NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from March 2006

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from March 2006

ARIAS WINS NARROWLY IN COSTA RICA; CAFTA COULD CLOUD HIS PRESIDENCY.
March 2, 2006... By the second-narrowest of margins, Oscar Arias won the Costa Rican presidential elections. He is to take office May 8. He won by 1.2%, just 18,167 votes, over rival Otton Solis. Arias got 40.92% of the total to Solis' 39.8%. This was the...

EL SALVADOR FIRST TO IMPLEMENT CAFTA, AND FIRST TO FEEL THE HEAVY HAND OF ITS NEW PARTNER.
March 2, 2006... First to ratify the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), El Salvador became on March 1 the first and only country in which the agreement is actually in force. US Trade Representative (USTR) Rob Portman announced the event after El...

GUATEMALAN TEACHERS RESIST NEOLIBERAL TRANSFORMATION OF LIBERAL EDUCATION.
March 9, 2006... The Guatemalan government has violated the universal right to education and the right to a free education. This is the assessment of a report from the country's Procuraduria de los Derechos Humanos (PDH), based on a countrywide study. PDH...

NICARAGUA'S POLITICOS PLUMB CARIBBEAN COAST ELECTION FOR NATIONAL IMPLICATIONS.
March 9, 2006... Regional elections for councilors (regional legislators) were held in the autonomous zones of Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast March 5. Voting was light. People in the two zones, the Region Autonoma del Atlantico Norte (RAAN) and the Region...

GUATEMALA'S CATHOLIC CHURCH ELECTS AN INDEFATIGABLE LEADER; RESUMES SOCIAL-ACTIVIST ROLE.
March 16, 2006... The left side of Guatemala's bifurcated Catholic Church got a boost in January with the election of Alvaro Ramazzini, bishop of San Marcos, as new president of the Conferencia Episcopal de Guatemala (CEG). Ramazzini will serve in the position...

ELECTIONS A DISAPPOINTMENT FOR SACA IN EL SALVADOR; TIGHT VICTORY FOR FMLN IN THE CAPITAL.
March 16, 2006... El Salvador's March 12 elections have resulted in a narrow, disputed mayoral victory for the Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN), and a new Congress that falls short of President Antonio Saca's hopes for an absolute majority for...

THE SHADOW OF WAL-MART LENGTHENS IN CENTRAL AMERICA.
March 23, 2006... Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has announced it has upped its stake in the Central American Holding Company (CARHCO). In September 2005, the retailing Gargantua bought 33.33% of the company. Now it owns a controlling interest, 51%. CARHCO owns 375...

LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN EL SALVADOR FIGHT GOLD MINING.
March 23, 2006... The community of San Jose Las Flores in Chalatenango, El Salvador, is sitting on a gold mine. The discovery of the metal beneath their feet is seen by most here as a disaster in the making, however, and they want no part of it. The Canadian...

EL SALVADOR'S MAYORS SIDESTEP GOVERNMENT ON UNIQUE FUEL DEAL WITH VENEZUELA.
March 30, 2006... El Salvador's Asociacion Internacional de Energia para El Salvador (ENEPASA) has closed a deal with Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) that eliminates the intermediary and promises to funnel less expensive fuel into the gas tanks of the country's...

HONDURAN GOVERNMENT SIDESTEPS TRANSNATIONALS TO SEEK SINGLE SOURCE OF FUEL.
March 30, 2006... Fed up with fuel prices said to be the highest in Central America, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is sidestepping the companies that control the importation and distribution of fuels and putting the business out to international bid. The...

CUBA THWARTS U.S. POLICY TO PLAY IN WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC, BUT IS BARRED FROM DONATING WINNINGS TO KATRINA VICTIMS.
March 30, 2006... The just-played, first-ever World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international championship originally planned to be the real World Series, after the world began to notice that nations other than the US were playing better baseball than were the...