NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from May 2007

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from May 2007

EL SALVADOR A MICROCOSM OF THE BIOFUELS MACROCOSM.
May 3, 2007... Having proved itself a worthy ally in the Iraq war by steadfastly continuing to send its troops into that inferno, El Salvador has earned a place on a new front in US global policy, the ethanol wars. US President George W. Bush has chosen El...

POWER TO THE PEOPLE, OR TO INTERNATIONAL PRIVATEERS; RURAL GUATEMALA CHOOSES.
May 3, 2007... Electricity came to the little village of Chel, Chajul, in the Guatemalan highlands department of Quiche in April, while elsewhere in the highlands the population turned out to reject the construction of dams for the Plan Maestro de...

POSADA CARRILES CHARGES DROPPED; TERRORIST GOES FREE IN US.
May 17, 2007... All charges have been dropped against Luis Posada Carriles. The accused and admitted terrorist faced only charges of immigration fraud. The US has refused to indict him on the more substantial charges stemming from the 1976 downing of a Cubana...

GUATEMALA'S ELECTIONS SET; LEFTIST ALVARO COLOM LEADS PRESIDENTIAL PACK.
May 17, 2007... Guatemala's Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE) has set Sept. 9 as the date for general elections and Nov. 4 as the date for a second round, if needed. The country will elect a president, vice president, 158 deputies to the unicameral...

PANAMA'S PLETHORA OF REFINERY DEALS COULD MAKE IT A GLOBAL ENERGY HUB.
May 24, 2007... Panama has signed accords that will make the country home to two new oil refineries. A consortium composed of US-based DuTemp, ControlSud of Luxemburg, and Ecosel of Colombia has signed a deal that creates the Panamanian company EDC. The...

LUCRATIVE ADOPTION RACKET THREATENED AS U.S. AND GUATEMALA RATIFY HAGUE CONVENTION.
May 24, 2007... Faced with disruption of its lucrative baby-adoption industry, Guatemala has ratified the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Under the terms of the convention, the government must regulate adoptions to ensure that babies have not been...

COSTA RICA'S SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE CAFTA CONSTITUTIONALITY.
May 31, 2007... Costa Rica's constitutional court, Sala IV of the Corte Suprema de Justicia (CSJ), has agreed to hear a case involving the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) that could scuttle plans to hold a popular referendum on whether to ratify...

NO MORE STUDENTS TO SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS, SAYS COSTA RICA'S PRESIDENT.
May 31, 2007... In the quietest way possible, with neither fanfare nor ballyhoo, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has agreed not to send any more Costa Rican police to the infamous US School of the Americas (SOA). Arias cited the school's history of...