Full Coverage: Latin America & Caribbean

31.10.2005 An activist who asserted the right of Colombian citizens to live free from conflict was found dead last week, despite national and international attention following his disappearance at the hands of Colombian paramilitary troops on October 15.

31.10.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct 31 (OneWorld) - The murder of a well-known peace activist in Colombia has highlighted endemic violence in the Latin American country, and the vulnerability of people trying to resist it, despite high-profile steps toward ending civil war.

31.10.2005 The International Criminal Court, which the Bush administration refuses to join, reached a key milestone recently as Mexico--one of the U.S.'s closest allies and trading partners--became the 100th country to consent to its jurisdiction.

28.10.2005 BUENOS AIRES, Oct 27 (IPS) - The ongoing pollution of Argentina's Parana River by the pulp and paper mills along its banks seems as irreversible as it is invisible. But plans to build two similar plants on the Uruguay River, which flows along the border between the two countries, has thrust the issue into the spotlight, sparking growing awareness and increasingly vocal protest.

28.10.2005 Correspondents report on how governments in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America plan to fight a possible outbreak of "bird flu" in the face of poor public health infrastructure.

26.10.2005 Amnesty International today published a briefing expressing serious concern at the continued high levels of killings by police officers, widespread use of torture and ill-treatment as well as attacks against human rights defenders in Brazil.

25.10.2005 Les autorités haïtiennes ont dénombré 5 autres morts dans le département des Nippes à la suite du passage de la tempête tropicale Alpha, a confirmé à AlterPresse la Directrice de la Protection Civile, Alta Jean-Baptiste.

25.10.2005 Torture, killings by police, and ill-treatment remain widespread and unpunished in Brazil nearly 10 years after the creation of a National Human Rights Plan, according to a new Amnesty International report, citing a lack of political will and financial investement as contributing factors.

25.10.2005 O caso do desaparecimento da nora do poeta argentino Juan Gelman, María Claudia García de Gelman, durante a ditadura uruguaia, continua sem solução. Além dos restos mortais ainda não terem sido encontrados, como prometeu o presidente uruguaio Tabaré Vázquez, agora o governo argentino decidiu pedir a extradição dos militares acusados pelo seqüestro.

25.10.2005 Campaigners against gun violence in Brazil and around the world expressed disappointment after 64% voted ‘no’ to banning the sale of guns and ammunition.

25.10.2005 MEXICO CITY, Oct 24 (IPS) - Much less visible than the damages caused by Hurricane Wilma to Cancún's luxury hotels on Mexico's Caribbean shoreline is the destruction of the tumbledown shacks built well out of view of the hotel strip, which house the tens of thousands of workers who serve the tourism industry.

24.10.2005 Scientists warn that the Amazon rainforest, now suffering from the worst drought in 40 years, could turn from a carbon sink into a carbon emitter.

23.10.2005 With exhausted healthcare workers running out of supplies and infectious disease spreading, the Bush administration rejected the offer of 1,500 medical doctors and 37 tons of supplies from Cuba in the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina.

23.10.2005 The grassroots organization Grupo Curumim has gained international recognition for working to reduce pregnancy and childbirth-related deaths in northeastern Brazil. Through collaborations with traditional birth attendants the group has raised awareness about accessing safe women's health services.

21.10.2005 Two hydroelectric power projects in Honduras have become the first facilities to generate certified emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol.

20.10.2005 The government of Brazil has declared a state of emergency in the Amazon as a result of unusual drought conditions, which some believe are being caused by unusually high temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean.

20.10.2005 NEW YORK, Oct 19 (OneWorld) - Alarmed by the kidnapping of a well-known peace activist in Colombia last weekend, international aid and refugee rights groups are urging the world community to ask the Colombian government to take action against the paramilitaries involved in the incident.

19.10.2005 While forests provide natural flood defences against runoff, the massive flooding in Central America following Hurricane Stan earlier in October cannot be blamed on extensive deforestation, says a new UN report.

18.10.2005 A young leader from the peace community of Curvaradó, where civilians have attempted to assert their right not to be drawn into the conflict by insisting that armed groups remain outside their living area, has been disappeared--apparently by paramilitaries--just days after beind denied a visa to travel to a peace conference in Chicago.

17.10.2005 The Colombian government has failed to protect the basic human rights of millions by the country’s armed conflict, a leading human rights organisation reports.