NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from February 2003

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from February 2003

CAFTA NEGOTIATIONS OFF TO A BUMPY START.
February 6, 2003... The first of nine scheduled Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) negotiating rounds concluded in Costa Rica on Feb. 1 (see NotiCen, 2003-01-23), leaving some participants in "an atmosphere of optimism," others not so. Some...

CUBA WILL SEEK ADMISSION TO EUROPEAN UNION AID PACT, BUT HAS NOT SAID IT WILL ADHERE TO CONDITIONS IMPOSED IN 1996.
February 6, 2003... In an apparent policy reversal, President Fidel Castro announced last December that Cuba would ask for inclusion in the Cotonou Agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group. ACP members are...

GUATEMALA DECERTIFIED.
February 6, 2003... Continuing its diplomatic assault on the perceived intransigence of the Alfonso Portillo government (see NotiCen, 2003-01-16), the US has "decertified" Guatemala. Decertification is a diplomatic tool derived from the drug war that can carry...

PANAMA BANANA WORKERS BID ON A PERILOUS BUSINESS.
February 13, 2003... A banana workers union in Panama has decided to acquire the assets of the Chiquita Brands operation in the country's western section to save the jobs of 3,000 workers. Officials of the union of the Puerto Armuelles Fruit Company (Pafco),...

REGION: UNRELIABLE EXPORT FIGURES MAKE FOR CONFUSED POLICY.
February 13, 2003... Over the past three years, the region's exporters have bemoaned an "export crisis," the result of low coffee prices (see NotiCen, 2002-08-01) and a reduction in export of traditional and nontraditional commodities. Central bank figures have...

CUBAN HIJACKER GIVEN ASYLUM & PLANE SOLD IN KEY WEST.
February 13, 2003... A stolen crop-duster biplane carrying eight passengers from Cuba landed in Key West, Florida, Nov. 11, escorted by Florida National Guard jet fighters. The passengers and pilot Nemencio Guerra were released to relatives in Miami and the plane...

GUATEMALA'S JUSTICE SYSTEM ON TRIAL IN MACK CASE.
February 20, 2003... A suit against the state of Guatemala in the murder of Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna Mack (see NotiCen, 2002-10-10) opened on Feb. 18 at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in Costa Rica. The suit, brought by Helen Mack, sister...

CUBA: REFERENDUM LEADER OSWALDO PAYA COLLECTS PRIZE, CRITICIZES EMBARGO, ENCOUNTERS OPPOSITION IN MIAMI.
February 20, 2003... Oswaldo Paya, head of the Movimiento Cristiano Liberacion (MCL) in Cuba and chief figure in the Varela Project referendum drive, has been all over the news since he received the European Union (EU) 2002 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought....

NICARAGUA GOVERNMENT REFUSES ABORTION FOR RAPED CHILD.
February 27, 2003... The parents of a nine-year-old Nicaraguan girl petitioned President Enrique Bolanos to save her life. The child, Rosa, had been raped and was pregnant. The parents had been trying to get an abortion for the child, but the letter to the...

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC DODGES GASOLINE CRISIS, BUT FACES LONG-TERM ENERGY PROBLEM.
February 27, 2003... Ignoring the government's plea to hold off, gas stations in the Dominican Republic announced on Feb. 7 that they would cease to buy gasoline because of pricing restrictions that are leading to their "going broke collectively." The Asociacion...

COSTA RICA IMMIGRATION LAW TO BE OVERHAULED.
February 27, 2003... By David Boddiger [The following article is reprinted with permission of the weekly newspaper The Tico Times in San Jose, Costa Rica. It first appeared in the Feb. 21-27 edition of the newspaper.] Immigration law could soon get an...