NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from March 2002

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from March 2002

CUBA: REMOVAL OF CUBANS WHO INVADED MEXICAN EMBASSY SETS OFF INTERNATIONAL CONTROVERSY.
March 14, 2002... Twenty-one Cubans violently invaded the Mexican Embassy in Havana on Feb. 27 and asked to go to Mexico. Acceding to a request from the Mexican government, Cuban police and military peaceably removed them. By most accounts, the intruders were...

PANAMA: COURT DROPS INVESTIGATION OF HELICOPTER CRASH THAT SET OFF A SCANDAL IN PRESIDENT MIREYA MOSCOSO'S ADMINISTRATION.
March 14, 2002... A Panamanian court has found insufficient evidence to support charges against government officials in connection with the mystery helicopter that crashed in the Pacific Ocean last year (see NotiCen, 2001-04-05). Anti-corruption prosecutors...

GUATEMALA: PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENT & ASSOCIATES ACCUSED IN OFFSHORE BANKING SCANDAL.
March 21, 2002... President Alfonso Portillo, Vice President Francisco Reyes Lopez, and four associates have been making multimillion dollar deposits in offshore banks, according to a newspaper expose. Amid denials and foot-dragging by Portillo's governing...

EL SALVADOR: LEGISLATURE DECIDES NOT TO CHARGE DEPUTY ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY MASTERMINDING VIOLENT BUS STRIKE.
March 21, 2002... The Legislative Assembly decided not to proceed against one of its deputies arrested during a violent bus strike in February. At first, the focus was on the apparent illegal arrest of Deputy Orlando Arevalo and the subsequent violent invasion...

REGION: PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH HOLDS FIVE-HOUR SUMMIT ON TRADE, IMMIGRATION, TERRORISM IN VISIT TO EL SALVADOR.
March 28, 2002... In his brief visit to El Salvador March 24, President George W. Bush reiterated his interest in negotiating a free-trade treaty with Central America, a proposal that has delighted regional leaders who see trade as the way out of poverty. Bush...

COSTA RICA TO PHASE OUT DANGEROUS PESTICIDE.
March 28, 2002... By Lauren Wolkoff [The following article is reprinted with permission of the weekly newspaper The Tico Times in San Jose, Costa Rica. It first appeared in the March 15, 2002, edition of the newspaper.] Seeking to make a bold statement...