NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from December 2005

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from December 2005

HONDURAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION THROWS COUNTRY INTO CRISIS.
December 1, 2005... The Honduran Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE) has called the Nov. 27 presidential elections for Manuel "Mel" Zelaya of the opposition Partido Liberal (PL). Zelaya appeared to have beaten governing Partido Nacional (PN) candidate Porfirio Lobo...

HAITI TO MISS CONSTITUTIONAL DEADLINE AS ELECTIONS ARE POSTPONED AGAIN.
December 1, 2005... The Haitian interim government has once again postponed presidential elections (see NotiCen, 2005-10-06). The new date is Jan. 8, 2006, with a runoff scheduled for Feb. 15. The new date means that the race to have a permanent government in...

GUATEMALA DRUG CZAR BUSTED; GOVERNMENT FAILS TO DELIVER ON DRUG-WAR PROMISES.
December 1, 2005... Guatemala is once again in deep difficulties because of its international anti-drug performance. A promise President Oscar Berger made upon coming into office in 2004, to undo the damage of his predecessor, Alfonso Portillo (2000-2004), has...

RETHINKING THE REGION'S DEFORESTATION: REPORTS DEBUNK THE COMMON WISDOM.
December 8, 2005... Central American and other environmentalists who have been claiming that deforestation is on the increase and that it accounts for increases in the severity of weather-borne disasters may be barking up the wrong tree. At least two recent...

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REFORMS FAIL, COULD COST THE COUNTRY CAFTA AND IMF FUNDS.
December 8, 2005... The Dominican Republic came late to the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) party, but ratified it nonetheless, largely because, as President Leonel Fernandez was to say later, the country had no other market for its goods. But now...

MANUEL ZELAYA TO HEAD HONDURAS AND REDEFINE HIS PARTY.
December 15, 2005... Manuel "Mel" Zelaya of the Partido Liberal (PL) is president-elect of Honduras. His victory was suspected soon after the Nov. 27 election (see NotiCen, 2005-12-01), but the failure of the Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE) to produce the data led...

GUATEMALAN MASTERPIECE PUSHES BACK DATES OF MAYAN CIVILIZATION.
December 15, 2005... A chance 2001 archeological discovery in Guatemala has revealed itself just recently to be a spectacular find, likened by archeologist William Saturno of the University of New Hampshire to the Sistine Chapel. The find is a wall in an...