NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from March 2004

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from March 2004

HAITI PRESIDENT WHISKED AWAY, U.S. DENIES ABDUCTION.
March 4, 2004... With the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Feb. 29, 2004, at about 4:30 a.m. local time, the democratically elected government of Haiti ceased to exist. The 33rd coup in the nation's 200-year history was a fait accompli. The...

CUBA: U.S. PATENT OFFICE CONFIRMS CUBAN-FRENCH FIRM'S RIGHTS TO HAVANA CLUB TRADEMARK.
March 4, 2004... On Jan. 29, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the US Patent and Trademark Office ruled in favor of a Cuban-French firm that sells rum in some 80 countries under the Havana Club trademark. The ruling undermines special-interest...

GUATEMALA: THE RAPED AND MURDERED ARE REMEMBERED ON WOMEN'S DAY.
March 11, 2004... There is little to celebrate in Guatemala on International Women's Day. La Red de la no Violencia contra la Mujer nevertheless had reason to turn out in the streets for the March 8 observance. More than a thousand showed up to march. Main...

WOMEN WIN PESTICIDE LAWSUIT IN NICARAGUA; PAYDAY STILL YEARS AWAY.
March 11, 2004... A Nicaraguan court ordered Shell Chemical, Dole Food, and Standard Fruit companies to pay a group of women US$82.9 million in fines in a lawsuit brought by campesinas made chronically sick by the use of the pesticide Nemagon on banana...

COSTA RICA'S NORTHERN WETLANDS VANISHING.
March 11, 2004... [The following article by Steven J. Barry 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.] A series of possibly illegal drainage...

HAITI INTERIM GOVERNMENT'S LEGITIMACY UNDER FIRE.
March 18, 2004... The exile of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide waxes ever more regionally polarizing. As Aristide touched down in Jamaica to begin a period of temporary exile, the "interim government" of Haiti withdrew its ambassador from Jamaica....

REGION RECONSIDERS TROOPS IN IRAQ AFTER SPANISH ELECTION.
March 18, 2004... Signaling the prospect of further diminution of the coalition of the willing, Honduras will follow Spain's lead in withdrawing its troops from Iraq. Honduran Defense Minister Federico Breve, who made the announcement, said the decision...

ARENA AND U.S. WIN IN EL SALVADOR, F.M.L.N. AND ISRAEL LOSE.
March 25, 2004... What has been called one of the most pro-US governments in the hemisphere will remain so. Tony Saca, candidate of the rightist Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA), has won El Salvador's presidential election handily over Schafik Handal,...

REGIONAL CUSTOMS UNION MOVES CLOSER TO FRUITION.
March 25, 2004... Regional integration came closer to completion on March 10, when the Guatemala-El Salvador border was thrown open to the free flow of people and goods. The event followed an agreement between the two countries on Feb. 26 at a meeting of the...