Former Argentine general Eduardo Cabanillas was sentenced to life in prison for running the Automotores Orletti secret detention center in Buenos Aires during the period of military rule from 1976-83. Under "Operation Condor," a coordinated campaign of the Southern Cone dictatorships, some 200 leftist dissidents were abducted and held there—mostly Uruguayans, but also Chileans, Bolivians, Peruvians and Cubans. Two former agents of the State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE), Honorio Martínez and Eduardo Ruffo, were sentenced to 25 years each. A former officer of the military's Intelligence Battalion 601, Raul Guglielminetti, was given 20 years. (BBC News, Pagina 12, Argentina, March 31)

With global eyes fixed on the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the Obama administration last week signed an accord with Chile to help the South American country develop a nuclear energy program. The accord focuses on training nuclear engineers, calling for cooperation in the areas of “operation and utilization of nuclear research reactors,” safety, radioactive waste management and scientific exchange. Chile’s Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno and US Ambassador Alejandro Wolff signed the accord March 14 days ahead of President Obama’s one-day visit to Chile.

Indigenous Mapuche-Tehuelche organizations and allied groups marched in Esquel, in the western Argentine province of Chubut, on March 10 to support Santa Rosa Leleque community members as they filed an appeal in a land dispute with Compañía Tierras Sur Argentino SA, a subsidiary of the Italian multinational Benetton. A decision by Judge Omar Magallanes favoring Benetton had been announced on March 1; Magallanes conceded the multinational 500 hectares where the community is located and ordered the Mapuche residents to leave within 10 days.

South Americans celebrated International Women's Day on March 8, the holiday's 100th anniversary, with actions calling attention to the murders of women, along with other forms of violence against women and failures by the region's governments to provide security from these crimes.

Brazilian police are questioning a man accused of driving his car at high speed through a crowd of cyclists Feb. 26, injuring at least 12. Video of the incident in Porto Alegre shows bikes and riders flying through the air as other cyclists scream in terror. The driver said he accelerated because cyclists were banging on his car and he feared he would be attacked. The cyclists, who were holding a regular Critical Mass event to promote the use of bikes, deny this claim. The driver, Ricardo Neis, 47, fled the scene of the incident but was brought in for questioning after his abandoned car was found. He may face charges of attempted homicide. (BBC News, Feb. 28)

An Argentine court on Feb. 28 commenced the trial of former dictators Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone for allegedly overseeing a systematic plan to steal babies born to political prisoners during the nation's 1976-1983 "Dirty War." The two are accused in 34 separate cases of infants who were taken from mothers held in clandestine torture and detention centers, the Navy Mechanics School and Campo de Mayo army base. The case was opened 14 years ago at the request of Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, and includes as defendants five military judges and a doctor who attended to the detainees. The trial is expected to hear 370 witnesses and last up to a year. With the help of the Grandmothers' DNA database, 102 people born to vanished detainees have recovered their true identities.

In a significant setback for Chilean prosecutors, judges in Cañete in the central province of Arauco voted on Feb. 22 not to convict 17 indigenous Mapuche activists on "terrorism" charges relating to a fire and an attack on a prosecutor, Mario Elgueta, in Tirúa in October 2008. The judges acquitted most of the defendants of all charges, but they found four of the activists—Héctor Llaitul, Ramón Llenaquileo, José Huenuche and Jonathan Huillical—guilty of attempted homicide, a common crime, in the attack on Elgueta.

Protesters in the southern Chile region of Magallanes y Antártica Chilena have erected road blockades, halting traffic and leaving hundreds of foreign tourists stranded. The strike was triggered by a government plan to increase gas prices in southern Chile by nearly 17%. On Jan. 11, two young Chilean women were killed when a truck smashed through one of the blockades. Protesters have repeatedly clashed with police, who have used teargas to restore order. The crisis has prompted a cabinet shake-up, with energy minister Ricardo Raineri removed by President Sebastian Piñera for mis-handling talks with the protesters. (BBC News, LAHT, Jan. 15; BBC Mundo, Jan. 12)