At least 14 people have been killed, and dozens more injured, amid clashes between police and drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro over the past two weeks. Vila Cruzeiro favela, one of the impoverished districts hardest hit by the violence, remains a war zone. "It's absurd! Police have been here for two weeks, bullets flying all over the place, children cannot go to school, and the traffickers don't even hide," said a 56-year-old grandmother in Vila Cruzeiro, who identified herself only as Rose. Authorities intend to launch more police occupations of the favelas and are considering bringing in military Black Hawk helicopters to bolster the city’s security prior to hosting the Pan-American Games in July. (Reuters, May 16)

Amnesty International published a report this week exposing Brazil's public security crisis. "Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have reached a tragic impasse. Criminal gangs ... have rushed to fill the vacuum left by the state, Balkanizing the cities into a patchwork of violent fiefdoms," the report ("From Burning Buses to Caveirões": The Search for Human Security") stated. [AI, May 2]

Tens of thousands of people marched on April 29 from Gualeguaychu, in the Argentine province of Entre Rios, to the international bridge that crosses the Uruguay river to protest a pulp plant under construction in Fray Bentos, on the Uruguayan side of the border. Organizers said 130,000 people took part in the march; Argentine border police put the number at 80,000. The Argentine and Urugayan governments are negotiating over the conflict generated by the plant, which is being built by the Finnish multinational corporation Botnia. The Environmental Assembly of Gualeguaychu has maintained a protest blockade on the border post since last Nov. 20. Environmental assemblies from two other border cities, Colon and Concordia, also took part in the march; on April 28 protesters blockaded the border crossings in all three cities. (EFE, April 29; El Nuevo Herald, Miami, April 29 from EFE)

On April 18, some 30 police agents accompanied by armed civilians detained and beat up five campesinos in the Paraguayan community of Paraguai Pyahu, in Guajayvi district of San Pedro department. Led by Menelio Orue, chief of the local police station, the agents also tied 11-year-old Blas Argana to a tree, slapped him and beat him on the soles of his feet to try to get him to reveal the location of his father, who was being sought by police. The agents kept Argana tied to the tree for a half hour. When they released him, they gave him 2,000 guaranies and demanded he keep quiet about the incident.

Hundreds of rural workers occupied the offices of the National Agrarian Reform Institute in Brasilia, and thousands more invaded farms and blocked roads on April 16, demanding the government speed up moves to give land to small farmers and peasants. Protesters stormed the building at dawn and shut the doors to staff. They moved to the cellar by early evening, after authorities agreed to dialogue.

Tens of thousands of people marched throughout Argentina on April 9 as part of a general strike called to protest the death of a teacher, Carlos Fuentealba, who died on April 5 in the southwestern province of Neuquen after being shot at close range with a tear gas canister. The country's teachers observed a total one-day strike called by the Confederation of Education Workers of the Argentina Republic (CTERA). The protests were backed by the two main labor confederations: the leftist Federation of Argentine Workers (CTA) and the General Confederation of Workers (CGT), associated with the Justicialist Party (PJ, Peronist). The CGT limited its general strike to one hour, from noon to 1 PM.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has met with military commanders to discuss a request made by the governor of Rio de Janeiro for a military presence on the city's streets, as a means of supplementing police patrols. Drug-fueled crime has long ravaged Rio's slums, but now violence is spreading. No decision has been reached, but the president will meet with commanders again next week, who have agreed to lend assistance "within the constitutional parameters." [AlJazeera, April 12]

At least 475 youths were arrested and about 100 police agents were injured in clashes in Santiago on March 29 when Chilean students, mostly from secondary schools, carried out their annual march for the Day of the Young Combatant. Some of the columns marched peacefully in the center of the city, but others—including anarchists and masked youths carrying Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (FPMR) banners—clashed with police near the La Moneda palace. The police then blocked the march and used tear-gas grenades and water cannons on the protesters. There were also disturbances outside the capital. Five youths were arrested near Tarapaca University in the northern city of Arica, and violent incidents occurred in the northern city of Copiapo, and at Atacama University, as well as in Valparaiso, Concepcion and Temuco.