NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from January 2004

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from January 2004

GUATEMALA ELECTS BERGER WITHOUT LEGISLATIVE MAJORITY.
January 8, 2004... Four years after leaving office as mayor of Guatemala City and swearing he would never return to politics, Oscar Berger won a runoff election on Dec. 28 and is now president of Guatemala. Berger will be sworn in Jan. 14. The pro-business,...

REGION: HONDURAN WITHDRAWAL FROM PARLACEN LOOMS.
January 8, 2004... Honduras has threatened to withdraw from Parlacen, the Central American Parliament, picking the scab from the regional sore. Outgoing President of Guatemala Alfonso Portillo made a similar threat three years ago, when he was still years away...

REGIONAL ECONOMIES DELIVER MIXED, MODERATE-TO-POOR RESULTS.
January 15, 2004... The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has released its Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean for 2003. This year's edition of the annual publication found the regional economy...

CUBAN ECONOMY SHOWED MODEST GROWTH IN 2003.
January 15, 2004... Cuban Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez announced at the end of December that GDP had grown by 2.6%, a substantial improvement over the previous year and more than had been predicted. In a December report to the National Assembly,...

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC TAKES A STEP TOWARD C.A.F.T.A.
January 22, 2004... The Dominican Republic opened negotiations with the US on Jan. 14 on a bilateral trade agreement. US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick participated in this, the first round, scheduled to run through Jan. 16. If the talks end in an...

PANAMANIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES DIFFER, BUT NOT ON PLATFORMS.
January 22, 2004... As Panama looks toward presidential elections on May 2, a clear front-runner is emerging among four candidates whose platforms don't differ very much. All appear to have agreed that unemployment, health, education, infrastructure, corruption,...

COSTA RICA-U.S. TRADE PACT SIGNED BUT FACES UNCERTAIN FUTURE.
January 29, 2004... Costa Rica and the US have concluded a free-trade agreement (FTA) after a bilateral negotiation made necessary by Costa Rica's withdrawal from the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) last month (see NotiCen, 2003-12-18). The talks...

U.S. LAUNCHES NEW BARRAGE OF ACCUSATIONS AGAINST CUBA.
January 29, 2004... The administration of US President George W. Bush has begun accusing Cuba of forging an anti-US alliance with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. This is a somewhat altered version of claims persistently put out by Chavez's opposition in...