After an 18-day trial, a Guatemalan court has sentenced former general Pedro Pimentel to 6,030 years in prison for his participation in the Dec. 6, 1982 massacre of 201 civilians--most of them women and children--in the village of Dos Erres in the northern department of Petén. The sentence, 30 years for each of the victims plus 30 years for crimes against humanity, was made public the night of March 12.

LGBT groups in Mexico City were planning a march on March 18 from the Angel of Independence to Puebla state's office in the city to protest the March 10 murder of transgender activist Agnes Torres Sulca in Puebla city and to demand protection from homophobic hate crimes in the state. Puebla authorities claim the killers were a group of about five local youths; one of the youths, Luis Fernando Bueno, was arrested in Mérida in the eastern state of Yucután on March 16 and was said to have confessed. (Adital, Brazil, March 16; Milenio, Mexico, March 17)

Tens of thousands of Mexican teachers in several states went on strike or took to the streets March 14-16 in three days of "Action in Defense of Education." In addition to local demands, the actions were focused on opposition to a proposed "national evaluation" exam that the teachers consider a step towards privatizing public education, and rejection of the 23-year leadership of Elba Esther Gordillo Morales in the National Education Workers Union (SNTE), Latin America's largest teachers' union. The actions were called by the union's main rank-and-file caucus, the National Education Workers Coordinating Committee (CNTE), with the support of some state sections of the SNTE.

In the first student demonstration of Chile's new school year, some 5,000 youths marched in Santiago on March 15 in support of the student movement's demand last year: free, high-quality education. The Santiago authorities hadn't issued a permit for the action, and carabineros militarized police, including some on horseback, blocked the marchers at Bustamante Park. The police used tear gas and water cannons, and hooded protesters responded by hurling sticks, rocks and bottles. Traffic was blocked with barricades in some parts of the city, and a bus was set on fire. By evening, 105 people were detained and three agents were injured, according to the authorities.

Leaders of the Ngöbe-Buglé indigenous group reached an agreement with the Panamanian government the night of March 15 that would ban mining in the group's territory and limit hydroelectric projects. The accord is the latest development in a struggle between the Ngöbe-Buglé and rightwing president Ricardo Martinelli that started in February 2011 and led to major demonstrations and the deaths of two protesters in February of this year.

Retired Peruvian Gen. Jorge Aquiles Carcovich Cortelezzi, now serving as chief of the firearms control agency DICSCAMEC, is being investigated by the special human rights prosecutor for Ayacucho region, Andrés Cáceres Ortega, for his involvement in the massacre of 25 schoolchildren and five campesinos by a military patrol in the village of Umasi (Canaria district, Fajardo province) on Nov. 27, 1983.

A day of pitched street-fighting on March 14 left three dead, some 35 wounded and 60 detained in Puerto Maldonado, capital of Peru's lowland Madre de Dios region, as small-scale independent gold miners continued their paro (civil strike) to oppose the government's announced crackdown on their activities. Thousands of miners blocked the city's streets, and attempted to seize the airport and the newly built Continental Bridge over the Rio Madre de Dios. Protesters hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at helmented National Police troops in full military gear, who responded with tear gas and live rifle fire.

Colombia's ambassador to Peru resigned March 14 after the Prosecutor General's Office ordered his arrest for alleged ties to paramilitary groups. Jorge Visbal Martelo Hannibal has been accused of working with paramilitaries while he was president of the National Rancher's Federation (FEDEGAN) from 1998 until 2004. He is specifically accused of collaborating with Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, AKA "Jorge 40"—notorious commander of the AUC paramilitary network's Northern Bloc. Martelo's defense assured the Prosecutor's Office that he will appear before the court in Bogota this week. President Juan Manuel Santos appointed Martelo as ambassador to Peru in February 2011. (Colombia Reports, La Republica, Lima, March 15)