Full Coverage: Central America

29.06.2004 After more than two decades of armed resistance and organized protests against the government, Yatama, Nicaragua's largest indigenous social movement, is trading in its bullets for ballots in the isolated jungles of the Atlantic coast.

24.06.2004 Next week, viewers in southern and central California will get a unique chance to enjoy the story of how fair trade coffee made it to their cups as they sip from it in front of their television.

21.06.2004 On June 8th, Guatemala was paralyzed by a nationwide strike in protest of the recent increase in land evictions of predominantly indigenous families, as well as a regressive tax proposal and the newly signed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
By: Guatemala Human Rights Commission

21.06.2004 Amnesty International lance un appel à l'Assemblée législative du Salvador pour qu'elle abroge la loi actuellement en vigueur et renonce à toute nouvelle tentative d'adoption de nouvelles lois anti-maras (lois de lutte contre les maras), qui bafouent la fois la Constitution et les normes internationales relatives aux droits humains.

21.06.2004 Arnold J. Oliver, professor of Political Science argues that the overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954 "changed the course of history". It was the Central Intelligence Agency’s first major covert action in Latin America and, it left a legacy that still contributes to violence, poverty and inequality in the Guatemalan society today.

18.06.2004 Regional health professionals have raised a voice of concern over the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States, saying it contains tough measures of intellectual property rights protections that will make access to generic medications nearly impossible.

16.06.2004 The Legislature Assembly of El Salvador should annul current legislation and abandon any attempt to pass further Anti-Maras legislation that contravenes the Constitution and international human rights standards, says Amnesty International.

15.06.2004 How has the PPP actually evolved over the past three years? What impact has the opposition among civil society groups throughout Mesoamerica had? Can the relaunch, replete with a new designer image created with the help of marketing experts, really revive the Plan? What lessons have grassroots movements learned from the PPP?

14.06.2004 Latin Americans remember Ronald Reagan as the president whose military and economic policies sent millions fleeing to the U.S. as refugees says Garry Leech, expert on Central America affairs. Reagan's policies escalated U.S. military presence in the region "to levels not seen since the mid-1960s," and his economic policies led to the rise of neo-liberal elites in the 1990s whose programs impoverished millions in the region.

14.06.2004 A Canada-based indigenous rights organization has set up a dating service to promote marriage among Native Americans, indigenous people from Mexico and First Nations People from Canada so they can pass housing, education and health care rights to their children.

11.06.2004 A new report reveals that in El Salvador sugar plantations patronized by contractors to foreign beverage firms employ children whose ages range from eight to thirteen years.

11.06.2004 Amnesty International est préoccupée par la manière dont se sont comportées les forces de sécurité le 28 mai 2004 lors des manifestations qui ont eu lieu à Guadalajara à l'occasion du sommet entre les pays de l'Union européenne et d'Amérique latine.

10.06.2004 U.S.-based groups are proving, through collaboration with Nicaraguan coffee growers, that environmentally friendly farming practices and fairly-priced market rates can go together. A successful organic coffee project which restricts the use of pesticides and pays farmers higher than market rates is now been replicated in other communities after its initial success in Jinotega

10.06.2004 New York, New York — The Rainforest Alliance has partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish the Certified Sustainable Products Alliance, a three-year effort to significantly promote and increase the sale of sustainably produced certified timber, banana, and coffee from Central America and Mexico.

10.06.2004 Coca-Cola and other large businesses are indirectly benefiting from the use of child labor in sugarcane fields in El Salvador. From 5,000 to 30,000 Salvadoran children, some as young as eight years old, are working in El Salvador's sugarcane plantations where injuries, particularly severe cuts, are common, according to the report, 'Turning a Blind Eye: Hazardous Labor in El Salvador's Sugarcane Cultivation.'

10.06.2004 While some people mourn Reagan’s death and celebrate him as "freedom's champion", NACLA recalls the havoc and brutal consequences of his military and economic policies in Central America - not to mention how Afghanistan's Taliban and Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda evolved from Reagan’s support for the Mujahideen. Worse still, Reagan’s spirit lives on in Bush’s White House.

09.06.2004 Governos de Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicarágua e Costa Rica ignoraram os apelos populares e cederam à pressão dos Estados Unidos. Países centro-americanos assinaram o Cafta, sigla em inglês do Tratado de Livre Comércio entre América Central e Estados Unidos.
Em: Campanha Jubileu Brasil

08.06.2004 In Honduras, the violence does not have an exact beginning date. Nor does it have a name or religious motivation, yet it has cost more children’s lives than in all the Gaza Strip conflicts between September 29th, 2000 and April 30th, 2004. There is nothing Holy about the war against poor Honduran children…

02.06.2004 Since Mayan times, corn has been at the heart of Mexican culture and diet, and has provided means of subsistence for millions of farmers and their families. But today, an influx of cheap of corn from the U.S. is forcing corn farmers off their land and into the cities.