News stories by Marcela Valente, page 24

The legal battle waged by an indigenous community in northern Argentina against the government over a project that flooded half of their territory highlights the fact that legal title to their land is not enough to overcome the marginalisation they have faced for centuries.

Recent convictions of those responsible for torture and disappearances during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship in Argentina have been praised by human rights organisations. But for every case that comes to trial there are many more facing long delays, and the main hurdle, they say, is the judicial branch itself.

'I had never worked before, and now I produce kilos and kilos of dried fruit to sell. They taught me how to dry peaches, tomatoes, peppers and grapes, and I decided on my own to try it with melons and pears - and they were spectacular,' Susana Robledo, a proud new entrepreneur from rural Argentina, told IPS.

Invoking the principle of universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity, the relatives of two Spanish mayors who were executed during that country's 1936-1939 civil war filed genocide charges in Argentina Wednesday.

Through their decades-long struggle to uncover the fate of their missing children, forcibly disappeared during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship in Argentina, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in their emblematic white headscarves have earned international renown. Now a new documentary shines the spotlight on the men who supported and encouraged these brave women from the shadows: the fathers of the Plaza de Mayo.

To live up to the 'Zero Garbage' law that went into effect in 2006, the volume of waste ending up in landfills in the Argentine capital was to be significantly reduced every year, with the ultimate aim of eradicating landfills by 2020. But environmentalists are skeptical that the goal will be reached.

Fruit? Maybe a banana now and then. Vegetables? Onions, if they are chopped up in a stew. Meat? No, because they choke on it, and will only eat wieners. Carina Ramírez thinks her children are 'strange': they eat nothing but bread, pasta and sweets, 'and that’s why they’re chunky,' she says.

The murder this week of Silvia Suppo, a victim of rape during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship in Argentina, has fuelled fears for the safety of key witnesses in human rights trials.

'Your president is willing to confront the wildest hordes of opponents, but not a football fan, ever,' Argentine President Cristina Fernández once joked.

'I wanted to take a self-portrait, and I thought about keeping a straight face, but it came out all weird, with these very long arms,' says Liliana Cabrera about the photo she took with a camera she made herself, out of a condensed milk tin, at a workshop in an Argentine prison.