NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from November 2004

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from November 2004

MYTHS SHATTERED, A CORRUPT COSTA RICA RETHINKS HISTORY.
November 4, 2004... Jose Maria Figueres, ex-president of Costa Rica (1994-1998), has stepped down from his post as director of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He is the third of his country's three past presidents to be involved in a corruption scandal, following...

REGION UNITED AGAINST EU BANANA-TARIFF HIKE.
November 4, 2004... The European Union (EU) has proposed a tariff on banana imports of 230 euros (US$276) per metric ton. The announcement from Brussels on Oct. 27 said the new duty would go into effect as part of a revised system in 2006. The new single-tariff...

CENTRAL AMERICA MOVES THROUGH THE COMPLICATIONS OF SENDING TROOPS TO HAITI.
November 4, 2004... Several Central American chiefs of state, meeting in mid-October, discussed sending 500 troops to Haiti as a contribution to the UN peacekeeping mission there (see NotiCen, 2004-06-03). The presidents met in Nicaragua at the behest of besieged...

LOW TURNOUT IN NICARAGUA ELECTIONS; BIG WIN FOR FSLN.
November 11, 2004... Nicaragua held municipal elections on Nov. 7, the outcome of which told a story of popular disaffection, fragmentation on the right, and gains for the left. This was the first election since President Enrique Bolanos broke with the party that...

FMLN INTERNAL CONFLICT RISES AGAIN IN EL SALVADOR.
November 11, 2004... The Faribundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN) held intraparty elections Nov. 7 to determine whether it would continue on with the hard-line, hard-left policies of its leader, Shafik Handal, or take a new, softer direction, one more...

CAFTA: PASS OR FAIL, DEVELOPMENT MODEL AT A CROSSROADS.
November 18, 2004... In giving US President George W. Bush another term as president, the Nov. 2 US elections also enhanced the probability that the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) would soon come before the US Congress for ratification, just as...

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC WANTS HAITIANS OUT; SO DOES EVERYBODY ELSE.
November 18, 2004... The Senate of the Dominican Republic has passed a resolution to request that the government deport Haitians living illegally in the country. The measure asks President Leonel Fernandez to order immigration and police authorities to determine...

CUBA DE-DOLLARIZES.
November 18, 2004... Cuba has abandoned the US dollar as a national currency alongside the peso. As of Nov. 8, the dollar is out and the convertible peso--faux dollars circulating on par with the dollar--is in. While the dollar still has a place in Cuba's...