Some 500 people, mostly students, marched in Asuncion, Paraguay, on June 17 to protest the presence of US troops in the country. The protesters marched along the Avenida Mariscal Lopez; they tried to reach the US embassy but were blocked by some 100 riot police. The marchers instead rallied at the intersection of two avenues, where they burned US flags and an effigy of US president George W. Bush and demanded the departure of US troops from Paraguay and Latin America. The protesters held signs reading "Yankees tapeho," meaning "Yankees go home" in Guarani, the main indigenous language of Paraguay. Protests against the US troops are held on the 17th of every month; the June action was larger than usual because it coincided with the final day of the Paraguayan session of the Bolivarian People's Congress, which began in Asuncion on June 13.

Some 2,000 Wichi, Toba and Mocovi indigenous people from throughout the northern Argentine province of Chaco arrived on June 6 in the provincial capital, Resistencia, and began camping out in front of the provincial government building after an effort to dialogue with governor Roy Nikisch broke down. On June 8 the indigenous protesters blockaded streets in the center of the city. The indigenous communities want to send 100 delegates to meet with Nikisch over demands including the return of thousands of hectares of land illegally appropriated to others; the removal from office of Lorenzo Heffner, mayor of Villa Rio Bermejito; and increased funding for the Chaqueno Chaco Indigenous Institute (IDACh). Nikisch says he will only meet with IDACh's directors, who are elected by the indigenous communities. The IDACh directors refuse to meet with Nikisch unless the community delegates can participate.

Brzilian lawmakers announced they are seeking to question an imprisoned gang leader suspected of having ordered the onslaught of violence that killed nearly 200 in and around Sao Paulo last month. Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, known as Marcola, heads the First Capital Command criminal organization, known by its Portuguese initials PCC. Beginning May 12, the PCC unleashed a weeklong Sao Paulo killing spree that included uprisings in more than 70 prisons and attacks against police stations with grenades and automatic weapons.

From Upside Down World, June 7:

About 300 demonstrators protesting the slow pace of land reform invaded the Brazilian Parliament Building June 7. The protesters vandalized the pristine building and destroyed a car waiting to be raffled off to Congressional staff member. Security officers called in by Speaker of the House Aldo Rebelo battled protesters who tried to enter the main floor of the Congress, while it was in session.

On May 29, some 600,000 public and private high school students went on strike throughout Chile, and thousands took over school buildings. On May 30, at least 500,000 students marched in the streets around the country. The protests were met with intense repression: riot agents of the militarized Carabineros police arrested 725 people and beat up two television camera operators and a news photographer. At least two students and nine police agents were also injured. The mobilization, called by the national Coordinating Assembly of High School Students (ACES), is the largest student protest in Chile since 1972. The movement, which picked up intensity in mid-May, is being called the "Penguin Revolution" because of the uniforms the students wear. (AP, June 4; Europa Press, May 31; Adital, June 6)

After protesting for several weeks with no answer to their demands, on May 18 more than 1,000 Chilean high school students demonstrated in Santiago to press for free public transportation, free university entrance exams and improvements in the quality of public education. Agents of the militarized Carabineros police arrested at least 560 students and used tear gas and water cannons to evict a group of students who had taken refuge in the University of Chile law school. Another 244 students were arrested in similar protests in other cities, including Arica and Calama in the north, Valparaiso and Concepcion in the central region, and Temuco and Puerto Montt in the south. (Clarin, Argentina, May 18; Cadena 3, Argentina, May 19) More than 50 students were arrested in a previous protest in Santiago on May 12, and a young Argentine citizen was expelled by the Chilean government. (Pulsar, May6 12 via Resumen Latinamericano)

After 63 days on hunger strike, four jailed Mapuche rights activists agreed to temporarily suspend their protest on May 14 after reaching an agreement with Chilean legislators. In exchange for an end to the fast, the government promised to give urgent attention to a proposed law allowing supervised release, introduced by Socialist Party (PS) senator Alejandro Navarro. Navarro and fellow PS senator Jaime Naranjo helped broker the agreement, with mediation from Temuco bishop Manuel Camilo Vial and from lonko (Mapuche community leader) Jose Cariqueo.

Mapuche rights activists Juan Patricio Marileo Saravia, Florencio Jaime Marileo Saravia, Juan Carlos Huenulao Lienmil and Patricia Troncoso Robles (known as "La Chepa") have been on hunger strike since March 13 in prison in Angol, Chile's Region IX, demanding a review of their cases. The strikers were accused of setting a fire in December 2001 that burned 100 hectares of pine plantations belonging to the Forestal Mininco S.A. company on the Poluco Pidenco estate in Ercilla. The court characterized the arson as a terrorist act and invoked a special anti-terrorism law; the four activists were sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay the company restitution of 423 million pesos ($822,717). (Adital, Brazil, April 13; Mapuche International Link, April 20)