Some 12 Chilean social and grassroots organizations have formed a solidarity network in response to what they consider the authorities' failure to act quickly and appropriately when a 8.8 magnitude earthquake devastated much of central and southern Chile on Feb. 27. The network will work for Chileans to "reconstitute ourselves as an organized people to confront the present tragedy in an effective and dignified manner," the groups said in an undated statement posted on the website of Vía Campesina, the international peasant federation, on March 10.

Bolivia will gain access to Atlantic ports in Uruguay in exchange for a pledge of natural gas exports to Montevideo in an agreement signed in La Paz March 14 by presidents Evo Morales and José Mujica. A new road will follow the Paraguay-Paraná river system, while the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) will begin construction of a new pipeline between the countries. The regional grouping URPABOL (Uruguay-Paraguay-Bolivia) has approved the project, and Brazil is also expected to cooperate, with its Puerto Cáceres serving as one hub on the river route. (NNN-Prensa Latina, March 14)

The Chilean military is attempting to restore order in the country's second city, Concepción, amid looting in the wake of the devastating Feb. 27 earthquake. Troops have fired tear gas at "looters" attempting to flee with food and other goods from wrecked shops. A dusk-to-dawn curfew is in force in the city, where a major rescue effort is under way. Regional military commander Guillermo Ramirez issued a warning to would-be looters. "I would advise criminals not to mess with the armed forces. Our response will be severe, but within the context of the law," he said.

Several British companies are poised to begin offshore exploration in waters around the Falkand Islands—sparking a diplomatic row with Argentina, which claims the archipelago that it calls the Malvinas. Britain's Desire petroleum, which has just put a rig in place, has licensed six areas where it predicts 3.5 billion barrels of oil and nine trillion cubic feet of gas. Last week, Buenos Aires said it would require all ships from the islands to obtain permits to dock in Argentina in retribution for the move. The press in both the UK and Argentina are raising the specter of renewed conflict over the islands, the scene of a two-month war in 1982.

Meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jan. 24-29 for the 10th annual World Social Forum, 24 Latin American social organizations issued a statement denouncing what they called a "new, aggressive escalation of imperialism." The groups charged that there is an "expansion of the US military presence in the region" that "seeks, in addition to intimidating the political transformation processes in the region, to position [US] military force in strategic areas of great natural wealth."

A German court in Nuremberg has issued an arrest warrant for Argentina's former dictator Jorge Videla for helping to cover up the death of a German citizen in 1978, at the height of the "Dirty War." The Bayern prosecutor reopened the case in December and requested an order of arrest for Videla after the remains of Rolf Stawowiok were identified through genetic testing in early 2009. The local Nuremberg court had closed the case in 2008 citing a lack of physical evidence as well as an Argentine court ruling declining to extradite Videla for the deaths of another two German citizens. Stawowiok's remains were exhumed in 2004 and were found to have evidence of torture and bullets. Argentine authorities have said that Videla will remain in prison until he has served his prior sentence.

Another indigenous Guarani leader, Osmair Martins Ximenes, was killed in Brazil last week, the latest in a string of killings related to the theft of the people's land. Two other members of his community, Kuretê Lopez and Ortiz Lopez, were killed in 2007 by gunmen hired by ranchers, as they attempted to reoccupy ancestral lands. The Guarani of Kurusu Mba community demand that their land rights be recognized as soon as possible. They said "we are growing impatient with the delay; it is slowly draining us of our life, and exposing us to genocide."

Right-wing billionaire Sebastián Piñera led the presidential race in Chile's general elections on Dec. 13 with about 44% of the vote, followed by the candidate of the ruling center-left Concertation coalition, the Christian Democratic former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (1994-2000), with about 30%. The two candidates will face each other in a runoff on Jan. 17, with both seeking votes from supporters of former Socialist deputy Marco Enríquez Ominami, who came in third with 20%; he has refused to endorse either of the front-runners. Jorge Arrate of the Communist Party of Chile (PCCh), in fourth place with 5% of the vote, threw his support to Frei after the voting on Dec. 13. (Agence France Presse, Dec. 14)

Former navy captain Alfredo Astiz AKA "Blond Angel of Death" went on trial Dec. 10 with 18 other former police and military officers charged with crimes against humanity during Argentina's 1976-1983 "dirty war." Astiz, whose nickname came from his cherubic looks when in the 1970s he infiltrated human rights groups whose members were later abducted, is charged in the killings of two French nuns, and the disappearance of dozens—including an Argentine journalist, a Swedish adolescent, and the founder of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo movement, Azucena Villaflor. With his co-defendants, Astiz is accused of overseeing abuses at the Navy Mechanics School detention center. Dozens of people, among them relatives of people who disappeared, attended the opening of the trial, holding pictures of the victims. (BBC News, Dec. 12; AFP, Dec. 11)

Honking car horns and waving flags in a heavy rain, tens of thousands of Uruguayans gathered on Montevideo's main avenues the evening of Nov. 29 to celebrate the victory of José "Pepe" Mujica in that day's runoff election for the presidency. According to projections based on early returns, Mujica, the candidate of the center-left Broad Front (Frente Amplio, FA), had won 50.1-51.6% of the votes, against 44.4-46.2% for former president Luis Alberto Lacalle (1990-1995) of the center-right National Party. Mujica had been heavily favored in opinion polls, and Lacalle quickly conceded in a televised address.