There are striking similarities between Colombia’s and Mexico’s experiences with drugs, politics, and violence. 

While protestors threw Molotov cocktails and Mexico’s president said “We are all from Ayotzinapa,” commentators foreign and domestic weighed in.  It is also clear that the famous 43 are just the tip of Mexico’s iceberg of desparecidos. 

The mayor of San Salvador defended a tribute to Roberto D’Aubuisson on the eve of the 35th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero. 

The National Truth Commission (CNV) submitted the new list of dead and missing during the Brazilian dictatorship. 

Though Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos contends that the FARC is weaker militarily than ever, he and the nation received a shock when the FARC captured an army general.  The incident has led to calls for a cease fire during peace negotiations, something the president has refused to allow.

Most recent cases of torture in Argentina were reported in police stations and penitentiaries located in Buenos Aires province, a report says. 

Fernando Raymondi Uribe was murdered by what seemed very much like a hit squad, and Peru’s journalistic community does not buy the government’s contention that it was a robbery gone bad.  A press organization called for further investigation while others marched.

There have been calls for truth commissions, for the return of the students alive, and for action against impunity.  Commentators have dissected the government “crisis” and “emergency,” as well as the official uses of terror.  Mexico has been called before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, witnesses reported that their bodies have been burned, and

The FARC proposed the creation of a national census of victims; President Santos wants to speed up the process for returning land to peasants who have been displaced by violence and drug traffickers; and “Romaña,” the nom de guerre of Henry Castellanos, was sent by the FARC to negotiate in Havana.

Threatening gestures were made during the sentencing of dirty warrior Miguel Etchecolatz.