Attawapiskat, Ontario
Natives freeze in tents: A spat between a native tribe in northern Ontario and the Canadian government has focused the country’s attention on the appalling living conditions in aboriginal communities. Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat community declared a state of emergency in October because her people were living in tents or ramshackle huts without heat or running water as temperatures plunged to the minus-20s. In response, the government last week put the town’s finances under independent management, saying that the $90 million granted to the town of 1,800 people since 2006 had been misspent. But Spence kicked the appointed administrator out, and the Assembly of First Nations supported her, saying the First Nations want “respectful treaty implementation and an equitable share of resources from their land, not imposed, punitive, unilateral action.” The community’s finances remain under control of the outside administrator.
Caracas, Venezuela
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New anti-U.S. group: President Hugo Chávez has formally launched his new anti-U.S. bloc, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC. The group, which includes all the countries in the Americas except for the U.S. and Canada, was envisioned as an alliance to counter U.S. influence in the region. “Only unity will make us free,” Chávez told the more than two dozen heads of state at the group’s first summit, held in Caracas last weekend. He said he wanted CELAC to become the premier regional forum, replacing the Washington-based Organization of American States, which comprises all countries in the Americas except Cuba.
Bogotá, Colombia
March for peace: Horrified by the execution of four captive soldiers by leftist FARC rebels, tens of thousands of Colombians rallied this week to demand an end to guerrilla violence. Wearing white, the color of both mourning and peace, demonstrators marched through Bogotá and other cities, holding pictures of the murdered hostages and chanting, “No more war! Yes to life, yes to peace.” President Juan Manuel Santos spoke at the Bogotá rally, saying, “It’s not just the government calling for peace, it’s all of Colombia. The people are sick of violence.” FARC has been fighting government forces for decades, but it’s been weakened recently by U.S.-backed airstrikes. Santos wants to negotiate a peace with FARC that will shorten the rebels’ prison sentences.
