Daily Report
El Salvador: students demand justice on 35th anniversary of massacre
On July 30, hundreds students from the University of El Salvador took to the streets, accompanied by professors, staff and other sectors of the social movement. The march, filled with street theater, papier-mâché tanks and a 20-foot gorilla, was a commemoration of the the military regime's massacre of student protesters that occurred on July 30, 1975.
World Bank approves mining company suit against El Salvador
In a decision with implications for the national sovereignty of member states under US trade pacts, a World Bank tribunal has approved a Canadian mining company's controversial lawsuit against the government of El Salvador. In 2009, Pacific Rim Mining filed the suit under the rules of the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), demanding hundreds of millions of dollars from the Salvadoran government, which rejected the Vancouver-based company's application for mining permits.
Bolivia: protests paralyze Potosí
The southern Bolivian city of Potosí has been paralyzed by strikes and protests for over a week, with roads blocked, businesses closed and the airport under occupation. All flights are suspended, and some 100 foreign tourists trapped. Among other concerns, protesters are demanding construction of a new airport, a metal smelter and a cement factory; and recognition of the disputed community of Coroma, now within the jurisdiction of the neighboring department of Oruro, as part of Potosí department.
Bolivia: civilian defense training begins amid intervention fears
Bolivia's government announced Aug. 5 it has started a program of military training for civilians at army barracks in the east of the country—a stronghold of the right-wing opposition. Army officials said the program will extend to all the country's military bases. Questions about the training program arose after a TV station broadcast images of young men armed with rifles taking target practice at a base in the regional capital of Santa Cruz. Also shown in the video were young indigenous women in traditional billowing skirts and bowler hats doing calisthenics.
Ecuador agrees to keep Amazon biodiversity treasure free of oil drilling
In a deal signed in Quito Aug. 3, the government of Ecuador and the UN Development Programme agreed to establish a trust fund to protect Yasuni National Park from oil development in exchange for payments in compensation for foregone revenue. Proponents say the accord will prevent the discharge into the atmosphere of more than 400 million tons of carbon dioxide that would have resulted from burning oil from the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) fields in the area.
Colombia: hip-hop artist assassinated —again
Community activist and hip-hop artist Marcelo Pimienta Sánchez AKA "MC Chelo," 23, was shot dead by unknown assailants Aug. 6 near his home in the conflicted Comuna 13 district of Medellín, Colombia. The father of a two-year-old boy, Chelo was a member of the group Hip-Hop Eskalones, and a recognized leader in social and cultural activities aimed at ending the endemic violence in the district, home to several armed factions. Chelo was the third member of the community group Red Cultural Elite Hip Hop to be killed in recent months. Andrés Felipe Medina was shot dead in Comuna 13 last month, and the artist known as"Colacho" was killed near the district nearly a year ago. (Red Juvenil, Boletín Alcaldía de Medellín, Aug. 6)
Oaxaca: land conflicts turn bloody
The long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) lost its hold on power in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca in gubernatorial elections last month, but the PRI's local apparatus of control may only be hardening—especially in the state's conflicted Mixtec region, where paramilitary groups terrorize peasant communities that have broken with the political machine.
Police disperse right-wing extremist march in Slovakia
Slovak police intervened Aug. 7 against a march by the far-right Our Slovakia People's Party (LSNS) in front of the castle in Bratislava. Ten were arrested, including Marián Kotleba, leader of the Slovak Brotherhood, an allied right-wing organization. Authorities allowed the event to take place, but police blocked protesters when they tried to march to the statue of Prince Svatopluk on the castle grounds. Local media reported that one detainee's head was bloodied.

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