NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from April 2005

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from April 2005

LANDMARK TRIAL CONVICTS RACISTS IN GUATEMALA.
April 7, 2005... Guatemala's first-ever racism trial ended with a victory in a battle against the anti-indigenous prejudices whose roots go back to the conquest. Five very prominent and politically well-connected people made a big mistake when they chose...

CUBA & EUROPEAN UNION IMPROVE STRAINED RELATIONS, ENDING "COCKTAIL WARS".
April 7, 2005... Cuba and the European Union (EU) are moving in slow motion toward restoring full diplomatic and cultural relations, which were strained after President Fidel Castro's government cracked down on dissidents and hijackers in April 2003 (see...

HONDURAS' HIGH TECH LAND SOLUTION SHOWS LOW REGARD FOR GARIFUNAS.
April 7, 2005... The Garifunas, who just last year had reason to hope that the historic land-title disputes that threaten their centuries-long tenure in Honduras were at an end, now fear renewed battles for control of their properties. The problem, from the...

FRANCISCO FLORES FOLDS, EXPOSING RIFTS IN ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES AS VOTE FAILS.
April 14, 2005... El Salvador's former President Francisco Flores (1999-2004) withdrew as a candidate for secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS) on April 7, leaving Mexico's Luis Ernesto Derbez and Chile's Jose Miguel Insulza to vie for...

THE REGION GETS A COFFEE BREAK WITH CAVEATS.
April 14, 2005... The coffee crisis of 2001-2002 (see NotiCen, 2002-08-01) and beyond appears to have abated in Central America as world prices have at least doubled over the past couple of years. The benefit to Central America comes in large measure from the...

HONDURAS REJECTS CUBAN MEDICAL TRAINING; THE UNDERSERVED ARE UNCONVINCED.
April 21, 2005... Despite a chronic inability to provide and deliver health and medical services to its impoverished population, Honduras has announced that it will reject more than half the medical-school scholarships Cuba has offered for the coming year. In...

AFFLICTED NICARAGUAN BANANA WORKERS CHOOSE DEATH OVER INJUSTICE.
April 21, 2005... In Nicaragua, former banana workers, sickened over the years by the pesticide Nemagon, threatened in March to bury themselves alive or set themselves on fire to get the Asamblea Nacional (AN) to act on a US$6 million request for assistance for...

EL SALVADOR'S PROSTITUTES FEAR SERIAL MURDERS, DEMAND POLICE PROTECTION.
April 28, 2005... During two weekends in mid-April, several prostitutes in San Salvador were murdered. Two had their heads cut off. Another was shot to death. Police have offered hypotheses, but the women who work the streets and brothels do not believe them....

GERARD JEAN-JUSTE: ANOTHER ARISTIDE COULD HEAD HAITI.
April 28, 2005... As plans for elections continue to stumble and falter in Haiti, the US faces its worst nightmare with the possibility of a return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the president it ousted in February (see NotiCen, 2004-03-04). If that does not happen,...