On Dec. 2, heads of state from 33 countries met in Caracas, Venezuela, for the first summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a new regional bloc that excludes the United States and Canada. Unlike the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS), the new group includes Cuba. Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez called the summit "historic," and predicted CELAC would soon supersede the OAS as the premier hemispheric bloc. Created as a result of an agreement reached at the Unity Summit held in Cancún in February 2010, the body includes both left-wing governments like Venezuela and Bolivia, and conservative ones like Mexico and Colombia. Chile's conservative President Sebastian Pinera is to be the first rotating leader of the bloc, and Santiago will also host next year's summit. (Politic365, Dec. 5; ISRIA, Dec. 4; BBC News, Dec. 3)

Talks are underway between the government in Argentina's Neuquén province and local indigenous Mapuche communities after a protest occupation of a natural gas plant owned by the Houston-based Apache Corporation. The plant was occupied Nov. 23 by members of the Mapuche community of Gelay Ko, who maintained a blockade of the entrances and prevented workers from entering. The protesters, including women and children, agreed to lift their blockade Nov. 26 after the government agreed to hear their demands. The company reported that output at the plant was reduced by 30%. The processing plant at Anticlinal, outside the city of Zapala in the foothills of the Andes, has since been surrounded by police to prevent further disturbances.

President Ollanta Humala of Peru went on national TV the night of Dec. 4 to announce that he has imposed a state of emergency in four provinces of Cajamarca region, which has been the scene of a general strike for the past 11 days in opposition to the mega-scale Conga mining project that residents say threatens local water resources. The 60-day state emergency affects the provinces of Cajamarca, Celendín, Hualgayoc and Contumazá. In his address, Humala said the government "has exhausted all paths to establish dialogue as a point of departure to resolve the conflict democratically" and blamed "the intransigence of a sector of local and regional leaders."

The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) said Dec. 1 it has received reports from exiled Tibetans in India of the self-immolation of a former monk in Chamdo (Chinese: Changdu or Qamdo) prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). The reports, that have been micro-blogged and uploaded on Facebook accounts in Tibetan, indicate that the former monk, named as Tenzin Phuntsog, survived and has been hospitalized. At least one source stated that the former monk was from a monastery in Chamdo township, named as Karma monastery, which some sources say was under lockdown following a rumored bomb blast at a local government building on Oct. 26.

Waves of wildcat strikes continue to spread across China's industrial heartland. More than 200 workers at a Singapore-owned electronics plant in Shanghai remained on strike for a third day Dec. 2 to protest a management plan for mass layoffs and a plant relocation. Blue-jacketed workers, chanting slogans and holding banners demanding management accountability, blocked the entrance to the factory owned by Hi-P International, whose customers include Apple and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. (Reuters, Dec. 2)

Thousands of workers across Greece walked off the job on Dec. 1, in the seventh general strike this year to protest government austerity measures. The strike came two days after the new Greek emergency government won European Union approval for a crucial sixth installment of bailout aid, without which the country would have faced default. National rail service was halted, and ferries were moored in their ports. Courts and schools closed, hospitals were operating with only emergency staff and customs officials walked out. Thousands of workers marched in central Athens, while youths clashed with riot police in the Exarchia district. Public transportation ran a limited service to enable workers to attend protest marches. (NYT, Dec. 2)

In a move initiated by the Obama administration, the US Senate Appropriations Committee voted this month to waive Bush-era human rights restrictions on military aid to the Islam Karimov dictatorship in Uzbekistan. The lifting of the restrictions, now part of the Foreign Operations bill, is before the full Senate and appears to have bipartisan support. (Eurasia Review, Nov. 12)

Hilary Clinton's arrival in Burma Nov. 30—the first visit by a US secretary of state since 1955—is being plugged as an historic step towards normalization of relations between the Washington the Southeast Asian nation. But the day before her arrival, Burmese army chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and his Chinese counterpart Gen. Min Aung Hlaing met in Beijing to sign a major new agreement of military cooperation. (BBC News, LAT, The Irrawady, Nov. 30; Vancouver Sun, Nov. 28)