Like Guatemala’s genocidal Romeo Lucas Garcia a few weeks back, Paraguay’s brutal former dictator Alfredo Stroessner has died a free man in comfortable exile—despite vain efforts to have him extradited back home to face justice. We have noted that there… Read moreParaguay’s Stroessner dies a free man
On Aug. 4, a federal court in Buenos Aires, Argentina, sentenced former federal police officer Julio Simon to 25 years of prison for the 1978 abduction and torture of Chilean citizen Jose Poblete Roa and his Argentine companion, Gertrudis Hlaczik,… Read moreArgentina: ex-agent gets 25 years
Thousands of people demonstrated across Latin America the week of July 17 to protest Israel’s air and ground attacks in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip starting the week before. About 500 protesters rallied on July 17 outside the Israeli embassy… Read moreLatin America: protests against Israeli attacks
Dealing drugs was the least of Pinochet’s crimes. But the poor family’s delicate sensibilities have been offended by the accusation, it seems. From AP, July 12: SANTIAGO, Chile – The son of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet filed a defamation… Read morePinochet family to sue over cocaine accusation
Some 500 people, mostly students, marched in Asuncion, Paraguay, on June 17 to protest the presence of US troops in the country. The protesters marched along the Avenida Mariscal Lopez; they tried to reach the US embassy but were blocked… Read moreParaguay: march against US troops
Some 2,000 Wichi, Toba and Mocovi indigenous people from throughout the northern Argentine province of Chaco arrived on June 6 in the provincial capital, Resistencia, and began camping out in front of the provincial government building after an effort to… Read moreArgentina: Chaco indigenous mobilize
Brzilian lawmakers announced they are seeking to question an imprisoned gang leader suspected of having ordered the onslaught of violence that killed nearly 200 in and around Sao Paulo last month. Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, known as Marcola, heads the… Read moreBrazil: police link to gang terror probed
From Upside Down World, June 7: About 300 demonstrators protesting the slow pace of land reform invaded the Brazilian Parliament Building June 7. The protesters vandalized the pristine building and destroyed a car waiting to be raffled off to Congressional… Read moreLandless workers invade Brazil’s parliament
On May 29, some 600,000 public and private high school students went on strike throughout Chile, and thousands took over school buildings. On May 30, at least 500,000 students marched in the streets around the country. The protests were met… Read moreStudent protests rock Chile; Mapuche suspend hunger strike
After protesting for several weeks with no answer to their demands, on May 18 more than 1,000 Chilean high school students demonstrated in Santiago to press for free public transportation, free university entrance exams and improvements in the quality of… Read moreChile: police attack student marchers
After 63 days on hunger strike, four jailed Mapuche rights activists agreed to temporarily suspend their protest on May 14 after reaching an agreement with Chilean legislators. In exchange for an end to the fast, the government promised to give… Read moreChile: Mapuche end hunger strike
Mapuche rights activists Juan Patricio Marileo Saravia, Florencio Jaime Marileo Saravia, Juan Carlos Huenulao Lienmil and Patricia Troncoso Robles (known as “La Chepa”) have been on hunger strike since March 13 in prison in Angol, Chile’s Region IX, demanding a… Read moreChile: Mapuche prisoners strike
