The Czech Republic's Prima TV is claiming evidence that members of the security forces took part in an attempted attack on the Roma ghetto in the town of Litvinov last week. Some 500 black-masked protesters shouting racist slogans marched Nov. 17 in the town in the country's northern rust belt where unemployment is at 12%, double the national average. Organized by the nationalist Czech Workers Party, the marchers threw cobblestones and petrol bombs at police, who fought back with teargas and mounted charges. Fourteen people were injured.

Bolivian President Evo Morales ended martial law in the northern department of Pando Nov. 23, more than two months after government supporters were killed in the region amid strikes and protests by the opposition. The decision by Morales clears a legal barrier for the government to hold a Jan. 25 referendum on a new constitution. "As of midnight, martial law was lifted," said government minister Alfredo Rada. Earlier this month, Bolivia's electoral court warned it would not allow the referendum to go forward if martial law was still in effect in the remote department of Pando. The prefect of Pando at the time martial law was declared, Leopoldo Fernández, remains under detention. (Reuters, Nov. 23)

President Hugo Chávez's Venezuelan United Socialist Party (PSUV) scored a string of victories in key state and municipal elections Nov. 23. "A new stage is beginning. For me, as the leader of the Venezuelan socialist project, the people are telling me: 'Chávez, keep on the same path,'" he said after the results were announced the next morning. But in what Colombia's El Tiempo called a "hard blow" to Chávez, the opposition won in Zulia and Miranda, the country’s two most populous states, as well the mayoral race in Caracas. Some 45 percent of the population will now be governed by policitians from the opposition. The PSUV, whose candidates won 21 out of 23 state elections in 2004, still controls 17 governorships. (AFP, Notimex, Bloomberg, Nov. 24)

Despite an intense rain, some 12,000 indigenous marchers from southern Cauca department arrived in the Colombian capital of Bogotá Nov. 21, and established an encampment in the central Plaza de Bolívar. Leaders declared that they would not return to their lands until they were heard by the government. On Nov. 24, the marchers started to return, after the government agreed to establish a commission for what Luis Evelis Andrade, leader of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), called "a dialogue table" with the government to arrive at accords to improve the life conditions of the indigenous." A core of indigenous leaders is to stay in Bogotá for talks on land reform, rural development, and the pending free trade agreement with the US. (El Pais, Cali, Nov. 24; Colprensa, Nov. 22)

The leaders of the 21 nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) met in Lima over the weekend, where George Bush continued to push free-trade prescriptions—prompting demonstrations at the US Embassy, where protesters in black hoods and orange jumpsuits representing Guatánamo detainees chanted "¡Bush fascista, tú eres el terrorista!" (Bush, fascist; you are the terrorist!). A large banner at the head the protest read in Spanish, "APEC is hunger and unemployment." (La Nación, Chile, Nov. 24)

Former Argentine police commander Mario Ferreyra, 63, pulled out a .45 pistol from his boot and shot himself dead in the middle of a TV interview at his home Nov. 22. Ferreyra, also known as "El Malevo," was accused of involvement in the kidnapping and torture of dissidents during the "Dirty War" of Argentina's 1973-83 dictatorship. He climbed at the top of a water tank above his house in Tucumán when he learned authorities were on their way to arrest him. When the crew from Cronica TV arrived, he made a brief statement, uttered, "Maria, goodbye"—referring to his wife—and then took his life. The station later aired the harrowing images, before a court order was issued halting the broadcasts.

A confrontation between the rival Mara Salvatrucha and La 18 gangs at Guatemala's central prison, on the outskirts of the capital, ended in seven deaths Nov. 22—with five of the dead beheaded and burned. When authorities retook the prison five hours after the riots began, one of the heads was displayed on a stick and hung in the bars of their cells. The revolt was started in reaction to the arrival of prisoners from another prison in the south, El Boqueron, which had also seen disturbances. (El Revolucionario, Nov. 23; AP, Nov. 22)

Somali pirates who hijacked a Saudi supertanker moved the vessel from its location at the port city of Harardhere, in the autonomous Puntland region, after Islamist militias threatened to attack them and rescue the ship. Both the exiled Islamic Courts Union and the Shabaab insurgent group issued threats to attack the pirates if they don't free the ship. "Saudi is a Muslim country and it is very big crime to hold Muslim property," the Shabaab's Sheikh Abdulaahi Osman said. "I warned again and again those who hold the ship must free it unconditionally or armed conflict should be the solution. If they don't free the ship, we will rescue it by force." The ICU called seizing the ship a "major crime."