As of Dec. 22 the US government had sent the Argentine human rights group Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo a completely declassified copy of a 1982 US State Department memo discussing the abduction of the babies of alleged leftists during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship. The document undercuts any claims by former members of the ruling junta that the abductions were not systematic or that the military rulers were unaware of the crimes. The human rights group had asked the US for the memo so that it could be used in trials of former de facto president Gen. Reynaldo Bignone (1982-83) and others.

After eight months of mobilizations, strikes and campus occupations, on Dec. 22 Chilean university and secondary students held their last protest of the 2011 school year, a march through the streets of downtown Santiago. As in previous demonstrations, there were clashes with the carabineros militarized police, who said the students didn't have a permit for the protest; some 10 youths were arrested. With an estimated 1,000 to 4,000 participants, the final mobilization was tiny in comparison with the hundreds of thousands of students, teachers and supporters that had marched in the months before.

Chilean judge Jorge Zepeda issued an indictment on Nov. 29 charging former US Navy Capt. Ray E. Davis with involvement in the murders of two US citizens, journalist Charles Horman and graduate student Frank Teruggi, in the days after the Sept. 11, 1973 military coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende Gossens. Judge Zepeda asked the Chilean Supreme Court to authorize a request for Davis' extradition from the US. The judge also indicted retired Chilean army Brigadier Pedro Espinoza Bravo, who is already in prison for several other crimes.

Talks are underway between the government in Argentina's Neuquén province and local indigenous Mapuche communities after a protest occupation of a natural gas plant owned by the Houston-based Apache Corporation. The plant was occupied Nov. 23 by members of the Mapuche community of Gelay Ko, who maintained a blockade of the entrances and prevented workers from entering. The protesters, including women and children, agreed to lift their blockade Nov. 26 after the government agreed to hear their demands. The company reported that output at the plant was reduced by 30%. The processing plant at Anticlinal, outside the city of Zapala in the foothills of the Andes, has since been surrounded by police to prevent further disturbances.

Women's organizations throughout Latin America used the United Nation's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Nov. 25, to highlight continued abuse of women in the region and the failure of governments to take steps to reduce it.

Tens of thousands of students marched in more than a dozen Latin American cities on Nov. 24 in the Latin American March for Education, a coordinated regional demonstration to support free and high-quality public education. The mobilization was planned by Chilean and Colombian students earlier in the month, but by Nov. 24 it had spread to include actions in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Participants stressed that students had similar demands throughout the region and were also united in their support for the movement in Chile.

Hundreds of riot police backed up by 200 navy commandos invaded the Rio de Janeiro favelas of Rocinha, Vidigal and Chacara do Ceu in the wee hours of Nov. 13. The next day, the elite Special Operations Police Battalion (BOPE) said they had uncovered the secret "mansion" of wanted drug lord Antônio Bonfim Lopes AKA "Nem" in Rocinha. "Nem" was reportedly arrested at the scene. The shanty-towns had long been controlled by drug gangs, and were a no-go zone for police. Authorities say they plan to "pacify" dozens more favelas ahead of the 2014 World Cup. (Noticias R7, Rio de Janeiro, Nov. 17; AFP, Nov. 15; AFP, Nov. 14)

A US Congress member, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), has written US president Barack Obama asking for the declassification of several US intelligence documents with information on the abduction of children in Argentina during the 1976-1983 "dirty war" against suspected leftists. An estimated 30,000 people were disappeared, including hundreds of pregnant women whose babies are believed to have been taken by the military dictatorship then in power and given to adoptive parents. Argentine authorities have been seeking in formation on these cases to aid in the prosecution of former officials and to allow children to be reunited with their biological relatives.