NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from May 2002

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from May 2002

U.N. PANEL INVITES CUBA TO IMPROVE HUMAN RIGHTS.
May 2, 2002... Departing from its customary resolutions condemning Cuba for human rights violations, the UN Commission on Human Rights passed a resolution April 19 that recognized Cuba's progress in social fields but asked the government to consider...

PANAMA: TRUTH COMMISSION DELIVERS ITS FINAL REPORT ON VICTIMS OF THE 1968-1988 MILITARY REGIME.
May 2, 2002... Panama's truth commission (Comision de la Verdad) issued its final report to organizations representing the victims of torture, assassination, and disappearance during the military regime headed first by Gen. Omar Torrijos (1960-1981) and then...

NICARAGUA: PRESIDENT ENRIQUE BOLANOS PRESSES ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN WITH ARREST OF PREDECESSOR'S ASSOCIATES.
May 9, 2002... Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos moved quickly to fulfill one of his major campaign promises by ordering his attorney general to investigate colleagues and Cabinet members of former President Arnoldo Aleman (1997-2002). The arrest last...

COSTA RICA: PRESIDENT MIGUEL ANGEL RODRIGUEZ CALLS FOR REFORMS IN FINAL STATE OF THE NATION REPORT.
May 9, 2002... By Tim Rogers [The following article is reprinted with permission of the weekly newspaper The Tico Times in San Jose, Costa Rica. It first appeared in the April 26, 2002, edition of the newspaper.] Reciting a long list of...

REGION: NICARAGUA & PANAMA QUARREL OVER BLAME FOR ARMS SHIPMENT THAT WENT TO PARAMILITARIES IN COLOMBIA.
May 16, 2002... The Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported April 21 that a shipment of arms from Nicaragua--ostensibly destined for the Panamanian National Police--arrived in Colombia in a zone controlled by right-wing paramilitary forces. News of the...

CONGRESS KILLS ATTEMPT TO EASE TRADE WITH CUBA.
May 16, 2002... Congressional leaders backed away from the most recent attempt to ease restrictions on trade with Cuba, dropping a provision in a mammoth farm bill that would have allowed private financing of Cuban purchases of food products in the US. A...

COSTA RICA: ABEL PACHECO TAKES OVER PRESIDENCY.
May 16, 2002... Abel Pacheco of the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) took over as president of Costa Rica May 8. In his inaugural speech, he set as his top priorities attacking poverty and corruption, promoting free trade, and making the environment and...

FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER GOES TO CUBA, CONTRADICTS ADMINISTRATION ON BIOWARFARE CLAIMS, EMBARGO, & TRAVEL BAN.
May 23, 2002... On invitation from Cuban President Fidel Castro, former President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) visited Cuba May 12-17, meeting dissidents, addressing the nation on television, criticizing some of Cuba's policies, and lambasting the administration...

REGION: RURAL HUNGER PERSISTS IN WAKE OF EL NINO'S ADVERSE EFFECTS ON HARVESTS.
May 23, 2002... Over the past year, the rural poor of four Central American countries--Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador--suffered marked increases in malnutrition. In 2001, an adverse climactic phenomenon known as El Nino destroyed agricultural...

GOVERNING PARTY IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC WINS MIDTERM ELECTIONS.
May 23, 2002... The Dominican Republic's governing Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD) won the legislative and municipal elections May 16. It will control Congress and most city governments. The Partido de la Liberacion Dominicana (PLD), led by former...

GUATEMALA NEWS IN BRIEF.
May 30, 2002... Many aspects of the 1996 peace accords have yet to be implemented, including reforms in the armed forces. Even as the military has been reduced in size, its budget continues to expand. The murder of an employee in a prominent human rights...

REGION: PLAN PUEBLA-PANAMA HAS ENCOUNTERED MORE OBSTACLES THAN MEXICAN PRESIDENT EXPECTED.
May 30, 2002... Almost two years after Mexican President Vicente Fox first proposed a project for regional economic development and integration between Central America and Mexico, known as Plan Puebla-Panama (see SourceMex, 2001-07-11) his government has...