The government of Enrique Peña Nieto would like to relegate the disappearance of the 43 “normalistas” from Ayotzinapa to the status of a “merely criminal” matter.  Yet their parents refuse to let it pass quietly out of sight.   

There are more than 500 mayors and former mayors threatened in Colombia. And the mayor of a small town in Peru’s southern Andes was gunned down over political differences, officials said, rejecting earlier claims that he was killed during a robbery. 

A new anti-extortion law prohibits telephone signals in areas near penitentiaries. 

A Mexican mayoral candidate was decapitated in the state of Guerrero, while the federal government arrests the Zetas drug kingpin. 

Journalism, a dangerous profession in northern Paraguay, also proved deadly in Guatemala, where a journalist was murdered, soon after he reported feeling threatened. 

There is increasing pressure on former President Uribe to join Colombian peace talk efforts; the FARC will not accept an agreement that calls for jail time; and the armed forces are trying to envision their role in post-conflict Colombia. 

The comments about “transitional justice” by former President César Gaviria in relation to the peace process have stirred debate and praise, even though many pundits say his proposals are “problematic and incomplete.” 

Enforced disappearances are often connected to police, but the government shrugs; NGOs say the government uses terror to curb social demands; and many observers say that in Mexico “impunity is the norm.” 

According to one of the rapporteurs of Colombia’s Comisión Histórica del Conflicto, both the government and FARC agree that “armed struggle was futile.” 

The government of El Salvador is looking to finance an ambitious effort to reduce “the high delinquency rate in the country, especially that caused by gangs.”