Former Argentine dictator Jorge Videla was condemned to 50 years in prison on July 5 for the abduction of babies of "disappeared" dissidents. The Federal Oral Tribunal 6 in Buenos Aires found that Videla oversaw of a "systematic practice" of seizing the offspring of dissidents who were captured while pregnant, estimating some 400 such cases. Videla was found directly criminally liable for 35 cases. Another former dictator, Reynaldo Bignone, was sentenced to 15 years on related charges. Most of the mothers were held at ESMA—the notorious Naval Mechanics School in Buenos Aires. Eight other former officers involved in overseeing the ESMA were also convicted and sentenced to between 10 and 40 years. Two were acquitted. Videla and Bignone are both in their 80s, and were already serving life terms for the abduction and torture of dissidents. (Clarin, Buenos Aires, July 6; BBC News, AFP, July 5)

Joined by mineworkers and other supporters, tens of thousands of Chilean students marched in Santiago on June 28 to protest the highly privatized educational system put in place during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The protesters say the government of rightwing president Sebastián Piñera is stalling in talks over their demand for free, high-quality education, a demand that triggered a seven-month student strike in 2011. Despite rain and cold weather, the march was the largest demonstration so far in the current school year, according to organizers, who estimated the crowd at 120,000. There were also protests in other cities, including Concepción, Copiapó, Valparaíso and Valdivia.

A group of US generals reportedly visited Paraguay for a meeting with legislators on June 22 to discuss the possibility of building a military base in the Chaco region, which borders on Bolivia in western Paraguay. The meeting coincided with the Congress's sudden impeachment the same day of left-leaning president Fernando Lugo, who at times has opposed a US military presence in the country. In 2009 Lugo cancelled maneuvers that the US Southern Command was planning to hold in Paraguay in 2010 as part of its "New Horizons" program.

Paraguay's Senate voted June 22 to remove populist President Fernando Lugo from office—a move blasted by Lugo as an "express coup d'etat." While saying he would abide by the decision, he added, referring to himself in the third person: "Today it is not Fernando Lugo who is receiving a coup, but Paraguay's history, its democracy." Legislators quickly swore in the vice president, Federico Franco, as Paraguay's new leader. The Senate move came the day after Paraguay's lower house Chamber of Deputies voted to impeach Lugo over charges of malfeasance—mostly related to a clash last week between peasant squatters and police that left 17 dead. The affair had already led to the resignation of Lugo's interior minister and chief of police. The Senate gave Lugo just two hours to defend himself in a public trial; he declined to appear, instead sending lawyers to request 18 days to prepare his defense. They were rebuffed by the Senate president, Jorge Oviedo, leading to the vote of 39 to 4, with two absent.

At least 16 people were killed and dozens injured June 15 in armed clashes that erupted as police evicted landless campesinos who had invaded a privately-owned "forest reserve" in Paraguay. The 2,000-hectare "reserve" is within the sprawling Morumbí hacienda, outside Curuguaty town in fertile Canindeyu department, near the borders with Brazil and Argentina. (See map.) The ranch is owned by Blas Riquelme, a former senator with the Colorado Party. Some 300 police were mobilized to the site, backed up with helicopters. Authorities said the campesinos were armed with M-16s and other assault rifles, and opened fire as police moved to eject them. The dead included six police and at least 10 campesinos.

An elaborate ploy by ranchers in Paraguay to trick an indigenous tribe into allowing them to build a new road that would cut their lands in half has backfired, with an official investigation now underway by the country's Indigenous Affairs Department (INDI). Leaders of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode people had been visited by the ranchers' agents, demanding they sign a "friendly agreement" (acuerdo amistoso) allowing the ranchers to bulldoze a road through the middle of their territory. When indigenous leaders refused, the ranchers allegedly forged their signatures and sent the "agreement" to government officials. But just days later the same government office received a letter from the Ayoreo denouncing the ranchers' strong-arm tactics. If built, the road would have facilitated escalation of the illegal forest destruction which has already ravaged much of the Ayoreo's land, including areas inhabited by isolated or "uncontacted" bands. INDI warned in a statement that the scam "could lead to countless violations against environmental laws and against uncontacted indigenous families."

Tens of thousands of Chilean students demanding education reform held their second large national demonstration of the 2012 school year on May 16, continuing a movement that shut down many of the country's secondary schools and universities with a strike last year. Protesters marched in Santiago, Valparaíso, Concepción, Copiapó and other cities; student leaders estimated the total turnout nationwide at about 100,000.

A US military training center in the port city of Concón, in the central Chilean province of Valparaíso, will be used for exercises "clearly oriented toward the control and repression of the civilian population," according to an open letter that more than 20 human rights organizations sent Defense Minister Andrés Allamand on May 7. The US government has spent $460,000 constructing the installation, which opened on April 5 at the Chilean military's Fort Aguayo naval base. UPI Business News writes that the site "is growing into a major destination for regional military trainers and defense industry contractors."