A Brazilian federal judge on March 16 blocked a move to try retired army colonel Sebastiao Curio Rodrigues de Moura AKA "Dr. Luchini" for abuses committed during the country's military dictatorship. Prosecutors days earlier brought the charges over the abduction of five left-wing militants in the 1970s—the first criminal charges brought for abuses under the dictatorship. But Judge Joao Matos in Marabá ruled that the charges would violate Brazil's 1979 amnesty law. Matos said in his ruling: "To try after more than three decades to dodge the amnesty law and reopen the debate on crimes committed during the military dictatorship is a mistake." Federal prosecutors can appeal the ruling. (BBC News, March 16)

The corregidores of the Subcentral section of the Isiboro Sécure National Park Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS) in Bolivia's eastern lowlands voted March 19 to hold a new cross-country march on La Paz to oppose construction of a road through their territory. The "Ninth Indigenous March," scheduled for April 20, will protest construction of the next phase of the highway linking Villa Tunari in Cochabamba department with San Ignacio de Moxos in Beni, as well as Law 222, passed earlier this year to facilitate indigenous "consultation" on the road project. Pedro Vare, leader of the Indigenous Peoples Central of Beni (CPIB), said meetings would be held to bring more communities into the march. The Subcentral section represents 42 of the 64 indigenous communities in the TIPNIS. Vare accused the Evo Morales government of attempting to divide the territory's indigenous communities by distributing food, clothing, outboard motors and other gifts. (Erbol, March 19)

It made at least brief international headlines March 26 when Colombia's military announced it had killed 36 FARC fighters in the pre-dawn bombing of a guerrilla camp in Vista Hermosa, Meta department. Five days earlier, the armed forces claimed to have killed 33 fighters in ground fighting and air attacks in Arauca—near the area of Arauquita municipality where 11 soldiers had been killed in a FARC ambush on March 17. The claimed deaths come just as the FARC says it is preparing to free its last hostages. Armed forces chief Gen. Alejandro Navas dismissed suggestions that the military attacks could delay the releases, saying the strikes fall within the "rules of the conflict." (AP, March 26; WSJ, March 21; Secugo, March 18)

A Colombian judge overturned the conviction of a FARC commander March 29 for his alleged role in a 1998 massacre in which 17 civilians were killed. The judge in northeastern Arauca department ruled it was unlawful to sentence Germán Suárez Briceno AKA "Grannobles" for the deaths of civilians in a Colombian Air Force (FAC) response to the slaying of nine soldiers by Grannobles and his men. Grannobles continues to face charges for the killings of the soldiers. Authorities investigated the bombing, known as the Santo Domingo Massacre, and the FAC was ordered to pay compensation to the victims' families. The Colombian government has appealed a decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) to force the state to compensate the victims, claiming the FARC was guilty of the civilian deaths. (Colombia Reports, March 30)

According to figures released by the Mexican government March 28, drug-related violence claimed 12,903 lives in the country in 2011—down from the record-breaking 15,273 claimed for 2010. In releasing the new figures, the administration of President Felipe Calderón attempted to down-play the number, asserting that drug-related violence throughout the hemisphere last year claimed 150,000 lives. This caused some confusion in the Mexican press, as two days earlier, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta had used the 150,000 figure to refer to the total number killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006, when Calderón took office and began using the armed forces aggressively against the cartels. Panetta's comment itself caused controversy, since the more common estimate for drug-related deaths in Mexico since 2006 is 50,000. Panetta presumably misspoke—or intentionally exaggerated the scope of the crisis.

The head of Libya's Toubou people on March 30 called for international intervention after deadly clashes in the southern oasis town of Sabha. "We demand that the United Nations and European Union intervene to stop the ethnic cleansing of the Toubou," said Issa Abdel Majid Mansur, a former opposition activist under slain dictator Moammar Qaddafi. He accused Arab tribes in Sabha of bombarding a power station providing electricity to areas of southern Libya with a large Toubou population, including Qatrun and Morzuk. The first clashes erupted five days ago after Arab tribesmen accused the Toubou of killing one of their people. The first three days of fighting claimed more than 70 lives, and Zintan Arab militiamen from the north were sent in. A ceasefire was brokered March 28, although continuing clashes have since been reported. Mansur said his people are ready to revive the organization they had formed to oppose Qaddafi in order to fight for their rights in post-Qaddafi Libya—and raised the possibility of separatism. "We announce the reactivation of the Toubou Front for the Salvation of Libya to protect the Toubou people from ethnic cleansing," Mansur told AFP. "If necessary, we will demand international intervention and work towards the creation of a state, as in South Sudan." (AFP, Magharebia, March 30; AFP, March 27)

Presumed Tuareg rebels of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) on March 29 launched an attack on Mali's northern city of Kidal, using shell and rockets as well as small arms—and following through on a promise made in the wake of the coup d'etat a week earlier. During an interview with VOA's Francophone Africa service, MNLA second-in-command Karim ag Matafa said rebels plan to advance toward key cities of Kidal, Timbuktu, and Gao, and claim them as liberated territory. In Bamako, Mali's capital, thousands of junta supporters took to the streets on March 28, backing the military putsch that forced President Amadou Toumani Toure into hiding. Many of the marchers were apparently soldiers and veterans who felt Toure was ineffective in countering the Tuareg insurgency. Pro-junta protesters took over the city's main airstrip, forcing jets carrying West African presidents for a meeting with Mali's new military rulers to turn back mid-flight. Leaders of the regional body ECOWAS organized the trip to pressure the junta to restore constitutional rule. Junta leaders meanwhile announced on state TV that they have drafted a new constitution, and pledged to hold elections—although they did not announce a date. The new constitution supposedly bars coup leaders from running for elected office. (Daily Star, Lebanon, This Day Live, Nigeria, March 30; EuroNews, Jurist, March 29; VOA, March 23)

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 27 proposed the nation's first Clean Air Act standard for carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants. Under the standard, greenhouse gas emissions from new coal-fired plants would be reduced by about 50% over the life of the plants. The rule only concerns new generating units that will be built in the future, and does not apply to existing units already operating or units that will start construction over the next 12 months. The proposed standard follows a 2007 decision by the Supreme Court in Massachusetts vs EPA that greenhouse gases are air pollutants that can be regulated under the Clean Air Act.