This Week in Conflict in the Americas... December 9th-15th, 2011.

Hello all! Hope all is well!

I would like to appeal to readers to direct me to any English news sites from Latin America to help make this section better. If you know of any good news sites, blogs or organizations that profile human rights, conflict or peace issues from South or Central America, please write to me at apeaceofconflict@gmail.com or leave me the details in the comments below.

Thanks in advance,

Rebecca

Occupy Wall Street protesters in the United States have issued a call for thousands of protesters across the country to reoccupy public spaces to mark the movement’s three-month anniversary on December 17^th. On Friday morning, the Occupy Boston camp remained in place, despite the deadline to move passing; Defense Secretary Panetta announced he would begin to talk publicly about the results of a strategic review to guide the Pentagon as it cuts hundreds of billions in military spending some time next month; a gunman opened fire on motorists in the heart of Hollywood; and the identity of the Virginia Tech gunman was revealed—though no motivation for the shooting was yet revealed. On Saturday, police evicted the Occupy Boston protesters from Dewey Square and arrested around 40 people. A new report on rape in the military demonstrates the difficulty victims face in trying to seek justice, amid claims that it is estimated that a female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be attacked by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire and that 37% of sexual trauma cases reported in the last year happened to men. On Monday, Occupy Wall Street protesters began a new “waterfront” campaign that aims to shut down ports up and down the west coast. On Tuesday, a federal judge temporarily blocked a part of a tough new immigration law in Alabama that would require residents to show proof of citizenship when registering mobile homes with the state; while a military drone used to monitor piracy off the East African coast crashed at an airport on the island nation of Seychelles. On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives voted in favour of a controversial legislation that would deny terror suspects, including US citizens, the right to trial and that could permit authorities to detain them indefinitely; while the US officially ended its war in Iraq with a ceremony at the Baghdad airport nearly nine years after it started; and the CDC issued a report that claimed that nearly 20% of all women in the US has been raped at least once.
On Wednesday, the body of a campaigner for indigenous rights was found the day after he was kidnapped in Mexico. On Sunday, one man was killed and nine others wounded after assailants tossed a bomb into a building where a cockfight was being held. On Monday, Mexican marines captured a founding member of the Zetas drug cartel, Raul Lucio Hernandez Lechuga in Cordoba, while a shootout just south of the Texas border killed 11 alleged gunmen and injured one soldier.
Cristina Kirchner was sworn in for a second four-year term as the President of Argentina on Saturday. Kirchner announced that she is intent on bolstering the country’s economy by promoting industry and consumer spending.
Bolivia is set to pass the Law of Mother Earth which will grant nature the same rights and protections as humans intended to encourage a radical shift in conservation attitudes and actions and reduce environmental destruction. The law redefines natural resources as blessings and confers the same rights to nature as to human beings.
On Saturday President Humala of Perureplaced his PM with a former army officer who was his instructor in the military amid fears that this could signal more authoritarian governing in the country. Some are concerned about the changes in the President’s political style, saying he went from a Chavista to a moderate leftist to a pro-business President and now a pro-military President.
Noriega has been returned to Panamafollowing his extradition from France on Sunday. His critics have called upon the population to take to the streets to show their condemnation.
On Tuesday, Canada formally pulled out of the Kyoto protocol on climate change, only one day after an update was agreed upon amid international condemnation; while the UN Committee on...