URUGUAY: 22 May UPDATE: 8,000 March Again For "Disappeared" After Lawmakers Reject Military Amnesty Change; Protection Continues.

BBC

     Lawmakers have rejected removing an amnesty that has protected military officers from prosecution for decades.
     President Jose Mujica won in his effort to uphold the amnesty...even though he was imprisoned from 1972-85 under military rule.
     Mujica had warned of the "political dangers" of scrapping it.
     Human rights groups have attacked the amnesty and Mujica's support of it.
     "Uruguay has a moral and legal obligation to provide justice to those who suffered from torture and other abuses - not to protect their torturers from investigation and trial," said an Amnesty Intl. spokesman.

ALSO:   In Montevideo...an estimated 8,000 marched in the annual “March of Silence,”(below) to remember their "disappeared" and murdered friends and relatives.

GUATEMALA: 8 MAR UPDATE: Amnesty Intl. Calls Out Government For Failure To Stop Femicides; PBS' Suarez On Brutality Towards Women.

CNN /
   Some 717 women were killed there in 2009, many raped and mutilated.
   The UN reports that nearly 45 percent of women have suffered some kind of violence in their lifetimes.
    It has not changed recently.
   More than 685 women were reported killed in 2010.
   Now Amnesty International is chiding the government for its failure to curb the violence.
  "Women in Guatemala are dying as a consequence of the state's failure to protect them," said Sebastian Elgueta. "High levels of violence and a lack of political will, along with a track record of impunity, mean authorities are both unable to pursue perpetrators, or just don't care. Perpetrators know they will not be punished."
   "The gender of the woman is often a determining factor in the motive of the crime, the way in which the authorities respond to the case and the way women are killed," said A.I.
 AND... NEW!:  10:19 Video report with Transcript:
  In the first of 2 reports, Ray Suarez details Guatemala's history of violence against women
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june11/guatemala_03-07.html

EUROLAND: Human Rights Groups Say Roma Are Losing Discrimination Protection.

GUARDIAN /    Human rights groups are denouncing France's decision to expel illegal Roma immigrants and destroy hundreds of their encampments. Elsewhere in the EU, Copenhagen has asked for government assistance to deport up to 400 Roma, and it was revealed that Swedish police expelled Roma in breach of its own and EU laws. Amnesty International claims the EU had "turned a blind eye" to what it called a "serious breach of human rights" towards Europe's Roma, who are roughly estimated to number about 16 million.

CUBA: 11 Prisoners And Families Depart For Spain; How Many Remain?

NYTIMES/    The first of 11 newly released dissident prisoners and their families leave Cuba tonight for Spain. It is expected that the number of relatives traveling with the prisoners will number 65. They will depart on two planes. A Spanish refugee organization will help the immigrants to find housing. "As free citizens, they will enjoy all their rights," said Spain's Foreign Minister Angel Moratinos.
    Meanwhile, many are asking about the release of the OTHER prisoners. There's no agreement about how many remain after the completed release of the reported 52. A low number is 115. Human Rights Watch doesn't have an exact number, but believes scores of people who arrested for the vague crime of “dangerousness” must be included. That number may be in the thousands.