Full Coverage: Latin America & Caribbean

30.11.2005 Alcohol is the leading risk factor for death and illness in the Americas, it takes a disproportionate toll on the poor, and not only alcoholics are at risk; the larger problem is overconsumption by people who just drink "socially." Experts on alcohol abuse and public policy from 20 countries are gathered in Brazil this week to discuss ways of reducing its harmful effects.

22.11.2005 A coalition of NGOs has created a platform aimed at replacing the old model of what it means for a corporation to be socially responsible with a new business culture based on universal ethical values.

22.11.2005 NACLA explores the cultural role of the Latin American diaspora in today's globalized world. Other articles take the pulse of political change in Latin America and look closely at oil in Bolivia and Ecuador.

18.11.2005 TUNIS, Nov 18 (IPS) - "People say, 'what are you talking about: it's just a computer, it's just a telephone -- how can there be gender issues over technology?' There's still no understanding of how things like computers get into institutions and are incorporated into existing male-dominated power structures," says an Indian woman delegate here for a global meeting on making the so-called Information Age benefit all people.

18.11.2005 Two hundred El Salvadorean women who suffered during the recent floods and volcanic eruption staged a protest demanding greater protection against extreme climatic phenomena.

18.11.2005 With restless populations searching for better government and fairer societies, the political elites and the status quo in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador could be challenged during the 2005-2006 election season.

17.11.2005 The proliferation of cybercafés in Bolivia's largest cities, offering Internet access at relatively modest rates, contrasts sharply with the slow advance of this technology in rural areas, which depends on sporadic initiatives headed up by the private sector or civil society.

15.11.2005 Military aid is the less recognized arm of the Bush administration's policy approach in Latin America, says Frida Berrigan. While U.S. economic assistance to Latin America is declining, donations of military aid and training are on the rise.

14.11.2005 Campaigners have attacked a U.S. proposal that would permit the permanent removal of almost all legal rights from 'war on terror' detainees at Guantánamo Bay and every other similar U.S. facility on foreign or American soil.

12.11.2005 SANTIAGO, Nov 11 (IPS) - Environmentalists and the police clashed violently Friday in the centre of the Chilean capital when activists presented the government with a petition containing 18,000 signatures to protest a planned mining project on the Argentine border which could destroy three glaciers in the Andes mountains.

12.11.2005 From the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela to struggles for the rights of indigenous peoples, Latin America is changing. Hear how at a day-long conference in London, 3 December.

11.11.2005 Every Indian is looking at Bihar with a hope that it will have a stable government and will work in a de-politicised manner, which is requirement of the hour to change the image of Bihar. Today the word ‘Bihar’ conjures an image of poverty, backwardness, violence and failed governance, weak infrastructure, low literacy rates and a large population. A recent article is trying to dig the reality out. Click here to view the article

09.11.2005 Brazil and Mozambique are an ocean apart, but they share a common language and they face many of the same challenges, as young activists discovered at a recent exchange designed to improve advocacy strategies on sexual and reproductive rights.

09.11.2005 Nearly every country in the world joined to urge the United States to lift its four decades old economic embargo against Cuba in a record UN General Assembly vote.

09.11.2005 Alberto Fujimori, Peru's ex-president who has been living in exile in Japan since 2000, will face an extradition trial in the coming days after returning to South America to allegedly plan a return to Peru. Fujimori faces 21 charges in his home country--including authorizing a death squad--but has nonetheless expressed a desire to re-enter the political arena.

09.11.2005 Latin American women have largely rejected U.S.-driven free trade agreements, and the women's rights group MADRE explains why. From indigenous rights to environmental degradation, the list calls attention to the failures of neoliberal trade policies, proposes viable alternatives, and defines the four plans currently under negotiation between the U.S and Latin American countries.

08.11.2005 LONDON, Nov 8 (IPS) - An informal summit in London Monday night brought clear indications that little agreement can be expected at a meeting of ministers in Hong Kong next month to agree a new trade deal.

08.11.2005 U.S. and EU imports of illegal Honduran wood increase poverty, fuel corruption and devastate forests and communities, according to an undercover investigation.

08.11.2005 The Nasa people in Colombia demonstrate that a different path is possible: non-violence in a country enduring civil war, alternative institutions where the government is mistrusted, and resistence to the international paradigm of free trade.

08.11.2005 In an effort to scale up HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention efforts, PAHO hopes to stem the growing epidemic in Central America, paying particular attention to the effects of the disease on vulnerable populations such as children and the poor.