Thousands of Chileans turned out in Santiago on March 30 for the funeral of Daniel Zamudio, a young gay man killed by a group of neo-Nazis. Many people brought flowers and signed petitions calling for an end to discrimination; almost 100 vehicles accompanied the cortege from the Zamudio family's home to the General Cemetery. Rightwing president Sebastían Piñera responded to the news of Zamudio's death by announcing "the government's total commitment against all arbitrary discrimination and for a more tolerant country." After criticism from the Homosexual Integration and Liberation Movement (Movilh), even the conservative Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Church finally denounced "the intolerance, aggression and violence" in the attack on Zamudio.

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)

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.

This year the United Nations designated March 8, International Women's Day, as an occasion to honor rural women, but as in previous years, many of the marches and protests celebrating the day focused on violence against women; others emphasized demands for abortion rights and equality in political representation.

Hundreds of relatives and friends of people killed or injured in the crash of an Argentine commuter train on Feb. 22 marched in downtown Buenos Aires the night of Feb. 28 to demand a thorough investigation of the accident and punishment for those responsible. Carrying candles, pictures of the victims and signs describing the commuter trains as "metal tombs," the protesters called for a meeting with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The march ended with a vigil at the Obelisk in the Plaza de la República. (Clarín, Buenos Aires, Feb. 28)

New confrontations broke out in Chile's southern Aysén region on the morning of March 3 when police agents confronted about 100 protesters at barricades residents had set up in the small town of Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez. Like residents of other parts of the region, protesters in the town had resumed blocking traffic a few days earlier when the government of right-wing president Sebastián Piñera set new conditions for negotiations.

In an official report, Paraguay's Department of Indigenous Affairs (INDI) confirmed this week that an uncontacted tribe is living on lands in the northern Chaco region owned by a controversial ranching company. Signs of the isolated Ayoreo tribe have been found on lands of the Brazilian firm River Plate. The investigation shows clear signs of the presence of the so-called "hiding tribe"—detailing footprints, holes dug to capture tortoises, and broken branches. INDI warned that the tribe is being "forced to flee to other areas to avoid being discovered." The evidence will have consequences for cattle ranching companies River Plate and BBC SA, which have already been accused of putting the lives of the Ayoreo at risk. Satellite images from 2011 revealed their destruction of almost 4,000 hectares of forest inhabited by uncontacted bands, and led to the companies being charged with illegal deforestation.

After blocking roads for 13 days to demand more resources for Chile's isolated southern Aysén region, local citizens' groups opened up the Presidente Ibáñez Bridge in Puerto Aysén on Feb. 25. The move came one day after the Social Movement for the Aysén Region, the coalition of fishing people, unionists, cab drivers and students that has led the protests, presented the national government with a new list of demands, asking for a response over the weekend. Iván Fuentes, one of the movement's leaders, told Radio Cooperativa that the protesters opened the bridge"first of all [to provide] free access to the community, and most importantly, to give a signal to the government that just as we are vigorous in our mobilization, we're also rational people who can carry on a conversation." (AFP, Feb. 25, via La Nación, Paraguay)