Uruguay: Hundreds Protest Against Supreme Court Rulings

Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered in Montevideo, Uruguay to protest against a pair of recent controversial decisions by the country’s Supreme Court.

“Supreme Court rulings are celebrated by assassins, torturers and large landowners,” read one of the signs held at the protest on Monday afternoon.

The protest is being held days after the top court declared unconstitutional a law that “that made new rights trials possible in spite of a 1986 amnesty law shielding most officers from prosecution”.

The decision, which was backed by four of the five Supreme Court judges, also halted over fifty trials demanding compensations for human rights crimes.  However those military and police officers already sentenced will remain imprisoned.

Students, labor unions and human rights activists are believed to be participating in the demonstration that is organized in part by politicians allied to the ruling leftist Frente Amplio bloc.  Despite the backing of the protests by the coalition some Frente politicos are divided regarding how to deal with the Supreme Court:

Weekend Headlines: July 16-17, 2011

* Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez traveled to Cuba for chemotherapy treatment but not before delegating some of his powers to vice president Elias Jaua and finance minister Jorge Giordani.

* Uruguay: Former dictator Juan Maria Bordaberry died this morning while under house arrest for human rights abuses during his rule.

* Honduras: A local radio manager who was gunned down on Thursday became the twelfth Honduran journalist to be killed over the past eighteen months.

* South America: Saturday’s Copa America quarterfinals action produced a pair of upsets as Uruguay downed hosts Argentina via penalties while Peru capitalized on Colombia’s mistakes.

* Argentina: The Iranian government said that it would cooperate with an Argentine government probe into a 1994 Buenos Aires bombing allegedly masterminded by Iranian officials.

* Paraguay: The opposition-controlled legislature rejected a proposal that would’ve allowed President Fernando Lugo to run for reelection.

Image – AP via The Guardian (“Hugo Chavez has reassured the Venezuelan people that he is confident he will recover from his cancer.”)
Online Sources- Reuters, Huffington Post, BBC News, Reporters Without Borders, Buenos Aires Herald, UPI, The Guardian, Bloomberg