Thousands march in Montevideo
Thousands of people protested in the streets of Montevideo, Uruguay on the evening of March 9, just before Bush's arrival in the country. A march called by Uruguay's only labor federation, the Inter-Union Workers Plenary-National Workers Convention (PIT-CNT), drew some 10,000 people. A second march, organized by the Anti-imperialist Coordinating Committee, was smaller and more radical, with some of the estimated 1,200 participants wearing ski-masks, burning effigies of Bush and Uruguay's socialist president Tabare Vazquez, and spraypainting or vandalizing McDonald's restaurants, banks and other businesses; 16 people were arrested and accused of vandalism. (DPA, March 9; El Universal, Montevideo, March 10; Terra/Reuters, March 10; La Haine/Fogoneros report March 9 on Uruguay Indymedia)

On March 8, thousands of Brazilians marched to celebrate women's day and protest the visit to Brazil of US president George W. Bush, scheduled to begin that evening. The largest march took place in Sao Paulo, with more than 10,000 people participating (as many as 20,000, according to some reports). When a few demonstrators sat down to block the street, riot police sought to disperse the crowd with a barrage of tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets. Chaos ensued as the demonstrators, including many families with children, tried to escape. About 20 people were injured. Some demonstrators responded by throwing rocks at police; several agents were among those injured. Four demonstrators were detained; they were freed late that same night. (Indymedia Brasil, March 9; Reuters, March 8)

On Feb. 14, six indigenous Mapuche families (about 25 people) began occupying a plot on the 534-acre Santa Rosa estate in Chubut province, in the Patagonia region of southern Argentina. The Italian clothing company Benetton claims ownership of the Santa Rosa estate. With support from many other people, indigenous and non-indigenous, the six families have begun building homes on the land. "This is not a protest, nor is it a clandestine action. We don't intend to be owners, but rather to live as a community in our territory," Mauro Millan, spokesperson for the families, told Tierramerica. (Inter Press Service, Feb. 27 from Tierramerica via CorpWatch; Adital, Feb. 16 from Ansalatina) "With this gesture we want to express that we all have the right to design our own future, that our action can serve as a source of inspiration, as a contribution, as an open space for the participation of those of us who are revaluing cultural diversity," the Mapuche said in a communique on Feb. 14, the day of the occupation. (Communique from Pueblo Nacion Mapuche, Feb. 14)

From the New York Post, March 12:

Car Kills Woman on Birthday
A Queens woman was struck and killed by a car on her 71st birthday yesterday as she crossed an Upper East Side street on her way to celebrate with her daughter and granddaughter.

On March 5, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), the global union federation for oil workers, issued a call for "strong condemnation" by supporters of workers' rights of US-led military raids on union offices in Baghdad on February 23 and 25. During the raids, targeting the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), a member of the union’s security staff was arrested and office equipment was destroyed. On February 19, the Iraq Syndicate of Journalists was raided and computers and membership records were confiscated.

A suicide car bomber barreled into a flatbed truck packed with some 70 Shi'ite pilgrims March 11, leaving at least 32 dead. The latest attacks followed a week in which hundreds of Shi'ite pilgrims were killed trying to reach the holy city of Karbala for Ashura celebrations. The exodus faces the same risks. Blasts killed at least 15 others in Baghdad, a day after Iraqi officials warned an international conference that the sectarian violence could spread across the Middle East if not quelled. Outside the capital, militants attacked residents and set about 30 houses on fire in the mixed Sunni-Shi'ite city Muqdadiyah, Diyala province, forcing dozens of families to flee. Victims from both sects blamed the "Islamic State of Iraq," a Sunni militant organization that has taken over several other towns in the area. Residents said the organization had recently demanded money, weapons and oaths of support from the local populace. (NYT, AP, March 12)

The UN Human Rights Council High Level Mission to Sudan has delivered a critical report, accusing the Sudanese government of orchestrating "gross and systematic" human rights abuses in Darfur, and decrying that the international response has been "inadequate and ineffective." The five-member panel also urged that leaders of Sudan's government and militias be charged with war crimes. "The principal pattern is one of a violent counterinsurgency campaign waged by the government...in concert with Janjaweed militia and targeting mostly civilians," the report found. "Rebel forces are also guilty of serious abuses of human rights and violations of humanitarian law." Khartoum is organizing opposition to the mission's report. The Human Rights Council in Geneva will now consider adopting the report, but Sudan and its allies are trying to thwart it. Khartoum had blocked the team that wrote the report, led by 1997 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams, from visiting Darfur, so the mission had to rely on interviews with refugees across the border in Chad. (UPI, March 12; The Guardian, LAT, March 13)

Afghan drug lords linked to the Taliban get busted. Others get appointed to government posts. From AP, March 9:

Afghan Anticorruption Chief Sold Heroin in Las Vegas in ’87
KABUL — When the deal went down in Las Vegas, the seller was introduced only as Mr. E. In a room at Caesars Palace hotel, Mr. E exchanged a pound-and-a-half bag of heroin for $65,000 cash, unaware that the buyer was an undercover detective. The sting landed him in a Nevada state prison for nearly four years.