Chile, Latin America: Week in Review, Southern Cone
Chilean Congress Approves “Zamudio Law” Against Discrimination
May 11, 2012 By Staff
Top Story — Chile’s Congress passed a long-delayed anti-discrimination law on Wednesday night in a vote of 25-3, seven years after the law was initially introduced and more than two months after 24 year-old gay Chilean Daniel Zamudio was beaten in a violent attack from which he eventually died. Zamudio’s murder prompted thousands of Chileans, including Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, to call for expedited passage of the anti-discrimination law that had been languishing since it was approved by the Senate in November 2011. Chile’s House of Deputies approved the law last month. The law, referred to by many as the “Zamudio Law”, will enable Chileans to file anti-discrimination lawsuits and to add hate crime sentences for violent crimes.
Read more from the Boston Globe.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against controversial sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, for discrimination and racial profiling.
- About 300 Mexican women and their supporters participated in a march in Mexico City to draw attention to the plight of their disappeared children on Mothers’ Day.
- The ACLU issued a letter of complaint to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, alleging abuse and mistreatment of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Caribbean
- An offshore drilling expert said that the 50 year-old U.S. embargo of Cuba could complicate any emergency responses needed in the event of an oil leak when Repsol drills off the Cuban coast.
- A U.S. attorney charged 6 people for importing cocaine into Puerto Rico, where they allegedly made $67 million in profit.
Central America
- U.S. authorities arrested 28 people linked to a cocaine smuggling ring between Honduras and Virginia.
- Archaeologists in Guatemala discovered a 9th-century dwelling adorned with paintings and the oldest Maya calendar discovered to date.
- A group of U.S. Congressmen wrote to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, asking him to review the case of a U.S. Citizen and former Peace Corps volunteer jailed on drug charges.
Andes
- Peruvian Defense Minister Luis Alberto Otarola and Interior Minister Daniel Lozada both resigned following indications that they would be censured for an anti-narcotics operation against Shining Path guerrillas that resulted in 10 soldier and police deaths.
- Colombian authorities said Thursday that seven troops were killed in a FARC attack as they were carrying out an anti-narcotics operation in northeast Colombia.
- A U.S. attorney wants convicted murderer Luis Guaman to be extradited to the U.S to face charges for killing a woman and her 2 year-old child in Massachusetts. Guaman has been sentenced to 25 years in prison in Ecuador.
Southern Cone
- A 19 year-old Haitian appeared at a hearing in Uruguay to identify the former UN Peacekeepers who allegedly assaulted him in a sexual attack that was filmed on one of the peacekeeper’s cell phones.
- The Argentine Senate unanimously passed a new gender identity law that would permit citizens to change their legal gender identity without having to undergo legal, medical, and psychiatric evaluations.
- Brazilian police detained a California tourist who attempted to leave Rio de Janeiro without paying for his hotel stay and $3000 bar tab.
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