A second attempt to stop radioactive water leaking into the Pacific ocean at the Fukushima nuclear plant by using paper and sawdust bound with a chemical compound failed April 4. Engineers are now resorting to a third plan: building mounds of silt around the reactor to filter radioactive particles. (Daily Mail, April 4) Officials in Fukushima prefecture have launched an emergency program to measure radiation levels in school playgrounds. More than 1,400 schools and nurseries will be tested over two days amid growing anxiety among local parents. Officials say there should be no risk to children if they stay outside a 30-kilometer evacuation zone. (BBC News, April 4) Efforts to protect Tokyo’s water supply from radiation have led to a run on Indonesian coconut husks. Granulated charcoal made of the husks is used in Tokyo area treatment plants. Prices for the absorbent carbon material have jumped 44% since the disaster started. (Bloomberg, April 4)

The Libertarian Book Club,* New York City's oldest continuously active anarchist institution (founded 1946), kicks off a new season of its Anarchist Forum series as Bill Weinberg, editor of World War 4 Report (and until recently a producer at WBAI radio), leads a discussion on the theme: "NEITHER NATO NOR QADDAFI, THANK YOU! Anarchist perspectives on Libya, the Arab Spring and the crisis in North Africa, and what has changed with the Western military intervention."

Peruvian indigenous forest dwellers have been forced to set up a guard post to protect a reserve established for "uncontacted" peoples, after the authorities ignored their repeated pleas for action. The Isconahua reserve on the Peru-Brazil border was set up with the support of Peru’s Amazon indigenous alliance, AIDESEP, to protect uncontacted Isconahua bands living in its forests. But the reserve has been invaded by illegal loggers, and numerous appeals to the authorities have gone unanswered. Now two local indigenous groups, the Ucayali Regional AIDESEP Organization (ORAU) and the Federation of Native Communities of the Ucayali and Tributaries (FECONAU), have united to create a guard post to protect the reserve themselves.

Brazil signed an agreement with Bolivia March 30 to fight cocaine production and trafficking, replacing assistance formerly provided by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, which was ejected from the country by President Evo Morales in 2008 for alleged political interference. Brazil will help train and equip Bolivian security forces, and deploy drone aircraft to patrol the border. The Bolivia-Brazil Action Plan was signed by Brazilian Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo on a visit to Bolivia, during which he visited Cochabamba department to witness security forces eradicating coca crops. (Los Tiempos, Cochabamba, March 31; BBC News, March 30)

Former Argentine general Eduardo Cabanillas was sentenced to life in prison for running the Automotores Orletti secret detention center in Buenos Aires during the period of military rule from 1976-83. Under "Operation Condor," a coordinated campaign of the Southern Cone dictatorships, some 200 leftist dissidents were abducted and held there—mostly Uruguayans, but also Chileans, Bolivians, Peruvians and Cubans. Two former agents of the State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE), Honorio Martínez and Eduardo Ruffo, were sentenced to 25 years each. A former officer of the military's Intelligence Battalion 601, Raul Guglielminetti, was given 20 years. (BBC News, Pagina 12, Argentina, March 31)

Thousands of members of Black and indigenous groups in Honduras marched on the capital, Tegucigalpa, on April 1, to commemorate 214 years since the arrival of the Garífuna people in the country (following their deportation by the British from St. Vincent), and to protest recent repression by the regime of Porfirio Lobo. Noting that the UN has declared 2011 the International Year for People of African Descent, protesters demanded respect for their territorial rights. “Today there is nothing to celebrate. We come here today to denounce that we are being usurped of our territory and living a second expulsion from our lands," said Miriam Miranda, president of the Black Honduran Fraternal Organization (OFRANEH). On March 28, Miranda was beaten by police and then allegedly tortured in custody when she was arrested at a march in Tela, Atlántida department. She was held by police for 12 hours before being turned over to a hospital with lesions on her stomach. (KoasEnLaRed, Spain, April 2; Revistazo, Honduras, March 29)

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) issued a report finding that 5,397 have been reported missing across the country since President Felipe Calderón launched his war on the drug cartels in 2006. The CNDH analyzed data provided by relatives and by state authorities on cases of those "reported missing or absent." The commission said 3,457 of those disappeared were men and 1,885 women, while this data was unavailable in the remaining 55 cases. The figure includes ransom kidnappings, as well as migrants whose whereabouts are unknown. (BBC News, EFE, April 2)

From the central committee of the Movement for Democratic Socialism (MDS), Tokyo, March 27:

Let us struggle for democratic reconstruction of eastern Japan, and for the total abolishment of nuclear power plants!
More than two weeks have passed since March 11th gigantic earthquake that hit eastern Japan. The death toll is increasing even now, reaching almost thirty thousand to include those who are still unknown whether safe or not. MDS extends our deepest condolences to all the victims in this disaster. Particularly, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant poses a serious issue as it continues to deteriorate its radioactive contamination. In Fukushima as well as in neighboring prefectures, shipments of vegetables and raw milk have been suspended since higher level of radioactive substance was detected from them. Tap water contaminated by radioactive iodine has expanded to encompass the Tokyo Metropolitan area.