NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from August 2007

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from August 2007

GUATEMALAN ELECTIONS NEAR, COLOM INCREASES A SHAKY LEAD.
August 2, 2007... With just a few ticks left until Guatemala's electoral clock strikes September 9, center-left presidential candidate Alvaro Colom continues to gather momentum toward a first-place finish. One poll, released July 30 shows Colom more than ten...

GUATEMALAN GOVERNMENT SAYS MURDERS OF SALVADORAN PARLIAMENTARIANS SOLVED.
August 2, 2007... Guatemalan authorities announced a break in the investigation of the Feb. 19 murders of three Parlacen deputies from El Salvador. Investigations first led to the arrest of four Guatemalan policemen who were subsequently murdered in prison,...

MINUSTAH MANDATE EXTENDED IN HAITI, RECOGNIZES RISKS OF PREMATURE WITHDRAWAL.
August 9, 2007... UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will recommend that the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, stay in the country for at least another year. During a first-time visit to the country in early August, Ban credited the mission and its...

COSTA RICAN COURT GAGS UNIVERSITIES FROM SPEAKING OUT ON CAFTA.
August 9, 2007... Costa Rica's Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) has gagged the state universities from participating in the national debate on whether the country will become a member of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The Universidad de...

NICARAGUA HELPS IMF SEE THE ERRORS OF ITS WAYS AND ACCEPTS A US$107 MILLION LOAN.
August 16, 2007... A months-long staredown between Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is over, and it looks like Ortega won. Nicaragua and the fund have agreed to a new loan on what Central Bank President Antenor...

BRAZIL'S PRESIDENT FINDS ETHANOL A HARD SELL IN CENTRAL AMERICA.
August 16, 2007... Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited four Central American nations in a tour of northern Latin America that began in Mexico (see SourceMex, 2007-08-08). It was, for the most part, a "biofuels diplomacy" trip that was played in...

CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE A RECURRENT PROBLEM IN RURAL NICARAGUA.
August 23, 2007... Rosita, the nine-year-old whose pregnancy and subsequent abortion shook Nicaragua and Costa Rica in 2003, is back in the news, this time as the mother of a 19-month-old daughter. It is now alleged that the man who assaulted her in 2003 was not...

U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES HINT AT THEIR CUBA POLICY.
August 23, 2007... Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised the possibility of a somewhat-less-bellicose policy toward Cuba after the 2008 US presidential elections. He proposed easing limits on travel by Cuban exiles visiting the island and on...

GUATEMALA CONCLUDES MOST VIOLENT ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN SEASON EVER.
August 30, 2007... Guatemala's just-concluding electoral campaign ends on a historical note. Regardless of outcome, it will be remembered as the most violent in the nation's history. With still more than a week to go until Election Day, there have been about 48...

GUATEMALA CONCLUDES MOST VIOLENT ELECTORAL-CAMPAIGN SEASON EVER.
August 30, 2007... Guatemala's just-concluding electoral campaign ends on a historical note. Regardless of outcome, it will be remembered as the most violent in the nation's history. With still more than a week to go until election day, there have been about 48...

COSTA RICA LEADS REGION IN COURTING CLOSER TIES WITH MIDDLE EAST.
August 30, 2007... Costa Rica has re-established relations with Lebanon as a step in a process that will, said Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno, "allow for a better political and diplomatic approximation with the Arabic and Islamic world in general and open...