of two supposed narcotics gangs in simultaneous raids in eight statesâdays after a raid in Rio’s favelas left 10 dead.
Ex-Argentine president Carlos Menem made his first appearance at a trial in which he is accused of clandestine arms sales to Croatia. He also faces charges in the deadly 1994 Buenos Aires Jewish center attack.
On Dec. 22 the second chamber of Argentina’s federal appeals court confirmed that “there is no medical examination that would justify” releasing Gen. Jorge Rafael Videla, the first president of the 1976-1983 military regime, from prison. The ruling upholds an… Read moreArgentina: rights violators stay in jail
The Argentine government, the opposition and grassroots organizations all marked Dec. 10 as the 25th anniversary of the return of democratic rule after a bloody 1976-1983 military dictatorship. The Mothers (Founding Line) and the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayoâorganizations… Read moreArgentina: mass graves excavated
On Nov. 25 Argentine president Cristina FernĂĄndez de Kirchner announced an economic stimulus package that includes tax breaks for Argentines who repatriate money they’ve sent abroad and invest it in infrastructure, real estate, agriculture, industry or government bonds; tax breaks… Read moreArgentina: government announces stimulus
The 15 unions representing Chile’s government workers agreed on the night of Nov. 20 to end their four-day-old strike after the Senate approved a 10.4% raise earlier that day. The unions had demanded a 14.5% pay increase, arguing that the… Read moreChile: public employees win 10% raise
Former Argentine police commander Mario Ferreyra, 63, pulled out a .45 pistol from his boot and shot himself dead in the middle of a TV interview at his home Nov. 22. Ferreyra, also known as “El Malevo,” was accused of… Read moreEx-Argentine police commander in televised suicide
Some 400,000 Chilean public employees staged a two-day strike on Nov. 11 and 12 to push for a 14.5% pay increase. The National Association of Government Employees (ANEF), which includes 15 unions and associations, said the job action was 90%… Read moreChile: government workers strike
Two leaders of the Argentine teachers’ unionsâStella Maldonado, general secretary of the Federation of Education Workers of the Argentine Republic, and Alejandro de Michelis, press secretary for the Union of Education Workersâwere among those injured on Oct. 20 when Buenos… Read moreArgentina: police fight teachers
Brazilian military exercises along the border with Paraguay are escalating tensions between the South American neighbors. Operation Southern Border II mobilized 3,500 soldiers from the Brazilian armed forces Oct. 19 along the border, as part of a larger force of… Read moreBrazilian military exercises heighten tensions with Paraguay
On Oct. 15 the Chilean Supreme Court sentenced the 88-year-old retired general Sergio Arellano Stark to six years in prison for the killing of four people shortly after a Sept. 11, 1973 coup that brought the late dictator Gen. Augusto… Read moreChile: Pinochet-era general sentenced
